Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 53529 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53529 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
God, this is so messed up. That is, if Morris is really telling the truth.
“Where’s Keni now?” I ask.
“I don’t know, Huff. Kyle still has her. But I’d give my life to free my baby sister and…” Tears form in his beady brown eyes. “I promised her a better life. I promised her I’d always protect her.”
I understand his guilt, but… “Why am I here?”
“I have a plan.”
“For?”
“To get Keni free. To stop them from ever making more of you, and to let us both go.”
“But do you really deserve to be free, Morris? I mean, come on, dude. You’ve littered your brick road with dead bodies.” He deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison. He’s probably around thirty years old, so that would be a very long time behind bars.
“Fair ’nuff. All I really want is for Keni to be able to live her life, finish school, fall in love.”
I don’t agree. Keni belongs behind bars, too. But right now, I’m more worried about what Kyle’s up to. “So what do I have to do?”
“It’s time to shine a light on their bullshit.”
“You mean exposing Kyle?”
“And everyone else involved.”
I hate it. I really do. But if Kyle’s guilty of everything Morris claims, then he’s made his bed.
“I’ll consider helping you,” I say, “but I need a favor first. I need you to make one more batch of your street drug—the one you gave the football team.”
“Why?”
Because I think I poisoned River with my man-juice. And I don’t think I can keep having sex with her every two minutes to keep her alive. “Never mind why. I just need it.”
“I’m sorry, Huff, but there’s just no way. It’s impossible to get a hold of some of the ingredients now—someone’s been buying up all the synthetic norepinephrine, which I need in highly concentrated form.”
That’s one of the chemicals released by the brain during exercise. “Why would someone be buying it all up?”
“Maybe because they’re trying to remake my street formula.”
“You think it’s Kyle?” I ask.
“Don’t know. I’ve been too focused on the formula to recreate you.”
“Do you have more of your test batch?” I ask.
“Why?”
Because maybe it’s better than nothing. If River is hooked, she’s going to die. Unless I keep fucking her. Not such a horrible thing, but impossible to sustain. “Do you want my help or not?”
“Yes. I can get you some of what I’ve been using, but, Huff, you need to know that aside from it being temporary, the side effects aren’t good.”
“What are they?”
“Gout, diarrhea, insomnia, constant asshole itching, sweating, burping, hallucinations, panic attacks, rashes, feeling invincible, hairy knees, tingly belly button, rapid blinking, Tourette’s, and…my mouth tastes like raisins.”
So, basically the same as every other prescription med on the market. “How about your heart?”
“You mean, will it explode if I stop taking it?”
I nod.
“Oh-ho-ho, yeah.” He laughs. “Pop! Like a balloon. Not one of my lab rats made it past two days without their booster.”
“What about lowering the dose gradually?”
“Nope. They’ve needed a full booster every time.”
“So why the hell did you take it?” I ask.
“I told you, I’d do anything to get Keni back. I thought I could flash over to her and set her free, but I’ve been unable to figure out where they’ve taken her.”
“I see.” I exhale sharply. Fuck, so his temporary Huff juice isn’t going to help River. I have no choice but to tell him what’s going on. I need a solution. “Morris, is there anything else you can formulate to get a person off your wonderful collection of drugs? Specifically, the one that made me?”
“I don’t know what made you. And why would someone else need to come down off it? What aren’t you telling me?”
I swallow hard. “I, uh, think the chemicals are still in my…” I point to my groin.
“In your dick?”
“No, in my semen.”
Morris blinks. “Are you fucking with me right now?”
“No. I slept with River, my best friend, and she started getting really aggressive and,” I lower my voice, “she tried to have her way with me. I was fighting her off when you nabbed me in the kitchen.” I pause. “By the way, how did you find me?”
“Your brother told me where you were before Paris. He wanted me to grab you from there, but I talked him out of it. Told him it would be too risky. We had to get you asleep if we wanted to keep you from running.”
“Really? Kyle told you?”
Morris nods. “He’s a real asshole. Sorry. Can’t help you with that.”
No, he can’t. I’m just…really…wounded, I guess. “Can you help with my friend?”
“Sounds like she’s just really into you. Congratulations.”
“No, Morris. It wasn’t like that. She doesn’t want to eat or sleep. She just wanted to keep having sex, and after five hours straight, it still wasn’t enough.”