Read Online Can't Stand the Heat? by Margaret Watson - Free Book Online Page B

they the two he’d been with the night before?
    “Do I look that scary?” Walker asked.
    “Nah. They had to get home. I, uh, I do, too.”
    Walker leaned on the handlebars of his bike and watched Nick edge away from him. “What was going on last night?”
    The kid rubbed his hands on his jeans and glanced down the street at his fleeing friends. “I was a little past my curfew,” he muttered. “Thanks for not ratting me out, man.”
    “Are you going to tell your mom you were out until almost midnight?”
    “Sure,” he said warily.
    “Think she’ll be upset?”
    “Nah. She doesn’t care what I do.”
    The boy’s left leg was bouncing, as if he was getting ready to bolt.
    “Really? Didn’t seem that way to me. She got pretty pissed at you for talking to me.”
    Nick shrugged. “The old stranger-danger thing, you know? She still thinks I’m a baby.”
    The kid was quick. “Is that right? Maybe I should ask her.”
    Nick licked his lips and looked around wildly. But his friends had disappeared.
    “Unless you want to tell me what you were doing.”
    He scowled. “It’s none of your business.”
    “You’re right. It’s not.” Walker eased onto the leather seat of the bicycle and put one foot on a pedal. “See you later.”
    “Wait,” Nick called as he pushed away from the curb.
    Setting his feet on the ground, Walker looked over his shoulder and waited. Nick kicked at a rock on the sidewalk.
    “All right,” he muttered. He shuffled alongside Walker, who got off his bike to walk with him, his clips clicking on the sidewalk. After a minute, Nick asked, “When are you demo-ing Sorceress at the Harp?”
    “Not sure yet,” Walker answered. “I have to set that up with Quinn.”
    “Are you still, like, designing it?”
    “Fine-tuning it.”
    “Yeah? I was hoping you’d, maybe, show me what you do.”
    “I could.” They were walking past a gas station with a soft-drink machine by the door, and Walker said, “Want something to drink?”
    “Cola. Please,” he added.
    Nick didn’t say anything more until they reached a park along the Otter River. Skirting the playground, he headed toward a grassy spot on the riverbank. He took a long gulp of soda, and Walker set his bike on the grass and unscrewed the cap of his own sports drink.
    The shouts of children on the playground drifted over, and an occasional fishing boat went by, heading toward Lake Michigan. The kid put the bottle on the ground between his feet. “It’s Stevie,” he said abruptly. “Me and Dave go over to her house on Friday and Saturday.”
    “Is Stevie the girl who was with you today?”
    “Yeah.”
    “So why is it such a big secret?”
    He blew out a long breath. “Mom won’t let me go to Stevie’s. And Stevie’s parents would shit a brick if they knew we were there.”
    “How come?”
    Nick glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. “You’re not going to tell my mom, right? Because I’m telling you. That’s what you said.”
    “I said it depended on what you were doing.”
    “That sucks, man.”
    “That’s the deal. Take it or leave it.”
    He jumped to his feet and kicked a large rock into the water. Scowling, he said, “Stevie has to babysit her kid brother on Friday and Saturday night because her parents go out to party. But she’s scared to be there by herself. So me and Dave go over after her brother’s in bed.”
    “Can’t she just tell her parents she’s scared, and have them get another sitter?”
    “God, no.” He gave Walker a “you’re so lame” look. “Her parents sell weed. They don’t give a shit about Stevie. Once when her parents were gone, someone broke into the house and stole their stash. Stevie and her brother hid in the crawl space behind a bunch of boxes. Adam pissed all over himself.”
    Poor kids. “So now you stay with her while her parents are gone.”
    “Yeah. Me and Dave.”
    “Sounds like that could be dangerous.”
    Nick shrugged. “Stevie’s not