"It depends on what you mean by good," he mused.
"Just funny how I"m out of the picture and you immediately swoop in."
"Hey, I had made plans to come here while you were still...in the picture."
That was true. Jimmy had told Perry and I about Max the night of the Xmas party. The best night of my life turned the worst night of my life. Still...
"And in Red Fox..." I wondered aloud.
Max gave me a funny look. "Red Fox? What about it?"
I didn"t know, exactly. I wasn"t sure where I was going with it, only that something was off, like a missing puzzle piece. I started to think back about Max and what I actually knew about him. Despite being in a band together, sleeping with his girlfriend, spending most of our NYU days working on the same films, frequenting the same bars, I still didn"t know that much about Mr. Maximus Jacobs.
But then again, he could say the same about me.
"Who are you?" I asked, looking him square in the face. "Really?"
He blinked. "Maximus. Just Maximus. Not your buddy. Not your pal."
"Yet, you"re always around at the most...pressing moments. Trying to help me out in the most backward way possible."
"Can we go now?" He straightened out his long legs and put his hand on the key. "If you reckon bailing you out of jail is backward helping, you"re the one who"s got things turned around."
"I don"t trust you," I told him but buckled up my seat belt.
"I don"t like you."
"Why did you bail me out then?"
He sighed as he started the truck. "Because I like her."
His eyes were completely sincere. I know what that look meant. He had it bad for her. Well that made two of us. Whoop dee f.u.c.king doo.
"You can"t have her, you know," I said. I meant it.
"That will be her choice." He shrugged like it was no big deal. No big deal that he had already lost.
"She already made her choice. I thought that was quite apparent."
"Yeah, well we"ll see when she"s normal. Which she is now, thank the Lord."
I bit my lip and looked out at the darkening afternoon. "How far away is the car?"
"Not far. Then you"re free to do whatever you like."
I opened my mouth to speak but he cut me off. "Whatever you like providing you don"t go to her."
"Don"t you f.u.c.king tell me what I can"t do."
"I"m not," he said testily. "You reckon her parents are going to welcome you with open arms if you go back there? They"ll call the cops again."
"They can"t arrest me for visiting."
"I wouldn"t press your luck."
"You care about me again?"
"I"m not bailing you out twice."
"You won"t have to." I wasn"t just going to show up. I brought out my phone and started to text Perry. But I didn"t know what to say.
"What are you doing?" Max asked, looking over.
"Do f.u.c.k off." I decided to text Ada instead. I wasn"t sure where Perry was, if she was OK. Just because Maximus said she was didn"t mean it was true. I also didn"t know if her psycho parents were monitoring her phone or something.
I texted, The douchecanoe bailed me out. Where"s Perry? Can I see her?
I waited a few moments for an immediate reply and when I didn"t get one, I put the phone back in my pocket.
"Don"t do anything stupid," Max warned. "Believe it or not, I really do care about her. We were lucky that she"s fine, that the doctors didn"t find anything wrong with her."
"That wasn"t luck," I told him. "That was me. If I hadn"t of showed up..."
"If Ada hadn"t have reached out to you."
f.u.c.k. I hated it when he was right. I didn"t want to think about what would have happened if Ada hadn"t called me that day.
Max lowered his voice. "You know I wouldn"t have let anything happen to her. I wasn"t going to let them put her away. I wasn"t going to let it go that far."
"Just far enough, right? And for what reason then?"
"I told you."
"No, you really didn"t. You"re acting like you"re serving some higher purpose here."
A weird thought struck me. Was he serving some other purpose? I squinted at him, taking in the ginger. I thought about what we had talked about minutes earlier. His appearances in my life. His "ghost-hearing" abilities. Some things fit together, some things didn"t.
He didn"t say anything. I was tempted to ask the "who are you" question again but I knew it would get me nowhere. He was my old college buddy Max, that"s all he could be. That"s all I wanted him to be.
My phone beeped and I jumped in my seat. Everything had me on edge.
I looked at the text from Ada: WTF?! OK I"m glad ur out. She"s OK - sleeping. Maybe come by around 11 when the rents R asleep.
The thought of Perry lying in her bed, sleeping, brought a smile to her face. As creepy as it sounds, there had been so many times I"d watched her sleep. Just a ratty Slayer concert tee, bedhead, no makeup. She looked so beautiful, so serene, even when she was drooling.
My heart flipped in my chest, a mix of hope and sadness. I swallowed the feeling and buried it by telling myself I was going to do whatever it took to make things right between us again.
Whatever it took.
AFTERWORD.
In case you haven"t noticed, almost all of the chapter t.i.tles are songs. Favorite"s of mine, actually. Check them out: - After School Special Mr. Bungle (too weird? Listen to Retrovertigo instead).
- Spookshow Baby Rob Zombie.
- Even Deeper Nine Inch Nails.
- Big Dumb s.e.x - Soundgarden - b.u.t.terfly Caught Ma.s.sive Attack - She"s Got a Way Billy Joel.
- Stripsearch - Faith No More (the song playing during the scene) - Digging the Grave Faith No More - When Good Dogs Do Bad Things Dillinger Escape Plan - She Loves Me Not Faith No More.
- Maxwell"s Silver Hammer The Beatles - Mr. Self-Destruct - Nine Inch Nails - Demon Cleaner/Bailout - Kyuss.
Actually just play Nine Inch Nails, all alb.u.ms, on shuffle...THAT is Dex"s mind.
If you want to listen to the songs, please visit my playlist on the Official Experiment in Terror Website, HERE.
I love to interact with readers on Twitter or my EIT Facebook Page Coming in September from Metal Blonde Books "Almost Famous meets The Devil"s Advocate in this s.e.xy new adult horror."
It"s the summer of 1974 and 21-year old Dawn Emerson has only three things she wants to do: compete one last time in the Ellensburg Rodeo, win back her ex-boyfriend Ryan, and become the best d.a.m.n music journalist at Central Washington University. But all her plans are left in the dust when she"s contacted by Creem magazine to go on the road with one of her favorite groups, the up-and-coming metal band, Hybrid.
At first the a.s.signment reads like a dream come true. Not only will Dawn land some much-needed credibility as a female music journalist, but she"ll finally get to experience life from the other side of the stage, and maybe crack the drunken, enigmatic code that is guitarist Sage Knightly. Instead, Dawn finds herself on an aging tour bus filled with ego-maniacs, band politics and a whole lot of s.e.x, drugs and rock n" roll. When monsters start showing up in dressing rooms and some of Sage"s groupies become increasingly strange and dangerous, Dawn discovers the band is not only going places they"re going straight to h.e.l.l.
And Dawn has a backstage pa.s.s.
An excerpt from The Devil"s Metal Mel ripped off her sungla.s.ses and gave me the stare down. She had won the staring contest against my horse earlier I was powerless. I looked down at my hands and dirty fingernails.
"Are you calling them girls s.l.u.ts because of the way they"re dressed, cuz, d.a.m.n child you must think I"m a downright ho in my little booty b.o.o.bie get-up here," she said with full-on att.i.tude.
"You"re not a groupie," I protested feebly.
"Who cares? I could be. What"s wrong with trying to get some rock and roll tail? s.e.x is s.e.x Dawn, even for the wrong reasons. I thought you were all for this women"s liberation s.h.i.t and bra burning."
I looked down at my chest. "I didn"t need those bras anyway."
She put her hand on my shoulder. She wasn"t gentle. Mel could fly off the handle and you never wanted her on your bad side.
"It doesn"t mean you have to spread your legs if you don"t want to," she told me in her I"m-a-year-older-let-me-lecture-you voice. "But let those girls be those girls. You be yourself, loosen up, and maybe, just maybe, if you try the groupie angle, you"ll end up getting the real story."
I gave her fingers a quick kiss before shrugging them off. "You are a terrible influence Miss Melanie Jones."
She laughed, throwing her head back. "And you need a good s.h.a.g, Miss Dawn Emerson. You can"t have the rock n" roll without the s.e.x. And drugs. Speaking of..."
She brought out her saddlebag purse and pulled out a joint from her slim cigarette case.
"What did I say about thinking clearly," I reminded her. But I ended up taking a quick puff anyway. Pot was good for the musical experience and clearly I needed to loosen up a little. I felt as tense as the coming storm.
We got out of the car sufficiently high. I gathered my confidence, threw back my shoulders and the two of us strode proudly toward the entrance to The Ripper. We were getting second glances from a lot of the guys. Naturally the sight of a short, curvy black girl and a tall red-head garnered a lot of attention in itself, plus there were Mel"s b.o.o.bs swinging around in her top and that flirtatious smile of hers. If they could get past the mess of hair and the horse-s.h.i.t boots, I knew deep down I wasn"t anything to sneeze at either. But was I "beat out the groupies and score an interview with a rock-star" hot? That remained to be seen.
Also by Karina Halle.
The Experiment in Terror Series.
Darkhouse (EIT #1) Red Fox (EIT #2).
The Benson (EIT #2.5) Dead Sky Morning (EIT #3) Lying Season (EIT #4).
On Demon Wings (EIT #5) Old Blood (EIT #5.5).
The Dex-Files (EIT #5.7).
Into the Hollow (EIT #6) October 23rd, 2012.
Novels by Karina Halle.
Lost in Wanderl.u.s.t (Winter 2012).
The Devil"s Metal (September 2012).