Hellbender (Murder Ballads and Whiskey Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

feet from me, took his flask, then dropped his legs over the edge. He drank, then said, “So, what’s up with that roommate, Alex? Where’s she staying?”
    “Really? Nothing like burning your mouth on hot soup, right?” I shook my head. “Didn’t you notice the engagement ring?”
    “Sorry. Want some?”
    I waved the flask away. Him asking me to take a hit every four minutes frayed my nerves. “No, man. She’s out of your league anyway.” From the darkness a tiny voice said, “Give me a shot.”
    “Damn it, Katy!” I shouted a whisper. “What’re you thinking? I ‘bout jumped out of my skin.”
    “Hey, cousin?” Ben said. “Come on over.”
    Katy slid across the floor then plopped down between us without saying anything else. She just sniffled before taking a big swig. Her hair was disheveled and her eyes were red and weary. She rested her head on my shoulder. An old brown Carhartt coat covered the white gown she’d been wearing earlier.
    With his cell phone in his lap, Ben counted down the remaining minutes. He and Katy killed the last of the booze in just a few more swigs. After that, except for Ben’s countdown, there was only silence.
    “Five ‘til.” He looked at his phone. The blue glow shined up onto his face. For the first time tonight I took pity. I wasn’t sure until now that I’d have any to share.
    He put his phone back into his coat pocket. “Henry…I’m sorry about…”
    “Hush up, Ben.” Katy’s voice was raspy and raw from earlier. She coughed a dry little cough. “For once, just hush and listen instead of always being the one talking. Okay?”
    “Sorry.” The look he gave said more than his words would’ve anyway.
    He was in sad shape. We all were. We all needed some time to get ourselves together. There’d be no music from this side of the Blackwater for a few days—only long mornings in bed and sad, quiet dinners of leftovers. Shitty rigatoni and soggy fried chicken and whatever else the neighbors brought up. I couldn’t even say if there’d be any more tears shed or not.
    If there were I wouldn’t be here to see them. Right then and there I made up my mind that the time had come for me to pack up and go, first thing in the morning. I was sick of not sleeping, sick of worrying, sick of talking the guys from Thomas out of beating the shit out of my old man every time he got hammered. Tonight would be my goodbye to Ben and Katy.
    “Two minutes,” Ben said.
    I put my arm around Katy. With all the quiet, sadness finally started to well up in me. Like my mind had nothing left to keep the feelings away. My chest and throat tightened. I could feel my face getting hot, pressure pushing behind my eyes.
    I took a deep breath. I had to tell them I was leaving. But knowing what I wanted to say, and being able to say it, were two different things entirely.
    Breaking my train of thought, Katy cleared her throat, and sang, “ Down to the sea, down to the sea, sinners on the shore, waiting to be freed .”
    The broken silence seemed a lot louder than it had before. Shouting in the night always made it hard for me to get back to sleep. Like when my parents fought. Thank God I had a long bus ride and could sleep on the way to school. Otherwise I’d have my dad’s words in my head all day, how, “…you don’t know how hard life is ‘til you start sucking up that coal dust…”
    Ben took out his phone and checked the time, then shut it off and put it back into his pocket.
    Katy’s tune wasn’t anything I ever heard my uncle Jamie play. It sounded like a melody written when language was still young, when mountains were still pushing up through the flat, green plains that stood in this very spot a hundred million years ago. “ One by one, by one, by one, into the water for the sins you’ve done .” Katy’s rasp thickened with each syllable. A chorus of echoes carried her words further and further into the night. The animals in the stalls below huffed and shuffled.
    I