Page 3 of Obsession

The only attractive thing about that place was its name. As pathetic as it was, it did attract some customers. Surely the owner was a big fan of Transformers, otherwise I couldn’t explain the reason for naming this joint. The idea seemed to catch on though, as I had heard of a new underground club with the same name. The guy won’t be too happy about it, mainly because the name suited a nightclub much better than a seedy fast-food restaurant. The location of the place didn’t help either. It was on the corner of shit and even shittier, Brownsville. Even the most obnoxious, disgusting cab drivers in New York didn’t like driving in or out of this neighborhood. That’s why it wasbetter to have your own car or a black belt in martial arts if you planned on adventuring on such grounds.

I was pretty sure no one took midnight strolls around the block for the sheer pleasure of it. At any second you risked walking into the middle of a shootout between two rival gangs.

I turned my attention back to the inside of the car, only to meet Adam’s displeased scowl.

“I think you should stay in the car, Kath, or better yet, we should all stop this nonsense. We’re playing with fire.”

I rolled my eyes while Nicky mumbled something to herself. She wanted to contradict him, but Adam stopped her with a rough look, his ice-cold blue eyes warning her not to interfere. When an almost six-foot man with Adam’s demeanor looked at you like that, it was pretty clear that you should keep your mouth shut. It was confusing and sometimes funny, because he was one of the nicest guys I’d ever met, even if he did have the facial features of a modern-day Thor. Actually, that was his nickname.

Nicky was in the mood to trash a fast-food joint. I could read it in her eyes as she turned to me. The dashboard lights seemed to make her red hair glow brighter than the restaurant’s pathetic sign.

“You look like crap. Stop with that shit already!” He snarled at me and leaned between the front seats to snatch the syringe from my hand, but I managed to pull away in time.

I couldn’t argue with him. I hadn’t seen myself in the mirror yet, but after my fourth PCP shot that day, I was pretty sure that even the most fucked up Halloween costume didn’t have my charm. The thought made me laugh hysterically as I removed the needle from my arm and tossed it under Adam’s seat.

“Coward! Afraid of a bit of rain?” I countered, avoiding the real issue.

I pulled the hood over my head and the scarf over my face, high enough to cover my nose, and took the gun from the seat. Of course, he didn’t want to stop because of the rain, but it was better for me to blame it on that.

I opened the door and sprinted out of the car before he could catch me and lock me inside.

“Come on, let’s shoot some burgers!” I grinned and pretended to load the gun, but it had no bullets.

Fuck it, the thing didn’t even have a loading mechanism. It was a stupid toy that had once been yellow before I’d painted it black to give it some dignity. It even had something like a loading mechanism. You could fill it with soap and water and shoot bubbles. Yes, just like the one Alex used to scare away the bad guy inHome Alone 3.That’s where we stole the idea from.

Nicky followed me and we clinked our guns like they were two wine glasses, and we were making a toast, then we laughed.

The rest of our group joined us. Keith had on a ridiculous ski mask that he seemed to be suffocated by. It had a fluorescent skull on the front, which he thought made him look dangerous, when in reality he resembled a drunken firefly. I wanted to laugh at him, but I felt faint. My knees gave way under my weight, so I had to hold on to Nicky’s arm to steady myself.

“You okay?”

She leaned closer to see me better. The light was dim, most of it coming from the restaurant, but thank God my face was covered. I didn’t need Nicky to tell me how awful I looked, too. A flash of lightning split the sky, mocking me, and revealing what I could not hide – my eyes. I knew the picture they painted: They were red, bloodshot, and pushed back into my skull.

Nicky’s face was also covered by a black scarf that she had pulled over her nose, and she had pulled a large chunk of her red hair over one of her eyes.

I took a deep breath and straightened my head at the same moment the thunder struck, creating a dramatic effect I didn’t want.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

I didn’t bother waiting for an answer because I knew she’d tell me I looked like crap. Well, I felt like crap too, so it was convenient to look how I felt.

A strong hand grabbed my wrist and pulled me backwards. I was sure it wasn’t Nicky. It wasn’t a brutal touch, but I was so weak that I instantly lost my balance and bumped into Adam’s chest.

I angled my head up towards his face because the guy was objectively tall. He had a ski mask on too, only his was all black. Out of all of them, he was the only one who really looked like a dangerous burglar. His eyes had the ability to turn even Medusa to stone – after she had fallen head over heels in love with him.

“If anything happens to you tonight, I’ll skin you alive. You have gone too far again.” He made sure I could stand on my own, then pulled the hood over my head. “Stay close to me,” he whispered before letting go of my hand and disappearing in the direction of the restaurant.

I smiled after him. Nicky always teased me that I would eventually succumb to Adam’s charms–just like every other woman since Eve. But he would never catch me falling for him while he acted like an overprotective older brother. I knew he wasn’t interested in me like that, and I was glad about it. That’s why we got along so well.

I pulled my sleeves over my palms to cover my fake gun. Only one of us had a real gun, and that was Adam, of course. We weren’t a high-class gang of criminals. If a member of the clan that owned this neighborhood had caught us, we would have all ended up in body bags, toe tags included.

We were playing with fire, just like Adam had said, and the police were the last thing we cared about. We were untrained hyenas venturing into the lions’ den.

Keith and the other three guys burst in like a tornado, slamming the door against the wall and screaming their heads off. Adam stopped for a few seconds and shook his head, probably amazed at their stupidity. Nicky and I laughed behind them. They burst in like a pack of rabid animals, all talking at the same time, each saying something different so that no one understood anything.

Inside, there were two clerks and two customers who sat at a table in the back. Skimpy teenagers who didn’t want to get involved. For the moment, we were safe.

“Be a doll and pass the green.”

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