Read Online The Keeper by Rosanne Hawke - Free Book Online Page A

gone.
    â€˜Didn’t go so well, eh, mate?’ Dev’s still staring at the water. ‘You sure Zoe’s not your sister?’
    â€˜Nuh. Why?’
    â€˜She acts like one – like a wolf protecting a cub. Guess I should’ve known this wouldn’t work.’
    â€˜What won’t work?’ I suddenly feel like Shawn Houser’s hands are tightening around my neck. Panic rises. Except this is worse; at least I know how to get rid of hands around my neck. ‘What do you mean?’
    â€˜Being your pretend dad and all. There’s more to it and I should’ve thought more—’
    â€˜But it’s okay. I want you to be.’
    â€˜Your family doesn’t.’
    â€˜Don’t I count? Besides Zoe’s not family and Gran’ll be okay. She was happy to see you.’
    â€˜She won’t be now. I think Zoe knows something about me.’
    â€˜Like about your kid, you mean?’
    Dev sighs as though he is hauling cargo off a ship in a storm and the loss of it would be too great.
    â€˜Do you know where your father is, mate?’
    â€˜I don’t have one.’ Except you , I wish I had the guts to say.
    He turns to me then. ‘Everyone has a biological father, mate.’
    â€˜I don’t know about him.’ An image of Shawn Houser mouthing off comes to mind. ‘All I heard at school was that he went to jail years ago.’
    â€˜What did your gran say?’
    â€˜I never asked. I didn’t want to know if it was true.’
    Dev’s quiet a bit after that.
    â€˜Can people change, Dev? In jail? Do you think if my dad was there, he could change?’
    â€˜I don’t know about him, mate. But I did.’
    â€˜You – You were in—?’ Gran would have a fit. Maybe Dev’s right and Zoe’s found out. No wonder she spat the dummy. I wonder what he was in for but I don’t ask – I know what this feels like. I never like kids asking why I’m in the focus room at lunch. I find something simple to talk about. ‘Why did you get eagles?’
    Dev shifts his position on the rock. ‘Because eagles fly alone.’
    â€˜Were you in a club?’
    â€˜Once. I liked the good stuff, belonging and all that, but I still liked to be myself. I didn’t like having to stick up for someone who’d do something I wouldn’t have, just because he was part of the club. There’s always one that thinks they can get away with anything because of that protection. I tried to leave but it wasn’t the kind of club you left easily. There was an accident. My wife and kid were on the bike with me. It was my fault in a way. I lost everything – my wife, my kid, my club, my freedom . . .’
    â€˜You went to jail for that?’
    â€˜Manslaughter. When you’re a biker it’s presumed there’s something else going on, and there were things I couldn’t say.’
    â€˜But that’s not fair. You’re not like that. Look at the way you handle the fish. The things you say.’ There were other things too. The time we were walking along the jetty and a visitor to the area deliberately stepped in Dev’s path. Dev sidestepped yet he didn’t lower his gaze so that the other guy looked sheepish as he disappeared. Suddenly I realise something. ‘You don’t really like to fight, do you?’
    Dev turns to look me in the eye. ‘But what did you see first, mate? That? Or the leathers and the bike?’
    I don’t answer. Because it’s true. He does look kind of awesome when you first see him. So, maybe that’s all that’s bothering Zoe too – the biker stuff.
    â€˜What was it like – in jail?’
    â€˜Bloody awful. Except there was this little guy. He’d done something that the other guys used to beat him up for whenever they got the chance. But he never fought back. He believed in a power outside