Read Online Burn (Brothers of Ink and Steel #2) by Allie Juliette Mousseau - Free Book Online

food … “Yeah, I could totally go for food.”
    “Snickers and a cheeseburger coming up.” He goes to his closet and pulls down a black camo backpack, sets it on the bed and starts digging through it.
    He pulls out a couple of outfits, a change of shoes and some other stuff, until he gets to a small metal box with a padlock on it.
    Once he sets it out, he goes through a smaller, zippered pouch and pulls out a steel key ring with four keys on it. He unlocks the box, and inside are various trinkets, pieces of jewelry, a small wad of cash secured with an old rubber band and some folded papers and envelopes.
    “This is my life bag. When my mom tosses me or I run, or a foster family gets ugly, or I’m sleeping in a doorway someplace, it’s always packed and ready to grab in a second,” he explains.
    “Do you run away a lot?” I ask quietly.
    “You have no idea.” He shakes his head as he stuffs the money in his pocket. “For a while I stayed with my grandmother, but she died when I was nine.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    He studies me a moment and keeps talking. “I was forced to stay with my mom, but that’s like sitting on a rowboat on top of an active volcano—BOOM!” Liam brings his closed fists together, opens them and then throws them up in the air so I can visualize the explosion.
    “How did you get caught up in foster care?”
    “Got nabbed in an alley fight.” He shrugs. “Made fifty bucks that night—it helps you win when you bet on yourself. But now my name and face are in their system. No big deal, I just have to be smarter than the cops, which isn’t too difficult.”
    He relocks the box and puts the pack back in its safe place. Liam turns and pats his pocket of money. “This’ll be plenty for cheeseburgers, candy bars and milkshakes. Oh, I have an idea for some fun too. You’ll need these.”
    Liam passes me a black, hooded, zip-up sweatshirt. It smells of musk and earth and him .
    “I require your sweatshirt?” I quip to hide how much I like being enveloped in it.
    “And this.” He pulls a purple and yellow Minnesota Vikings baseball cap over my head and helps me tuck my hair inside it. After lifting the hood, he steps back and studies his handiwork. “No one will recognize you now.”
    “Okay then, what do you have in mind?”
    He answers with a smile.
     
     
    First thing we do is hop a bus. I follow him to the very back seats, where he puts me on the inside, close to the window, and sits on my other side.
    “Where are we going?” I ask.
    “You’ll see.”
    I make a face at his cryptic answer, but I can’t quell the growing excitement.
    When the bus stops at the Mall of America he says, “This is our stop.”
    “Shopping? I didn’t take you for one who does a lot of that,” I say.
    “Ha. Ha.”
    We go through the heavy glass doors and walk into the wonder that is the biggest shopping center in the United States, maybe the world, for all I know. Liam has a plan, because he makes a beeline to the amusement park.
    “Um …” My gaze travels up the tallest, most frightening and puke inducing rollercoaster ever. “Not doing it.”
    “Sure you are.” He laughs as he pays for two tickets.
    “It’ll make me sick for sure.” Vomiting is not attractive.
    “That’s why we’ll do lunch afterwards .”
    That’s faulty reasoning, I think as he begins to walk up the ramp to the line.
    I grab his arm in desperation. “I’m serious … I’m scared.”
    “Have you ever ridden one?”
    “No,” I admit.
    “Trust me, by the middle of the ride you’ll be screaming in excitement.”  He looks at me with this—I don’t know—this look, like everything is going to be okay.
    I walk with him into the line. “I appreciate your confidence … sort of.” The damn machine stands all the way to the ceiling.
    “Are you afraid of the height or the motion?”
    “Yes.” I nod solidly.
    He laughs. “Good … maybe you’ll need to hold my hand.”
    Hold his hand? He wants me to hold