Read Online Tweaked by Katherine Holubitsky - Free Book Online Page B

guys can’t discuss the weather without lying about it.”
    Ryan drops his eyes again. “Yeah, I guess.”
    â€œAnyway, he won’t go,” I tell him. “Not because you’ve decided to go.”
    â€œWill you ask him?”
    I shrug. “Yeah, sure. I’ll ask him. But don’t wait for him. If you’re serious, go check yourself in.”
    Ryan backs up a little. “Yeah, okay.” He turns and starts down the sidewalk.
    I don’t believe that he will do it. Harris’s death has shaken him up, there’s no doubt about that. But I figure he’ll be wasted by the end of the night and by morning, he’ll have convinced himself that Harris had somehow brought it on himself. He’ll continue to use as though he’s invincible.
    Still, it can’t hurt to say it. “Good luck, Ryan.”
    He waves.

SEVEN
    Three days later, I sell my old Yamaha, cash my checks and withdraw all my savings. I walk home with two thousand dollars in my pocket. I have never had so much money on me or even seen it all at once. It’s five in the afternoon and despite the bank being only six blocks from my house, I have never been so jumpy. Even the shadow of a seagull passing over my head makes my heart leap to my throat. Every time a car slows I stash my hands in my pockets and pick up my pace. I desperately hope that it isn’t those two losers who are going to wind up with my cash anyway.
    In the end, I haven’t discussed what I’m about to do with anyone. I really don’t see any other way out. Mom and Dad are already so financially strapped, and Grandma would make me promise that I wouldn’t do it. She’d tell me she would find the money herself. That would be a real hardship on her fixed income, and Jade...well, she has problems of her own.
    So I’ve decided it’s best to get it over with and get on with life in our house. I still have my job—I’ll work extra shifts to cover the check my grandparents sent me. But I do plan on getting my money back from Chase eventually, even if I have to stoop to Ratchet’s level and extract it with a little blood.
    My parents are pleased that we’re going to a movie together. At least that’s what I told them Chase and I are doing when I asked to borrow Mom’s car. I know she’s hoping that we’ve found something in common to bring us closer together. I hate lying to her, but I can hardly tell her that fending off Chase’s drug dealers is the reason we’re going out.
    I back out of the garage and sit in the car in the driveway, waiting for Chase. When he finally slides into the front seat, he immediately flips down the mirror on the visor. He pats his hair in case, between the house and driveway, a strand or two has fallen out of place.
    Chase reeks of some heavy sweet cologne and he is wearing a new shirt. It reminds me of how he used to clean up after a five-day bender when he was ready to head back out on the street. I back out of the driveway. “I don’t know why you got all dressed up to visit a couple of thugs. Do you think if you look good they won’t hold a grudge? Keep in mind this is the last time you’re going to see them.”
    Chase doesn’t say anything. He just sits, staring straight ahead.
    â€œEver.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYou’re not going to see or contact them after tonight. And once you get a job you’re going to pay me back, two thousand plus interest. Then we’ll talk about the stuff you stole.”
    I just assume we are headed for the Eastside, the sleazy part of town where the smell of garbage and urine-soaked concrete drifts from the alleys and where those who gather have only one thing on their minds. But the Eastside isn’t where Chase directs me. Instead, once we’ve crossed the Second Narrows Bridge, I follow his directions until we are driving down an older street in Burnaby. This is a