Read Paradise Fought (Abel) for Free Online Page A

side. My blood chilled. The door clicked to lock. Despite myself, I banged on it, calling out Elma’s name. My pleas were met by another round of laughter and a shattered ego. I threw the remainder of the bottle at the end of the hall, and it smashed against the cheap wall. Leaving the mess for the owner and his roommate, I left the party how I entered. Alone.
    So Monday morning, I wasn’t shocked to find Elma enter human anatomy moments before it started and sit near Thor. He wasn’t actually paying attention to her, but he did acknowledge her presence. He wasn’t attentive, but he leaned over and copied the notes she took in class. I hadn’t written down a single thing. I was too angered by her snubbing me to concentrate.
    Thor sported a black eye and yellowed skin on his neck. He didn’t seem as cocky as he had on Friday. The evidence of a fight was apparent, but his attitude remained strong. He was full of himself. I heard rumors that he took his opponent in one round. His eye roamed over me when he exited class, but he didn’t speak to me. Neither did Elma.
    I followed them into the hall, where Thor casually placed his arm around Elma and escorted her out of the science building. My body cringed as I’d lost her.
    Creed caught up with me in La Cantina for lunch. Campus food wasn’t the best, but it was an easy fix as our townhome was a mile or so away. My classes were too close together on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for me to return home. We sat at a table in the back, where we could talk freely. I tugged at my baseball cap as an additional shield against everyone in the cafeteria.
    “You got it bad, don’t you?” Creed said looking around the open space to find Elma in a booth with Thor in the direction I stared.
    “Nah. She ignores me.” I took a bite of my sandwich but hardly tasted it. Nothing had flavor the past few days.
    “What’s up with her? You ditched me the other night to talk to her.”
    “It’s nothing,” I replied, nonchalantly.
    “She’s Elma Montgomery. It’s not nothing,” Creed admonished, looking over his shoulder in the general direction of Thor and Elma.
    “She’s with Thor,” I shrugged, sitting back in my seat and pushing my food basket away from me on the table.
    “You want her, right? You need to figure out something. Some way to get to her.”
    I shook my head. “I’ll figure out something .” I had Elma’s address and I could confront her there, but I was hopeful she would come to me. We’d had a moment. I knew she felt it. Maybe what she did with Thor negated it afterward, but I was certain she was with me in the moment. I just needed another moment.
     
     
    On Thursday night, my brother summoned me. I say summoned because he wasn’t calling and asking, he was demanding I meet him. Par for the course, he requested a seedy strip joint just west of campus. The neon pink sign was garish as was the gravel drive way that was packed with cars. I don’t know how he knew of this place. He lived outside Vegas.
    I found him at a table for four, although his presence filled the empty spaces. He was sipping his drink as he eyed the scantily clad woman performing on stage. I wasn’t even certain if performance was the correct word for the gyration and thrusting she did to blistering pop music, but I wasn’t there for a show.
    “Cain,” I addressed him.
    “Abel,” he said into the glass that was raised to his lips. Amber liquor poured into his mouth after he spoke. In one sharp swallow, the glass emptied and he slammed it on the table.
    “Drink?” he questioned. I passed. We were silent for a moment.
    Cain and I weren’t close, in your typical way, for brothers only two years apart. He had been my protector and my shield, but it kept a wedge between us. He didn’t have to step in, but somehow he felt he did. He took the blame for things that weren’t his fault and took the blows that went with the punishment. He was hard. He took that negative energy and