Thorn in My Side - Karin Slaughter Page 0,3

come out of my mouth, not Kirk’s. I tried to turn the sound into a clearing of my throat, but I was no Katharine Hepburn. Or even Winona Ryder. Kirk’s head jerked around sharply. I stared at Jo and Marmee, feigning interest in the comings and goings of the March household. I had to hold on for just a few minutes more. Whatever was going on over there on my right was getting close to an end. My prostate had already started doing that thing that Kirk didn’t know about.

Yeah, there were things Kirk didn’t know about. Lots of things he would know if he didn’t have his head so far up—well, not his asshole, because that was my territory, but the fact remained that Kirk never took much notice of anything to do with me, unless it was to find fault. Of course, he was the Big Man on Campus because he controlled the penis. Mr. Six Inches. Mr. Lady’s Man. He was too self-centered to even consider what went on in my side of the body. That I could feel his heartburn when he ate tacos. That his sleep apnea left me feeling tired all day. That my solitary ball could feel the same things his ball felt. That my sexual sensations were a free gift with his purchase.

“Giddyup!” Kirk yelled, slapping the woman on her bottom. “Let’s go!”

A bead of sweat ran down the side of my face. My ball tightened up like taffy being pulled on the boardwalk. I glanced at the woman. She smiled at me. Her hand loosened its grip around my shoulder and started to slide down. I closed my eyes, letting the sensations take over, all the while wondering somewhere in the back of my mind why this was happening. She was so far from my type she might as well have been an orangutan. And yet, I was getting as het up as a schoolboy googling his first porn site. Kirk paid women all the time. Sometimes, they paid him if he let them take pictures. Why was this particular woman getting a rise out of me?

I couldn’t help myself. My mouth opened. I took in a lungful of air.

“Wait a minute!” Kirk screamed. He batted at my headphones. “Are you feeling this? Are you—” He pushed the woman off us. She fell back, banging her head against the closed door. “Did you touch him?”

“Shit,” she mumbled, blinking her eyes as if to clear away stars. She touched the back of her head. “What the hell is wrong with you, man?” She glanced at me. “Men?”

“What’s wrong?” Kirk angrily fumbled with the zip on our pants. “What’s wrong is you were coming onto my brother!”

I moved to help him with the zip, but he slapped away my hand. I’d seen him angry like this before. His jealousy had gotten worse as the years progressed, so that lately, it was harder and harder to talk him down. Still, I tried. “Kirk, she wasn’t doing anything. I was just watching the movie. I didn’t even—”

“The hell you didn’t.” He gave up on the zipper and jammed his finger in the girl’s face. “You were rubbing his nipple. Don’t lie to me.”

“Kirk—” Again I tried to intervene, but he showed me the back of his hand to shut me up.

“Admit it!” he screamed at the woman. “You were thinking about him while you were screwing me.”

Her only answer was a confused stare.

“Admit it!” he repeated. I felt a tug as we got down on our knees. His fury burned like a flame next to me. Before I could stop him, he wrapped his hand around the woman’s face and shoved her back against the door. “I knew you were a whore when I saw you.”

“Of course I’m a whore.” She touched her fingers to her face. I could see a bruise coming up. She rubbed it like she could make it go away. “Why else would I be out here in your stupid van if it wasn’t for money?”

“Get out of here.” Kirk dug into his pocket for the key fob. It dropped onto the floor. The keys made a soft jangling sound as they hit the carpet. “Just get the hell out.”

“You’re an asshole!”

Kirk was never good at repartee. “You’re what comes out of one.”

Her lips snarled in disgust. “If my brother wasn’t in prison, he’d kick your ass all over this parking lot.”

“Tell me where he is and I’ll go kick it