The Society Of Dirty Hearts Read Online Free

fucked up.”
    “I’m driving.”
    Kyle’s face creased in disgust. “Aw, what the fuck. Why?”
    “I’ve got some dope. I thought we could drive out to Five Springs for a smoke. You know, like old times.”
    “Nice idea, bro. Only we can’t go to Five Springs. Haven’t you heard? The coppers are out there looking for that little jailbait bitch.”
    “Yeah, I saw. Did you know her?”
    “Nah. I spoke to her once or twice in here. She was serious trouble. I heard she fucked her way through half the scuzzballs in town.”
    “You’re kidding.”
    Kyle shook his head. “And that’s not all I heard, bro. I heard she was selling it.”
    “You mean she slept with men for money.” Julian’s lips screwed up doubtfully. “Bullshit. How do you know that?”
    “Anyone who knows anything around here knows it for a fact. If you don’t believe me, just ask around.” Kyle chuckled. “Although I don’t think you’ll find too many guys willing to admit to fooling around with an underage prozzie. Tell you what really makes me laugh. The way her mum keep’s banging on about her being abducted. What a load of shit. More likely one of her customers has done her in and dumped her in a ditch somewhere.”
    Kyle opened his mouth to say something else, but closed it again as a group of goth-punk types, all black leather, torn drainpipe jeans and fishnet stockings, jet black hair and heavy makeup, entered the bar. There were two men and a woman, mid-twenties looking, and the girl, Morsus. One of the men approached the bar-counter and ordered drinks, while the others seated themselves around a table close to the stage. The girl looked drunk or stoned, her eyes glassy and vacant, a sort of vacuous half-smile, half-sneer playing around the edges of her mouth. Julian watched her out of the sides of his eyes. He couldn’t help but watch her. Kyle nudged him. “Don’t even think about going there, bro. That’s Mia Bradshaw. Jake Bradshaw’s twin sister.”
    “Who’s Jake Bradshaw?”
    “He’s a serious fuckin’ headcase. Been in juvie more often than you change your underpants. The coppers are after him at the moment for joyriding or something. There’s a rumour going round that he’s hiding out in the forest. Remember? Like we used to. Only for real.”
    “Is she mates with Joanne Butcher?”
    “Yeah, big-time, they were like twin sisters. Twins of evil, that’s what I call ’em. I know this guy who went with her for a while. He said she’s proper crazy, said she wanted him to do all kinds of weird shit to her.”
    “What kind of weird shit?”
    “Pull her hair, slap her around, strangle her. That kind of weird shit. He couldn’t handle it so he dumped her.”
    Julian felt a twinge of the same sick feeling that’d come over him after his dream. It started in his stomach and slithered, cold and slimy as a slug, up his throat. He pushed it back down with a swallow of beer. Mia seemed oblivious or indifferent to him staring at her, but one of the men was giving him a none-too-friendly look. “Come on, let’s go for that smoke,” Kyle said, tugging at Julian’s sleeve as the man started to stand. Reluctantly, Julian allowed himself to be drawn away from the bar. As they stepped outside, a mocking peal of laughter followed them. Glancing back, Julian saw that it came from Mia. He shuddered a little.
    “You trying to get the shit kicked out of us?” said Kyle.
    Julian made no answer. He was thinking about Mia, trying to work out what it was about her that’d hit him so hard. It wasn’t her bad girl image. He’d never gone for that kind of thing. It wasn’t her looks, either. Sure, she was attractive – if anything, almost too much so. Her kind of looks did little for him, other than make him aware of his imperfections. No, it was something else, something deeper, beyond his understanding. It gave him chills. He could feel them now, running up and down his bones, like he was coming down with something