“With methamphetamines.”
She shrugs like it’s no big deal.
My heart seems to stop, as I think about the recent past, about Pax’s mood swings, and his abnormal behavior. I swallow hard.
It all makes sense.
So much sense.
“But why?” I ask.
“Why not?” she shrugs again, and I want to slap her head off her shoulders. “Because it’s fun being the cat. Pax is the mouse,” she adds unnecessarily.
“You were fucking with him,” I say.
“You’re a bright one.”
“Fuck you.”
“Such words coming out of a lady’s mouth,” she chuckles. “I wanted to make him pay. What’s the best way to make someone like him pay? He had a rough childhood. He finally had a life that he enjoys. The only way to pay is take all of that away.”
I feel a twinge in my belly. I’ve got to calm down. The pain is sharp, and I press my hand to it.
“Get out,” I spit. “Get the fuck out.”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do,” she mentions. “But I don’t like you any more than you like me.” She stands up, and tosses her apple core into my trash, then slowly and deliberately, walks out. I have another sharp pain.
I rush to the bathroom and yank down my pants.
There is blood in my underwear.
24
Chapter Twenty-Three
Pax
I wake craving coke.
I crave the sting in my nose and the rush in my blood and the numbness in my mouth.