Read Online Infinite Risk by Ann Aguirre - Free Book Online

room. She wants me doing housework when I’m not at school.”
    â€œYour uncle is nicer?”
    â€œYeah. He was my dad’s younger brother, and I always liked him. But he’s gone two or three days a week. He’s in sales and the market is tough, so…”
    â€œThat might be part of why your aunt is so awful. If they’re strapped for cash already.”
    In the dark, I sensed more than saw him nod. “Could be. Doesn’t make living there any less awkward. Sometimes I pretend my dad didn’t die and I have my old life back. Other days I imagine my mom getting her shit together and coming for me.”
    â€œDoes it help?” I whispered.
    â€œNot really. Because I know nobody’s coming to save me. I just have to stick it out until I graduate. College will be better, right?”
    â€œDefinitely.”
    â€œTell me something?”
    â€œDepends on what it is.” I rolled over because it felt weird not to face him when we were having this intimate conversation.
    â€œWhy don’t you just drop out? Isn’t it hard moving all the time?”
    â€œIt’s a milestone. And it’s come to mean something to me. If I quit, then that’s like accepting I don’t have a future.”
    That was the one true part of these lies; back when the headmaster had agreed to let me finish my senior year on independent study at Blackbriar, I’d known I could pass the equivalency exam right then and save myself the bother. But I couldn’t, not after everything that happened. It was too much like giving up.
    â€œYou could get your GED and still go to college. It would be better if you had roommates and a nice place to stay.”
    â€œPlaces like this don’t care, as long as you can pay. I can’t get into college or an actual apartment with a fake ID.” Luckily, there were logical reasons to back up my presence in his life.
    â€œRight, you need to be eighteen. So you might as well graduate while you’re waiting?”
    â€œBasically.”
    â€œI really respect you. Nobody’s looking out for you and yet you’re still doing everything you need to. So many people would do crazy shit in your situation.”
    â€œYou mean like invite guys to sleep over?” I said, smiling.
    Kian laughed softly. “Okay, you got me. But I appreciate you taking the risk. I might’ve frozen to death waiting for my aunt … and I’m actually having an awesome time.”
    â€œHere?” My skepticism was obvious.
    â€œHey, I live in an attic. It’s not a cupboard beneath the stairs, but it’s freaking close. My aunt wants me to nail up the paneling to cover the insulation.”
    â€œSo she wants you to build yourself a room to live in?”
    Damn, it’s worse than he ever told me. Oh, Kian.
    â€œBasically. I keep telling her I don’t know to hang paneling or dry wall, and she’s all, You’re supposed to be a genius or something, right? Figure it out. Like I have nothing better to do than teach myself DIY construction.”
    â€œIsn’t that kind of hard to learn from a book?”
    â€œProbably. And if I don’t keep my grades up, I’m not going to college; that simple.” His voice contained all the yearning in the world, picturing his escape from Cross Point.
    Time to plant a seed.
    â€œThere are a lot of great schools in Boston,” I said.
    Kian sighed. “Harvard obviously. But there’s no way I’m getting in there.”
    â€œIt’s not the only one, though, and Boston is a cool city. I lived there for a while. It was probably my favorite out of everywhere I’ve been. I’d like to go back someday.”
    â€œI’ll bear that in mind. So … how long will you be here?” Somehow he seemed to realize there was a certain transience about me, maybe from the room I was staying in.
    â€œUntil the end of the term.” It was better if he