Read Online Undisclosed by Jon Mills - Free Book Online Page A

but his throat felt dry. “Where’s Dad?” Travis murmured, lying back on the bed. “I need to see if he’s all right.”
    Laura stared at him for a moment then diverted her eyes to the floor.
    “They said you might ask that,” Laura said. “Travis, your father wasn’t in the vehicle.”
    “Yeah, I know that, he must have gotten thrown from the truck.”
    “He was never in the truck,” she said adamantly.
    He scowled. “What? Of … of course he was,” he stammered. “He picked me up from the store, he was taking me home.”
    “Travis,” Laura said, running her hands through his hair, “your father is away, he dropped the truck off at the store, and you must have veered into the other lane.”
    Travis swatted her hand away from his head. “No, no, that’s not what happened.” Travis pulled himself up and surveyed the room. Could this still be a dream? Am I imagining all this?
    “Hon, I got a phone call from your father yesterday, telling me he had to go out of state for a while, and he had left the truck with you, while your bike is in the pound.”
    Travis frowned, staring in disbelief.
    “Dad was there, I saw him—I heard him.”
    Laura gave a blank stare.
    “No, Travis, you were the only one there.”
    What about the black-eyed man? The girl? The others I heard?
    Travis threw the blue covers off his sweat-drenched body and swung his bare feet over the edge onto the hard, cold floor. He stumbled off the bed, his body feeling like all the bones in his legs had been removed, leaving him clambering against the side table and causing the side lamp to crash to the floor.
    The ECG monitor started beeping faster.
    “Travis,” Laura said, dashing around the bed and gripping him by the arm.
    “Let me go.” He pulled his arm away. “I need to find Dad.”
    “Not in this condition, you’re not,” she said, blocking his way. It had been a long time since his mother had taken such a strong tone with Travis. He could count on one hand the number of times they had argued.
    The door to the side of them flew open and Ryan entered, holding two steaming cups of coffee in his hands. He had on a black Radiohead T-shirt and his hair was in complete disarray, as if he had slept with his head against a wall.
    Travis and Laura stared at him.
    “Uh, I can come back if you want,” he blurted out, already turning to head back out.
    “No, it’s fine,” said Laura, motioning for Ryan to enter. She snatched up her cigarettes off the side and shot Travis a stern but loving look. Ryan stepped to one side, handing her one of the coffees.
    “Thanks, Ryan, maybe he will listen to you.” She glanced back over her shoulder at Travis, who was now sitting back on the bed.
    The door drifted closed behind her.
    Ryan ambled over to the bedside, slumping down on the chair.
    “You probably could use this,” he said, extending the foam cup to Travis.
    “I could use it? Have you seen your hair this morning?” He smirked.
    Ryan shook his head and softly laughed. Dropping into the chair next to him, he flipped the lid off the coffee and took a sip. “Uh, yuck,” he said, screwing up his face. “They really scraped the bottom of the barrel on this one.” He spit the coffee back into the cup.
    “It’s probably been fermenting on the counter for the past week and they’re just nuking it,” Travis said, rubbing his fingers on the bridge of his nose.
    “Ah, you gotta love hospital coffee,” he commented, tossing it into the garbage.
    “So what happened?” Ryan asked as he walked over to the flowery curtains and tugged them open. Both of them were bathed in sunshine; it was morning outside and the sky was clear.
    “That’s what I want to know,” Travis said. “I didn’t crash that truck, though.”
    “I dunno, Travis, the doctors said you took quite a bump to—”
    “Someone took him,” he said, cutting him off and getting back into bed.
    Ryan frowned. “What?”
    Travis hesitated before he spoke.
    “I know this