Read Online The Bloody City by Megan Morgan - Free Book Online Page B

said. “Didn’t know you were here.”
    She flashed him a quick, tight smile. “Hey.” She set her cup on the counter. “Well, I better get out of here. Gotta get ready for this. Good to see everyone again.”
    She exited the kitchen. Jason watched her go with a frown.
    “Why does she keep running away from me?” he asked. “We were getting along so well for a while. Really well, if you know what I mean.”
    June leaned against the counter. “She’s trying not to possess your cock, would be my guess. It’s…probably not a pleasant experience.”
    Jason turned to the refrigerator and opened the door. “Everyone wants me.”
    “Welcome to my world.” Something caught her eye. “You’re wearing the watch.”
    Several weeks ago, bored, June went rooting around in the attic. All kinds of crap had been stored up there—maybe it was Aaron’s old stuff, or the people who had lived there before. She discovered a box of old jewelry, most of it junk, but she found a silver wristwatch that still worked. Since it was obviously a man’s watch, she’d given it to Jason—not because he needed a watch, though.
    Jason had a scar on his right wrist, from the restraints they’d held him in at the Institute. He rubbed and picked at it a lot. He told June he hated it, that the sight of it always took him back to that place.
    The watchband covered it completely.
    “Yeah.” He held his arm up. “It’s cool. Thanks.”
    She smiled. “No problem.”
    She went upstairs to check on Micha. He was awake, sprawled on his bed, shirtless. She sat down on the edge.
    “How are you feeling?” She rested a hand on his stomach, surreptitiously checking his temperature. Still too warm.
    “As well as I ever do.”
    “Are you worried about tonight?”
    “No. I’ll be glad to get out of here for a while. I feel like a prisoner. I’m going crazy.”
    “Out there, you’re a target.”
    He turned his head toward her. His eyes were dark in the shadowy room.
    “In here,” he said, “I’m ineffective. Idleness has always been something I feared. Lack of motivation. It’s an advocate’s worst enemy. You have to get out there and make a difference.”
    “This isn’t like getting equal rights for mind readers, Micha. The Institute wants to finish turning you into an abomination and then dissect you. That’s a good reason to lie low.”
    “I’m not an abomination. I’m just becoming that which I wanted to protect.”
    “Except that which you wanted to protect isn’t what you are. Who knows what it’s doing to you on a cellular level, or how it’s messing up your organs. You can march for gay rights too, or if we were in the fifties you could be fighting for civil rights, but you can’t take an injection to make you gay or black.”
    Micha was silent.
    “We’re doing all we can do, to keep them from doing what they want to do. To you.”
    Again, no reply.
    June curled up next to him. She rested her head on his chest. His heart thumped against her ear, fast and hard.
    “How did we end up like this?” she whispered.
    “Which do you mean, like this?” He waved a hand in the air. “Or like this?” He lowered it and stroked her hair.
    “Take your pick.”
    “I don’t know what I would have done without you these past few months,” he murmured.
    “Likewise.”
    She could stay there forever, listening to his heart, cuddled up to him, making believe all the drama was outside and not right here, sitting on their chests.
    “Have you seen Rose lately?” he asked.
    “No, thankfully.”
    “Thankfully,” he repeated, the word tinged with bitterness.
    She lifted her head and moved up until her face rested next to his. Despite never having seen a ghost prior, she was haunted by Micha’s wife, who was apparently trying to give June a message. Rose always appeared confused, but seemed to be proclaiming her innocence.
    Micha didn’t buy it, though.
    He draped an arm over her. She kissed him, because she didn’t like the