Read Online The Buried (The Apostles) by Shelley Coriell - Free Book Online Page B

asked.
    “Nope.”
    “Play video games?”
    “Nope.”
    “What do you and your buddies do?”
    “Hang out.” Alex continued to inhale food.
    Boys ate a lot. What else did they do? Hatch recalled his early teens. Back then he had one thing on his mind. “You got a girl?”
    Alex snorted. “Like I’d tell you.”
    Hatch turned in the direction of Sydney Harbor. Do you see me, Great Aunt Piper Jane? I’m trying. I’m really, really trying.
    Hatch and Alex finished the meal in silence, and when Hatch went topside with the keys to the borrowed SUV, Alex followed. Instead of stomping down the dock, the boy plopped onto a deck chair. He toed a coiled rope.
    “You and the hot chick in the pearls, were you really married?” Alex asked.
    Hatch knew the boy was stalling for time, not because he wanted to spend time with his father but because he wanted to avoid going home to a granny who was tired and cranky, and two twin brothers who terrorized him. “Ten weeks.” Hatch sunk onto a bait bucket. He’d give the boy a few more minutes’ break.
    “What happened?”
    “Respiratory problems. She couldn’t breathe in my world. I couldn’t breathe in hers.”
    “So why’d you marry her?”
    Because when you were having the best sex of your life, who cared about respiratory failure? But he and the spawn were hardly ready for a father-son chat about birds and bees. Hatch leaned on the bucket and grinned. “I love girls in pearls.”
    Alex’s forehead creased and he nodded slowly. What was going on in his crazy teenage head? Was he thinking about Grace? About his own hot chick?
    Alex dug his toe into the coil of rope. “I had a boat once. Little dory skiff. Found it swamped out near Alligator Point.”
    Finally, something they could talk about. “You have to do much work to her?”
    “Little bit of splintering on the bow. Borrowed a sander from a neighbor and got it sealed. Wasn’t pretty, but she was great on the water.”
    “Get in any good fishing?”
    “A few nice redfish. Did some oyster tonging, too. Used to take her all around the bay until Granny found out. Took it from me. Said it was too dangerous. Pissed me off.”
    “Your granny worries about you.” Hatch was no profiler like his teammate Hayden Reed, but Hatch had had no trouble reading Alex’s Granny. When he met with her earlier in the day, it was clear she was a tired old woman single-handedly raising a set of rambunctious twins and a thirteen-year-old boy who was mad at the world.
    Alex kicked at the rope. “What the fuck do you know?”
    Hatch jabbed at the flop of hair hanging across his forehead. “Apparently not a whole hell of a lot.” Which meant it was time to go, but he owed this kid the truth. He leaned toward the boy and rested his elbows on his knees. “I’m not going to bullshit you, Alex. I haven’t been around a single day in your thirteen years on this planet. As a matter of fact, until yesterday, I never knew you existed.”
    “Don’t you go bad-mouthing my momma.”
    Hatch raised both hands. “I’m not blaming your momma for anything. She had reasons for what she did and didn’t do, and it’s not my place to pass judgment on her, but I am going to come clean with you, because you deserve it.”
    Alex’s lip curled.
    “I’m not father material, Alex. The truth is I’m not even family material. Just ask the hot chick in pearls.” Hatch stood. He needed to move, to get the wind in his hair. “But your granny called me in here because she needed help. She said you needed help. And I want to help. I owe it to you, today and in the future.”
    “We don’t need nothing from you.” The chip on Alex’s shoulder was back, blocking out the sun. “So why don’t you take your stinkin’ boat and your stinkin’ crab and stinkin’ leave.” Alex kicked the rope and stormed off the boat toward the parking lot.
    “That’s the goal, pal, that’s the goal,” Hatch said to the wind. He’d come clean with the kid. His