Candy Read Online Free Page B

I’m talking about—OK?”
    “What? What are you—”
    “Please, ” she hissed, looking over my shoulder again. She was smiling now, but it wasn’t the smile I’d got used to. It was a smile of fear.
    Her hands were shaking.
    Her lips trembled.
    Then a shadow fell across the table—and the air turned cold.

chapter two
    T he big black guy who sat down between us had the emptiest eyes I’ve ever seen—empty of feeling, empty of heart, empty of everything but himself. He was tall, well over six feet, with a heavy head, close-cropped hair, and a burnt-looking stubble of beard. His face was a death mask.
    He didn’t so much as look at me, just sat down and stared hard at Candy. His eyes went right through her. She wasn’t there anymore. She was a ghost. Fluttering eyes, twitching lips…
    “Hey, Iggy—” she started to say.
    “What you doing?” he said to her.
    His voice was black and hard.
    “Nothing.” She smiled. “I was just—”
    “Don’t give me ‘nothing.’”
    “No, I didn’t mean—”
    “Who’s the boy?”
    Candy flicked her eyes at me, then immediately looked back at Iggy again. She seemed in awe of him, almost bewitched, her face a conflict of hate and fear and adoration. Iggy just sat there, unmoved. He still hadn’t acknowledged my presence. It was as if I didn’t exist. I was nothing to him—just a piece of furniture or a stain on the table. Which had suited me fine…for a second or two. Now it was starting to scare the hell out of me.
    “Who’s the boy?” he repeated.
    “I…I just met him,” Candy stuttered. “At the station…”
    “Business?”
    She hesitated a moment, nervously licking her lips, then said, “Yeah…yeah, of course—”
    “Yeah?” said Iggy, his eyes glistening white. “So what you doing in here?”
    “We were just going,” Candy said, trying to sound casual.
    “Don’t shit me, girl.”
    “I’m not… honest, Iggy. He just wanted to get something to eat first. Then after that—”
    “He paid yet?”
    “Yeah…”
    “How much?”
    “The usual.”
    “Show me.”
    Candy stubbed out her cigarette and started digging around in her purse. Iggy kept on staring at her. I didn’t know where to look. I didn’t know what was going on. All I knew was that it didn’t feel good. My heart was thumping and my mouth was dry and my stomach felt sick and bitter. I glanced nervously around the room. Everything seemed normal—people eating, people getting in lines, no one caring. The streets outside were a little less busy now,the sky a little darker. The evening was almost over. The day people had gone; the nightlife was coming down.
    “There,” said Candy, showing Iggy a handful of notes. “See? I wouldn’t lie to you, Iggy, you know I wouldn’t…”
    He didn’t look at the money, didn’t even blink, just kept on staring—silent and dark—crushing Candy into a cowering silence. As she sat there, wilting under his eyes, a £10 note fell from her fingers and fluttered down to the table. She didn’t seem to notice.
    “Pick it up,” Iggy told her.
    She picked it up.
    “Put it away,” he said.
    She folded all the money into her purse, then looked up at Iggy again. He didn’t move. He just waited for her to lower her eyes, then nodded once, sucked his teeth, and slowly turned toward me.
    I knew it was coming. I’d been waiting for it. And, despite everything, I really thought I was ready for it. But when his eyes finally fixed on mine and a surge of fear flooded through me, I knew I was wrong. I’d never be ready for this. This—the ice-cold void in Iggy’s eyes—this was a different world, a world I knew nothing about, a world of violence and pain and darkness. I felt so small, so weak, so stupid.
    “What d’you want?” Iggy said to me.
    I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
    “Come on, Iggy,” Candy pleaded. “He’s just—”
    “Shut up,” he told her, still staring at me. “I asked you what you want,