Read Online Going Rogue by Robin Benway - Free Book Online Page B

nonetheless.
    “Let’s go this way instead,” I told Jesse, spinning on my heel and making a sharp right onto Grove Street. “View’s better.”
    “Why? What’d you just see?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Maggie? I may be a bad spy, but you’re a
terrible
liar.”
    I rolled my eyes, but he was right. Everyone said so. “I just thought I saw someone.”
    “Someone like … ?”
    “I just thought someone was tailing me. Or us. Probably me. I don’t know. He’s been walking in circles for the past five minutes.”
    Jesse looked around us, which I thought was pretty cute of him. “What does he look like? Do you want me to kick his ass?”
    “Oh my God,
no
. Definitely no ass kicking allowed. C’mon, look, there’s a bookstore. Let’s go inside and see if he follows.”
    “What if he does, though?”
    “Then we pull the fire alarm and I’ll go for his knees while you slam him in the face with a fire extinguisher.”
    “Really?”
    “Of course not. See?” I added, poking him in the ribs. “I’m not such a bad liar after all.”
    I led Jesse toward Three Lives & Company, where we went inside and hovered near the front windows for a few minutes. I kept my eye out for the guy while Jesse thumbed through the fiction section. “More required reading.” He sighed. “Do you see anything?”
    “Nope,” I said, resting one hand on an enormous atlas so I could peer down the street. “I guess it was a false alarm.” I wasn’t sure if it was or not, but I didn’t want Jesse to think otherwise.
    “You sure?”
    I turned to him and smiled. “Absolutely. Jumpy girl here, I guess. And you can’t be too careful.”
    “Hmm” was all Jesse said, but he picked up my hand off the atlas and ran his thumb over my knuckles. “Hey, I wanted to ask you something.”
    “Shoot.”
    “Spy humor. I get it.” Jesse didn’t exactly look amused as we left the store. “Anyway, my mom’s going to be in the city on Friday night. Do you still want to go to dinner with us?”
    I could tell from the apprehension on Jesse’s face that this was a Big Deal. “Sure,” I said. “Of course, I’d love to. Why is she coming back into the city?”
    Jesse took a deep breath. “She’s thinking about moving back here.”
    “Jesse!” I squealed before I could help it. “That’s amazing! Oh my God, you must be so happy!” I reached up andflung my arms around his neck, hugging him tight. “Does your dad know?”
    “I’m not sure. They’re not getting back together or anything, but she said last week that she was really missing it here.” Jesse’s eyes were sparkling a little and I knew how happy he must have been. He didn’t talk about his mom very much, but I knew how much her leaving last year had hurt him. It’s the words he didn’t say that always told me how he felt.
    “So you’ll come?” he asked. “Seriously?”
    “Of course! Even if I’m followed by a thousand creepers, I’ll be there! They can’t stop me!”
    Jesse untangled my arms from his neck and held me out to stare at me. “Please, Maggie, don’t bring the creepers with you.”
    “Okay, no creepers.”
    “You’re sure you’re cool with this? I know you’ve got a lot going on, what with your parents and everything.”
    “You,” I said, poking him in the chest, “are important to me. Yeah, things are crazy right now, but I can handle this. This is all going to be solved and wrapped by the time school starts, trust me. And I’m a spy but I have to eat, too, right?”
    “Right,” Jesse said, then kissed my nose. “I love you, you know that?”
    “Of course you do. I can kick your ass.”
    He smiled against my mouth and this time, I didn’t care who was watching us.

Chapter 9
    My parents were making dinner when I got back to the loft that evening.
    “Thanks, Jeeves,” I said to the fingerprint scanner as it let me through the front door.
    “Who’s Jeeves?” my dad called from the kitchen, where he was chopping onions and getting ready