Read Online Breathless by Lurlene McDaniel - Free Book Online Page B

always has. She’s nothing like the kind of girl I usually go with.
    She doesn’t say much when I pick her up in front of the library, but I know something’s on her mind. When we get to her house, I ask, “You want a ride tomorrow?”
    “Sure. If—if you don’t mind.”
    “I don’t mind.”
    “You still working nights?”
    “Six nights a week.”
    “When do you sleep?”
    “First through third periods.”
    Her smile is pretty. “Don’t your teachers notice?”
    “Trust me, they’d rather have me asleep.”
    “Are you going to graduate?”
    “Sure. They don’t want me hanging around for another year.”
    “So no college?”
    I laugh out loud. “No way. I’m through with school.”
    “Travis is going to graduate too. More of an honorary degree, Mom says. I wish…” Her voice trails off.
    “Pick you up tomorrow,” I say, not wanting to get into anything else with her, not wanting to make her sadder than she already is.
    I drive her home for a week. We don’t talk much, but I like her company. I like watching her. She plays with the ends of her hair when she’s deep in thought, and she purses her lips when she’s thinking over how she wants to say something that’s important to her. I drive slowly, wanting our togetherness to last. “I don’t mind taking you to church if you want,” I tell her. “I’ll wait in my car while you do your thing with God.”
    “No,” she says, twirling her hair around a finger. “I don’t do that anymore.”
    Red flag. I hesitate before I ask, “Why?”
    “I’ve done all the begging and praying I can do. God’s totally aware of what I want. I’ve told him hundreds of times.”
    “But you’re not giving up, are you?”
    “I think Travis has.”
    Big red flag. “What do you mean?”
    “I think he wants to die.”
    My heart thuds. Don’t go there. “He’s in a lot of pain. It can wear a person down.”
    “I know.”
    I shift in the driver’s seat, search for a way to change the subject. “Look, would you like some dinner? Mo’s Pizza Shack is near. I’m thinking a pepperoni, large.”
    She looks over at me, hesitates. “Let me call Dad and tell him I won’t be home for supper.”
    I can’t help myself. I grin like a fool.

Emily
    M
o’s smells heavenly, all yeasty-rich with baking crust and cheese and tomato sauce. Cooper and I sit in a booth at the back, and he orders colas and a large pizza. Good as it smells, I’m not sure I can eat a bite. There’s a candle on our table, and it throws flickering shadows across his face. I think he’s gorgeous with his exotic black eyes and brown skin. His hands are huge and rough, but when he shakes hot pepper flakes on the pizza, his hands look gentle. “You mind?” he asks.
    “No. I like peppers.”
    He devours two slices and I nibble on one, wondering how I’m going to get him to talk about Travis, feeling devious when all I want is to feellike a girl on her first date. My heart is hammering hard before I get my courage up and ask, “Do you know what’s going on with my brother?”
    Cooper stops chewing, drops his half-finished third piece onto his plate. “Why do you ask?”
    I’m committed now. “He—he’s keeping secrets from me.”
    “Why shouldn’t he have secrets? Any law about not having them?”
    “Of course not, but I just have the gut feeling that something serious is going on.”
    “Talk to him.”
    “Don’t you think I’ve asked him? He won’t tell me. He won’t be honest with me.”
    “And so you thought you’d work on me. Dig it out of me.”
    The truth hurts, and I squirm. Where is Darla? She should be here. She’d know what to say. “No! I—I mean, I want to know, but that’s not why I came here with you. I like being with you.” My words are true, but even to my ears they sound insincere.
    “Sure you do.”
    “Please, Cooper …”
    He studies my face, his dark, dark eyesunreadable. My heart beats in triple time, and I want … I want…
    “I can’t