Read Online Crescent by Phil Rossi - Free Book Online Page A

whatever wasn’t bolted down was blasted into space.
    And then silence.
     
    (•••)
     
    Gerald pressed the door buzzer. There was no answer. He pressed it again. And again. And still one more time for annoyed good measure. He knew she was home. The hospital told him they had discharged her two hours after he had left her bedside. He was ready to hit the button again when the door opened, revealing a bed-ruffled Marisa. White cotton pants hung low on her waist, creating a gap beneath the gray tank top she wore. The space showed off a taut belly painted with a tattoo of the mythical beast that shared her namesake. Her hair was piled atop her head in a nest of stray locks.
    “Sorry, I was…   ” she began.
    “Napping? I see that. From what the doctor had to say, sounds like you had a long night.”
    She sighed.
    “Come in, Gerry.”
    “Never thought you’d ask,” he said, and brushed past her.
    Her tiny apartment was immaculate as always. Despite some of her more wild inclinations, Marisa had proven herself to be a neat freak, time and again. He sat on the edge of the shelf-bed that protruded from the wall. Marisa pulled up a plastic chair and sat across from him.
    “Some night, huh?” she said.
    “You could say that,” he replied.
    “You sound…   irritated.”
    “Irritated? Maybe. I don’t know. I haven’t recovered from my trip here. I haven’t gotten any sleep. I’m hung-over. Bean got fucked up today. Kendall is an ass face, and my girlfriend is overdosing on carthine .”
    “Oh, I’m your girlfriend now?” she said, openly ignoring the carthine comment. Gerald looked up at her and frowned at her dodge.
    “What happened last night, after we left Heathen’s?” he asked. He wasn’t going to allow her cuteness to disarm him. Not if he could help it.
    “Look, Gerry. I don’t know what happened. I do know that I didn’t OD. Don’t trust me?” She reached over to a nearby table and tossed him a pill bottle. It was nearly full. “See? Ever think we had too much to drink last night? How much of the end of the night do you remember?”
    He didn’t respond. Hello pot, he thought, my name is kettle.
    “Exactly. So be pissed that you don’t feel well, be pissed because Kendall is a…   what did you call him, ass face? But don’t be pissed at me, okay? I didn’t do anything wrong. Or rather, I didn’t do anything more wrong than taking that last shot.” Marisa leaned toward him and planted a kiss square on his lips. She slid out of the plastic chair to kneel between his knees and twined her fingers into his hair. She kissed him a second time and then pulled away.
    “Friends?”
    “Yeah. Yeah we’re fine.”
    “Good, because you really shouldn’t be mad at your girlfriend, especially when she does things like this.” She slid her hand into his pants and squeezed.
    “What other things does she do?”
     
    (•••)
     
    “They keep you closed all night?” Gerald pushed around a few digital brochures Maerl had been showing off. The flimsy things, appropriately called flimsies or flims , shimmered with images of several pieces of attractive real estate in the New Juno colonies.
    “You don’t remember coming back in here a few hours later?” Maerl arched a dark brow and placed the brochures under the bar. Gerald felt even worse about having been pissed at Marisa.
    “Right,” Gerald said. “More shots.”
    “Is Mari okay? Heard she ended up in the hospital. That true?”
    “Yeah. She’s fine now. She was in rough shape when I walked her home. I shouldn’t have let her out of my sight,” Gerald admitted.
    “And where is she now?”
    “Out of my sight.” Gerald smiled and shrugged. He took a sip of his beer. “That is to say, she was coherent when I left her, and at this time is taking a nap.”
    Maerl placed two cocktails on a tray and moved out from behind the bar. Gerald stared at the large LCD above the racks of liquor. A large-breasted cartoon girl with even