Read Online No Mercy by Lori Armstrong - Free Book Online Page B

won’t never meet ’em because I failed it.”
    Why was he so desperate to be part of a group that didn’t want him? Boggled my mind. Rather than ask him to explain something even he probably didn’t understand, I changed the subject. “Where’s the knife now?”
    A sheepish smile appeared, then he stared at his stained sneakers. He swung his feet, and the suspension creaked as the truck bumped up and down. “I took Ma’s car when she was sleeping and drove back to Mr. P.’s. Left it on the workbench in the garage. Might make me a pussy, but I would’ve given it back even if I had passed the stupid initiation.”
    There it was, that glimmer of a decent human beneath the surly teenage behavior and bad choices. He could change. He’d already won half the battle because he wanted to change. “Smart move.”
    “Thanks.”
    Another round of quiet.
    “Look, I just want to throw it out there that you can talk to me about stuff like this anytime. I won’t go running to your mom with what you tell me.”
    “Cool. He always said the same thing. I miss him, you know? We used to talk all the time.”
    “Your dad?”
    “No. Grandpa.” Levi smacked a mosquito on his arm. “It sucks that he died.”
    Sometimes I forgot I wasn’t the only one mourning the loss of Wyatt Gunderson. “Sucks big-time.”
    Somewhere behind us I heard girls giggling, which reminded me I hadn’t passed along the message from Molly. “Hey. I saw Molly and some other girl hanging out inside. They asked about you.”
    “Who was the other girl?”
    “Sue… Ellen?”
    His eyes lit up. “Sue Anne? Sue Anne is here?”
    “Yeah. Is she your girlfriend?”
    Levi snorted. “I wish.” He looked up at me, red spots on his cheeks. “She’s cool, even if she used to go out with that asshole, Little Bear. She’s in summer-school classes at the rec center with me. Sometimes we… never mind.” He hopped off the tailgate, touching the spot on his jaw where a bruise would pop up come morning. “Maybe she won’t mind if I’m a little beat up, eh?”
    “She’ll probably swoon right into your arms, tough guy.”
    “ Swoon? You sound like Gramps. Old-fashioned. Kinda dorky.”
    “Dorky?” I gave him my Eastwood flinty-eyed stare. “I’ve kicked ass for a lesser insult.”
    Levi grinned. “You ain’t as mean as you let on either.”
    I lifted my brows. “Now that’s pushing it, boy.”
    Before he disappeared into the darkness, he said, “I’m glad you came home, Aunt Mercy.”
    Home.
    He’d reminded me of another complication to my decision. Like it or not, he was the sole heir to the Gunderson Ranch. How could I sell his heritage out from under him?
    I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. As big as I talked about our options, and securing a solid financial future, I knew I wasn’t going anywhere. Neither was anyone else.
    I snapped the lid on the cooler, slammed the tailgate, jumped in the cab, and let old memories and guilt chase me all the way home.

SIX
    In the dusky early hours when the gauzy veil of the spirit world is at its thinnest, visions appear.
    The body is tethered to one world while the spirit journeys to the other. Eyes roll and jerk behind thin lids. Flesh burns. Sweat oozes from skin, thick as syrup.
    Muscles tighten, bracing for the first silvery flare.
    Flash— Blood pools in the dirt. Ugly black puddles, a poison even thirsty Mother Earth refuses to absorb.
    Flash— Blood boils the heavens, whipping clouds into an angry scarlet horizon.
    Flash— Blood trickles toward the riverbed. Swirling along the bank, seeping through the jagged stones to mix with the water.
    Red ground. Red sky. Red water.
    Three signs.
    Scents overwhelm: roses, gun oil, peppermint. Rain, perspiration, fear, leather. Blood.
    Then a malevolent chill pushes the stench of rotten flesh, of ruined innocence, of a diseased mind to the forefront of the subconscious.
    Everything is red. So much blood and death.
    A form covered in a dirty burlap robe appears,