Read Online The Evil That Men Do by Dave White - Free Book Online Page B

couldn’t fight it anymore. She was going to pass out.
    “Oh my God!” someone yelled. “Are you okay?”
    But she couldn’t answer. Susan couldn’t shoulder any more tragedy. She crashed into the asphalt.
     
     
    Carlos figured he’d try the gun one more time. But there weren’t any quiet parks. It was too fucking nice out. Kids were out on the swings. Moms were walking their babies. He even saw one of his asshole teachers out walking his dog. No place to just go and shoot the thing.
    And like hell if he was just going to wait for the next rainy day, or fuck that, even wait for nighttime. The gun was fucking boring anyway. None of his friends wanted to come and play around with it. And it’s not like he’d ever
really
shoot someone. So he was just going to have to get rid of it.
    Maybe dump it back by the river?
    Nah, yo, there were always a ton of cops down there. The last thing he needed was to be seen dropping a gun off on a riverbank. They might arrest him and put him in Juvie for that thing yesterday.
    Carlos wondered what happened to Cesar and Joseph with the cops. They were probably all locked up. Man, if Cameisha had seen them, she’d laugh her ass off. Running away like that, she wouldn’t respect that. No, Carlos had her respect. At least he thought he did, the way she smiled at him and laughed when he made fun of her.
    But she always liked it in school when he told on the real punks. Like that time Kurt stole Ms. Caruso’s wallet. And Carlos told her what happened. Cameisha said that was good of him. Even kissed him. It wasn’t a blow job, but it was something.
    Maybe he could get a blow job out of her if he did the right thing. The gun. Maybe if he took the gun to the cops and then told her about it.
    He knew snitches got stitches, but yo, this was a shot at a blow job from Cameisha.
    There was no question. He would walk down to the police station and turn the gun in. Tell the cops he found that shit and he didn’t want any elementary school kids to get hurt playing with it.
    A fuckin’ blow job!
     
CHAPTER 15
     
    FRANKLIN CARTER WAS SURE HE WAS TIED TO A wooden chair in a basement. The air was moist, and droplets of water dripped down the concrete walls into puddles. Wooden stairs led to a metal door. The door opened and a figure paused at the top of the stairs, light behind him.
    Now the figure was at the bottom of the stairs. Carter could hear feet plop through a puddle as it approached, blanketed in shadow.
    “Mr. Carter, you didn’t pay like I asked.”
    “We only talked yesterday.”
    “We’ve talked before that! I came to you, nicely! Your family owes mine! You know that.”
    “What happened is in the past. It’s not my fault.”
    Bryan Hackett undid the belt around his jeans and began to slide it out of the loops. Carter didn’t like where this was going.
    “Blood runs deep, Franklin. It’s as much your fault as anyone’s.”
    “This is stupid, Bryan.”
    The belt buckle caught him across the face. Carter felt skin tear away from his cheek, felt the sharp sting, and then the drop of blood down his cheek.
    “No,” Hackett said, his voice even. “This is not stupid. After all that’s happened, paying me money means you get off easy.”
    Carter heard the whiz of the leather and metal through the air, and his head snapped to the side before he realized he’d been hit again. This time from the left. Both of his cheeks were bleeding now, and sweat dripped from his brow, burning into the cuts.
    “Well, now you have me, what are you going to do? Kill me?” Carter had to spit the words out.
    “Maybe.”
    Hackett circled Carter’s chair. The buckle of the belt scratched the concrete floor slowly as he went.
    “Why kill me?” Carter asked. “You kill me, you’ll never get your money.”
    “Oh, I’ll get my money.” Hackett leaned in toward Carter’s ear from behind. His voice was soft. “But I’m going to have some fun first. And if you die? Well, not only will I have