Read Online Born To Die by Lisa Jackson - Free Book Online

waiting at the gate when they got home.
    As if he felt his father’s gaze upon him, Eli muttered, “I hate Cory Deter! He’s a jerk.”
    â€œCory do this to you?”
    Eli lifted a little shoulder.
    â€œCome on, bud. You can tell me.”
    Doodling in the foggy glass with the index finger of his good hand, Eli coughed, winced, then said, “He pushed me. We was on the jungle gym, way up top, and he just hauled off and pushed me.”
    â€œAnd you fell.”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œWhere were the teachers?”
    â€œUnder the covered area.” He slid a glance over his shoulder. “Miss Wallis wasn’t there.”
    â€œI didn’t ask about her,” Trace said with more bite than he’d meant. He flipped on the wipers.
    â€œI know.” Again the shrug.
    Trace felt like an idiot. What had he been thinking, going out with his kid’s teacher last year? It had been a mistake, and he’d known it from the second she invited him to dinner. He’d told himself that it was because of Eli, that she wanted to discuss his son and the trouble Eli was having in school, but Trace had known better, sensed it.
    And yet he’d gone out with her four times. Well, five, if he included that last night of their final argument after trying to rekindle something that had never really sparked.
    He’d only ended up disappointing everyone involved, himself included.
    He sighed. Jocelyn Wallis had thought she could be the woman to heal the scar left by Eli’s mother walking out on them. She hadn’t believed Trace when he’d told her he wasn’t interested in a relationship, that he was okay raising his kid alone.
    She wasn’t the only one. Eli couldn’t seem to forget the few times that his father had been with his teacher.
    Yep, he’d made a royal mess of things.
    Now his son said, “She wasn’t at school today.”
    â€œMiss Wallis? Doesn’t matter. Someone was. Someone had playground duty.”
    â€œMr. Beene was on duty ’cuz Miss Wallis wasn’t there. He’s a substitute.”
    â€œI need to talk to him.”
    â€œIt wasn’t his fault,” Eli assured him. “It was that stupid butt Cory Deter!”
    â€œI know you’re mad, but no name calling, okay?”
    â€œBut he is.” Eli swiped at his nose with the sleeve of his jacket and set his jaw again. “He’s a stupid butt.”
    â€œC’mon, Eli. It’s not nice to talk about someone like—”
    â€œHe pushed me!”
    â€œAnd that was wrong,” Trace agreed equably.
    â€œYeah, it was!” Eli glared at him, offended his father didn’t seem to grasp the gravity of Cory Deter’s actions.
    â€œOkay, so maybe he is a stupid butt.”
    Eli relaxed a bit.
    â€œJust keep it between us, okay?” Trace pointed a finger at Eli, then swung it back toward himself, repeating the motion several times. “Our secret.”
    â€œEverybody already knows he’s a butt.”
    â€œOkay, whatever. You don’t have to say it again.”
    â€œBut Becky Tremont and her friend Tonia, they laughed at me.” Eli’s face was suddenly flushed with color. Embarrassment. Even at seven, what girls thought mattered.
    â€œDon’t worry about them,” Trace said. “Hang in, okay? We’re almost there.” They reached the bottom of the hill just as the railroad crossing signs flashed and the alarms clanged, and Trace gritted his teeth as a train with graffiti-decorated boxcars and empty flatbeds sped past. Traffic backed up behind the crossing bars.
    Come on, come on, he thought, frustrated with anything that slowed them down. He was worried about his son, wondered how badly he was hurt. “We’re almost there,” he said again and patted a hand on Eli’s small shoulder.
    Eventually the train passed, and they, along with a snake of other vehicles, were allowed to pass. One