Read Online After the Red Rain by Barry Lyga, Robert DeFranco - Free Book Online

asked from nowhere.
    Jaron sighed heavily in her ear; his breath was hot and loud. When he craned his neck to look behind him, his grip loosened just enough that Deedra could wrap her fingers around the knife handle. She could also see over his shoulder now.
    There stood Rose, in his long green coat, hands thrust into his pockets.
    “This is none of your business,” Jaron snapped.
    “I believe you,” Rose said equably, so equably that Deedra realized he would leave in a moment and she would be alone again. Her grip tightened on the blade.
Slash across his throat.… Turn quickly and push him over the edge.… The only way…
    “But,” Rose went on, just as calmly, “it’s probably none of
their
business, either.”
    He pointed up and slightly to the left. Deedra and Jaron looked inthat direction and beheld a drone, hovering about ten feet above them, silent. Drones usually didn’t hover, so it was easy to forget they could. Until one was
right there
.
    Jaron released Deedra and jumped back as if she’d caught fire.
    “Nothing is going on here,” Jaron said slowly. Maybe speaking for whoever could lip-read the drone video. Being the son of the Magistrate was one thing; being caught on drone video committing a crime was another. The local DeeCee contingent reported to the Magistrate, but they technically worked for the City. There was no guarantee Jaron could weasel his way out of a charge laid upon him by the DeeCees. Especially if his father was as unsympathetic as Jaron made him sound.
    Deedra exhaled and then inhaled a great gulp.
    Rose said nothing. His jaw locked, jutting out. He was immobile, a statue.
    “We were just messing around.” Jaron flashed his smile again, his beautiful smile. And what kind of horrible irony was it that he possessed such a beautiful smile.
    Deedra said nothing. What
could
she say?
    “I don’t know what you
think
you saw,” Jaron said, turning to Rose, “but you didn’t see it. Understand?”
    Rose simply stared straight ahead at Jaron, who fidgeted and shuffled his feet back and forth, back and forth. Finally, he threw his hands up in the air.
    “This whole thing is ridiculous!” he exclaimed. “Why am I even wasting my time here? I tried to be a nice guy, tried to help her out with her run. Tried to get to know her. And this crap happens. Whatever. If you two want this rooftop, it’s yours.”
    He stalked over to the hole that led down to the lower stories, shoving Rose out of the way as he did so. Only then did Deedra finally release her knife.
    The drone twisted, then glided away.

    Alone on the rooftop with Rose, Deedra found herself unable to speak. For long moments they simply stood and gazed at each other. She kept expecting him to speak, but he said nothing. He didn’t even move.
    He had two cuts, she realized, along his left cheek and another one just above his ear, but he didn’t seem to notice or care. The one on his cheek was insignificant, but the other one was still bleeding. She’d suffered enough cuts to recognize a wound that kept pulling open.
    Finally, she broke the silence: “What are you doing here?”
    He took a moment to consider before answering. “I was looking for you. And I found you.”
    His position didn’t change. He stood between her and the only way off the rooftop. Had she traded Jaron for someone just as bad?
    She didn’t think so, but she couldn’t be sure. She let her hand drift back to her knife again. Just in case.
    “Well, yes. Is this the part where you disappear again?”
    He shrugged, still not taking his hands out of his pockets. “The noise startled me.”
    “You vanished. Like, into thin air.”
    “I’m good at hiding, when I need to.”
    She pondered that for a moment. He hadn’t threatened her at all. Hadn’t moved, really. And he had managed to save her from Jaron without making the situation worse. Almost without meaning to, she released her grip on her knife.
    “Why were you looking for me?”
    For the first