Read Online Running Wide Open by Lisa Nowak - Free Book Online

name, and I wanted to see him squirm when he said it.
    “They named me Horatio,” he said evenly. “Not that it’s any of your damned business.”
    I turned around, giving him a look of undivided interest. “Horatio? Ho- ra -tio? Well, now. Isn’t that original.”
    “Not especially. They’ve been naming the firstborn sons in our family that since God was a little boy. You’re lucky Saundra’s your mother, instead of your father.”
    “What?” And then I got it. The accident of one misplaced Y chromosome had spared me that fate and saddled him with it instead.
    “Forget it,” Race said. He’d regained his composure, and now looked more burned-out than pissed.
    Somehow, the fact that I couldn’t set him off made me want to do it that much more. I took one final drag off my cigarette and crushed it out in the bowl. “So,” I said, “You score with Kasey yet?”
    Race gaped at me like I’d shot a puppy. Then his mouth clamped shut and his jaw knotted tight. Bingo. Almost entirely by accident, I’d discovered his Kryptonite.
    “Listen, you little—”
    “Nope, I guess you haven’t.”
    “—if you ever say anything like that around Kasey, you’ll wish your parents had shipped you off to military school.”
    The surge of pleasure I got from his reaction would’ve been sweeter if it hadn’t come with a side order of guilt. I glanced away. “Jeez, dude. Don’t get so excited.”
    “I’m serious, Cody.”
    “Okay, okay.” Obviously he was completely gonzo about her. I shot another star at the dartboard. It missed.
    “And what the hell do you think you’re doing? My trailer might be a dump, but you don’t have to make it worse. If you wanna play with your little stars, take ’em outside.”
    I glanced at him disdainfully as I stepped across the room to collect my weapons. “These are not ‘little stars’,” I said. “They’re shuriken. Don’t you know anything about the martial arts?”
    “No, but then I never expected you to know how to tune up a race car, either.”
    I wrestled a shuriken out of the door. The paneling squeaked and cracked as it pulled free. “What makes you think I want to know how to tune up a race car?”
    Race didn’t answer, but as he watched me retract the remaining weapon, the anger in his expression drained away and a sort of understanding took its place. “I guess you’re really into that martial arts stuff, huh?”
    I shrugged.
    Race contemplated me for a few seconds then turned and left the room. He came back almost immediately with the Yellow Pages.
    “What’s that?” I asked.
    Race flipped it over in his hands, examining both covers. “Looks like a phone book,” he said, holding it out to me.
    “Oh, real perceptive, dude. What do you expect me to do with it?”
    For a second I was sure he was going to suggest something vulgar, but he resisted the obvious, even though I’d left myself wide open.
    “Look up a karate school. Sign up for classes.”
    For once, my rapier wit failed me. I stood staring at him, momentarily stumped, and then a surge of anger welled up. How the hell could he go on being nice to me?
    Part of me wanted to tell him to piss off, but I’d been begging my parents to let me study karate for years. Mom flat out refused, saying it was too violent, and Dad wouldn’t cross her even though he thought she was being ridiculous.
    “You know how much that would piss off my mom?” I asked.
    Race grinned wickedly. “That makes it even better.”
    * * *
    Left alone in the bedroom, I studied the torn, graffiti-embellished book. Could it be that easy? Just look up a school and make the call? What if he was messing with my head?
    I couldn’t believe he was offering me something I’d always wanted. Why would he do that? All I’d done was give him shit. And then it hit me. Race was gonna go on being nice no matter what I did. That’s just who he was. The kind of guy who thought to buy a sandwich for his crew chief, and took the time to