Read Online Rock Chick 04 Renegade by Kristen Ashley - Free Book Online Page A

his body.
    “Best way to get them, Roam, is not to become one of them,” Nightingale cut in, his eyes sharp on Roam and I could tel he’d taken in everything.
    “You don’t know,” Roam spat at Lee, taking (I thought) his life in his hands. I didn’t expect many people talked to Lee Nightingale like that, certainly not fifteen year old boys.
    “You have no fuckin’ clue.”
    “My best friend is Darius Tucker,” Lee told him.
    Roam’s body went stil and his eyes grew wide. Mine did too.
    “I do know,” Lee said with finality.
    This hit Roam, I could tel , but he didn’t give up. His eyes went to me and Vance.
    “I wanna be you,” he said to Vance quietly.
    “You can’t be me. You gotta be you. And right now, you’re a kid. Be a kid,” Vance advised from behind me.
    “I’m not a kid,” Roam protested.
    “That ain’t a bad thing, Sugar,” Daisy put in.
    “I’m not a kid!” Roam yel ed at her.
    Al right. Enough was enough.
    “Roam, don’t speak that way to people. It’s rude,” I put in and shoved forward, detaching from Vance and going to Roam. “We’l get some hamburgers and we’l go somewhere and talk. The three of us.”
    “Done talkin’,” Roam said.
    “Roam, let’s talk with Law. Come on,” Sniff approached him too.
    Roam looked down on me. “You saw him lyin’ there, in a fuckin’ al ey, fuckin’ shit and trash al around him. Trash, Law. Trash . You and me and Sniff, we al saw Park lyin’ in the fuckin’ trash,” he said to me and I knew the vision of Park’s dead body was burned on his brain too.
    I swal owed then said, “Yeah, Roam, I saw him.”
    “We was gonna go to California, learn how to surf. We was gonna go to Alaska and wrestle polar bears,” Roam told me, for the first time confiding the teenage boy dreams he shared with Park.
    “Polar bears are mean motherfuckers. I saw that on some nature channel,” Sniff informed Roam, trying to be helpful.
    “Stop saying motherfuckers,” I said to Sniff then turned again to Roam. “Let’s get a burger. Come on.”
    “Park’d do it for me,” Roam said, stil not letting it go.
    I wanted to touch him, hold him, put my arms around him but I knew he wouldn’t want it. He was a teenage boy and he was a street tough standing in front of a posse of the biggest badasses in Denver. He’d freak if I tried to mother him. Not to mention, he’d never had a mother who’d touched him, held him and put her arms around him in a loving way. He wouldn’t know what to do.
    So instead I smiled at him. “Yeah, Park would do it for you and I’d be just as pissed at him, nagging him and getting in his face because it just isn’t smart.” Roam took a deep breath, maybe to say something, but I didn’t let him.
    “And then he’d listen to me and let me help him get his life sorted out.”
    Roam stared at me.
    “You know he would, Roam. Think about it. You know it,” I told him.
    “He would. He thought Law was the shit, even before she actual y was The Law,” Sniff added.
    Roam kept staring at me.
    “For God’s sakes, are you boys hungry or what?” I asked, throwing my arms out and pretending to sound exasperated.
    “I’m hungry,” Sniff said.
    “You’re always hungry,” I told him.
    Sniff grinned. “I’m a growin’ boy.”
    “I hope so. You need to fil out. The inspectors come to the Shelter and look at you, they’l think we’re starving you al to death,” I said.
    “’Special y if they look at May. I swear, she eats most of the pudding cups,” Sniff returned.
    “That’s not nice,” I admonished.
    “It’s true,” Sniff retorted, his grin growing into a smile.
    “Okay, maybe it’s true,” I relented, giving him a subtle wink.
    “Would you two shut up? I want a double beef burger with cheese, giganto-sized,” Roam cut in.
    I nodded to Roam immediately, trying my damnedest not to look as happy and relieved as I was that whatever it was that had a hold of him, he’d let go.
    I turned to take the