Read Online A Dangerous Game by Rick R. Reed - Free Book Online Page B

smiled, and Wren didn’t miss the way her eyes lit up when she looked at Harry.
    “Give me an hour.”
    They both waited until Harry closed the door to move. Once he did, Linda moved to the bed and began making it up. While she worked, she talked.
    “So, you’ve seen the place. If I had my druthers, your first visit would have gone a little different, but what the hell.” She finished making the bed, went into the bathroom, and closed the door behind her.
    Wren sat down on a little floral-patterned love seat positioned at the foot of the bed and listened to the sound of his mother moving around—the toilet flushing, water running, finally the hiss of the shower.
    When Linda emerged, she was just about ready for the day. She still wore the robe, but her face was made up and her auburn hair was pulled back into a damp ponytail. She looked like a teenage girl. Wren bit his tongue to prevent him from telling her that she could do a lot better than Harry.
    “As you can see, there isn’t much privacy. If you’re gonna stay in the room, you have to close your eyes.” Linda had paused in front of her closet, moving hangers back and forth.
    “Never mind, Mom. I’ll use the bathroom if you’re done in there.”
    “Sure.”
    When Wren came back out, Linda was dressed for the day in a black pencil skirt, white blouse, stockings, and black leather pumps. To add some color, she had wrapped a green, lavender, and blue print silk scarf around her neck.
    She looked beautiful.
    “I’m sorry I had to talk to you that way, but you were way out of line, buster.”
    “I know.”
    Linda came up to him and put her arms around him. “You wanna stay here? I can manage for a bit. Harry will understand.”
    Wren struggled out of her embrace. “Where would I sleep?”
    “There’s the love seat,” Linda offered.
    “That would be great if I was a little kid. Or a contortionist.”
    “You could sleep on the floor. I could fix it up real nice with pillows and blankets. Maybe we could get one of those air mattresses.”
    “Aw, Mom. You’re too nice. There’s no room for me here.” As Wren said the words, true, he felt engulfed by sadness. He didn’t know where there was room for him. In the space of a mere few days, he had gone from having a job and a home to completely displaced.
    Linda said, “Honeybunch, there’s always room for you. Wherever I am.”
    “I know, Mom. Thanks.” But he didn’t know. His mother deserved her space, and two people in this tiny room—to call it an apartment would be being overly generous—would be cramped. They would be at each other’s throats within a day. Hell, one could hardly even get dressed in private. “I’ll find a place.”
    “Well, if you don’t, you come back here. No son of mine will ever have to sleep on a bench or some crap like that, not if I have anything to say about it.”
    Wren hugged Linda. “I’ll remember that. And I don’t think it will come to that. You need to be getting to work, huh?”
    “Yeah. I don’t wanna be late on the first day of my new job.”
    “Good luck, Mom. I love you.”
    “Aren’t you sweet? I love you too, Wren. Just lock the door behind you when you leave.” She pecked him on the cheek.
    And with that his mother was gone, leaving the faint smell of her perfume, Miss Dior, in her wake.
    Wren stared at the closed door for a long time. That door, the small apartment, everything that had happened all coalesced into one fine point in Wren’s mind.
    The answer awaited him, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to make that leap. For one, Linda would be so ashamed if she knew the truth. For another, Wren didn’t know if he could abide his own self if he took the track that was front and center in his mind right now.
    But what was the alternative? Sleeping on the street? Working at yet another dead-end job that would leave him exhausted and living paycheck to paycheck?
    He groped around in his duffel, hoping he had lost the simple white engraved