Read Online The Dark Light of Day by T.M. Frazier - Free Book Online Page A

crowd laughed as she jumped to her feet, looking mortified.
    “You’re such a fucking freak! Jake!” She held out her hand to him. “Let’s fucking go!”
    Jake didn’t move. He didn’t even look at her. His gaze was fixed on me. “I told you I would come find you when I was done talking to Abby,” he said calmly.
    Alissa stormed off in a huff, muttering under her breath, but I wasn’t paying attention. I was focused on Jake and his reaction to what just happened. He’d remained eerily calm and relaxed during my scuffle with Alissa, while I could practically feel that most people in the crowd had instantly tensed. When you don’t want to be touched, you learn to read body language. I was pretty good at judging if a look of pity was going to turn into an attempted hug or if an angry conversation was going to turn into flying fists.
    “Impressive.” Jake pulled a joint from his pocket and lit up. “You want?” he asked, after taking a hit then offering it to me. I took a few slow, deep hits before passing it back. Alissa had set me back to sober, and I was out to correct that immediately.
    Movement in the corner of my eye brought my attentions to where Owen stood by his truck. His friend Andy was talking to him excitedly, making wild gestures with his hands, obviously telling Owen a story of some sort, but Owen didn’t seem to be paying attention. Instead, he was looking right over Andy’s shoulders in my direction. It wasn’t me he was looking at this time. It was Jake. And he wasn’t just looking at him. He was glaring at him. Owen raised his shoulders as if to ask me if I was okay. I figured he hadn’t seen what had gone down with Alissa. I nodded to him, and he focused his attention back on Andy. “You with him?” Jake asked.
    “He invited me. You know Owen?”
    “Sort of.” He took another hit from the joint and slowly released the smoke in little rings.
    “Impressive.”
    He laughed. “So Abby, is not turning into a whore the real reason you wear sweatshirts in the summer?” It was none of his business, but he wasn’t asking in a way that was making fun of me. He seemed curious.
    “Not really. I’m also deathly afraid of herpes and the clap. Stand too close to some of these girls, and that shit’ll just jump off them and on to you,” I joked.
    Jake flashed a smile that reached all the way to his eyes. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
    “So you with that crazy bitch that just tried to undress me in public?” I asked. Why was I asking? Why did I care?
    “Alissa,” he said. “Nah. I went to high school with her, is all.”
    “You guys are friends , then?”
    “Something like that.” Jake smiled.
    Bingo.
    And gross.
    Alissa had probably been the girl on her knees for him in the junkyard. I tried not to think about it: the choking, the spitting. It was too fucking repulsive. I shivered.
    “You’re in my seat, Dunn.” Owen seethed as he approached us. His forehead was lined, his brows knitted together.
    “Free country, Fletcher,” Jake said, taking another hit of his joint. “Find your own fucking seat.”
    “You know him, Abby?” Owen asked me.
    “Not really,” I said. “We’re just sort of chatting.”
    “You don’t want to chat with the likes of him,” Owen said. “He may be from around here, but he ain’t like us.”
    “That makes two of us,” I said quietly, as I downed the last of my beer.
    “What was that?” Owen asked.
    “Nothing.” I stood up. “Nothing at all.” I swayed. It took me a second or two to find my footing. Again, I hiccupped.
    Oh, great.
    Jake stood and turned to me like he was going to help me steady myself. I made sure to put distance between us. Owen held out another red cup.
    “I think she had enough, man,” Jake said. Their gazes locked. I swore I could see a heat wave of anger rising between them.
    Owen put the cup in my hand despite Jake’s warning.
    The two men stared down each one another like cage fighters preparing for a match.