Read Online Choke: 2 (Pillage Trilogy (Pillogy)) by Obert Skye - Free Book Online

but I knew he was capable of taking care of himself. “He would never be away from your cooking for too long.”
    “There’s a good soul down in you,” Millie smiled. “It’s always a treat when it surfaces.”
    I smiled the way she liked me to and started into the breakfast. The orange juice and flapjacks were amazing.
    After finishing off more than my share, I called Wyatt to invite him up, but he wasn’t home. So I ran outdoors and across the property to the garage.
    The garage house was immense. The garage was long enough to park ten cars and deep enough to add thirty more. It was made of stone and the roof had several chimneys and dormers. There was also a huge weathervane on top of a tall stone cupola. The weather vane was in the shape of a cherub, but lightning had struck it so many times that it was burnt and the head had been blasted off. Now it looked like a charred, headless baby. There were storage rooms and offices on both sides of the garage as well as an upper floor filled with more rooms and mounds of junk. The stables were right next to the garage house, and they were almost as large but relatively empty at the moment.
    I walked up the driveway and around the side of the garage. The area behind was heavily forested with thick pines and thin white trees. There were some doors and windows on the back of the garage, but most of them were rusted and looked as if they had not been opened or fiddled with for quite some time.
    I put my hands on my head and looked around. I had no idea what I was searching for, and all I could see was forest. I did what Whitey had told me to, but there was nothing to see on the ground but dirt and leaves and an occasional bit of stone. I was kind of surprised not to find Old Whitey out there practicing with his sword.
    “This is stupid,” I told myself. “I’m going to see Kate.”
    I returned to the manor, took a shower, and changed into a black T-shirt and jeans. I was excited to go see Kate. I figured she was mad at me for almost killing her and that was why I hadn’t heard anything from her. My hope was that once I smiled at her and said something charming, she would forget my mistakes and forgive me.
    I jogged down the stairs and burst out of the back doors on the opposite side of the main kitchen. It wasn’t raining, but there was plenty of mist to give you that overall feeling of moistness.
    I took the brick driveway to the far edge of the house.
    “Beck,” a voice startled me.
    I turned, and there was Van taking pictures of the manor. He was still wearing the same blue hoodie, and his dark goatee and hair looked disheveled.
    “What are you doing here?” I asked, quite annoyed. “You’re not allowed on our property.”
    “Calm down, sport,” he said, holding up his arm and showing me his left palm. “I told you we’d talk later, and I just wanted to make sure you made it home all right.”
    “I’m fine,” I said. “Now leave.”
    “How’s Mr. Binkers?”
    “I threw him away,” I lied. There was no way that I was going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that at this very moment Mr. Binkers was sitting on my dresser looking out the window.
    “I’m sorry to hear that,” Van said, sounding as if I had just informed him that my best friend had died.
    “You can go now,” I said pointing down the driveway.
    “I want to help you, Beck,” he pleaded with mock compassion. “If there’s something bothering you I can help.”
    “Okay,” I agreed. “There’s this reporter that won’t leave me alone. Can you help me throw him off my property?”
    Van laughed, which only made me like him less.
    “Seriously,” I added.
    “Listen, Beck, you don’t want me off your property,” he said as if he was a hypnotist and he was trying to put me into a trance.
    “Stop telling me what I want or how to feel,” I insisted.
    “Fine, but you need to understand, I’m cool to you because I like you. But what you did with those dragons was no joke.