Verwandte Artikel zu Run: A Gratifying Novel (Fearless, 3, Band 3)
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Chapter One: Save Sam
You've Got Mail
"HELLO? ANYBODY UP THERE?"
Gaia had just stepped out of the shower when she heard the voice floating up the stairs to greet her. She wrapped a too-small towel around herself, went to the landing, and leaned into the stairwell. It was a familiar voice, but not one she expected to hear before eight o'clock in the morning.
"Ed?"
"Yeah."
"Um...what the hell are you doing here?"
She heard him laugh under his breath. "Just fine, thanks, and you?"
At the sound of his voice, a minute ray of happiness filtered down into the blackness of her mood. She hadn't spoken a word out loud since Saturday night, since everything...happened. Now it was Monday morning, and her words were so far back in her brain she had to hunt around for them. "N-Not that fine," she responded hoarsely. "I had..." How could she begin to convey the true horror that was her life? "Sort of a rough weekend."
"What else is new?"
She heard both affection and wariness in Ed's voice. He knew a "rough weekend" for Gaia meant more than teenage angst -- that it would involve things like firearms and kickboxing.
"Tell me about it over breakfast," he called. "I brought bagels."
Her stomach grumbled loudly. One thing this city had going for it -- authentic, fresh-out-of-the-oven bagels. They almost made up for the high price of Apple Jacks. She glanced down at herself and the small puddle forming under her feet. "I'm wearing a hand towel and a few cups of water," Gaia said, wishing Ella hadn't left early this morning, so that she could be disturbed by this exchange. At least Ella had taken George with her wherever she'd gone. Gaia disliked offending George as much as she enjoyed offending Ella.
"I repeat," said Ed, laughing again. "C'mon down!"
Gaia rolled her eyes, trying to ignore the undertones of the remark. Two minutes later, she'd slipped into her most-worn cargo pants and a gray T-shirt and was on her way downstairs, her hair dripping water over her shoulders. On the landing, she paused to study the familiar snapshot that hung in a frame there on the wall -- the photograph George had taken so long ago of Gaia and her parents. Gaia had tried to get rid of it, but Ella insisted it remain. She squinted at it, looking hard at her father.
Her father. She'd seen him two nights ago. Actually seen him and spoken to him.And decked him, she reminded herself bitterly.
After that he'd disappeared -- again.
Her stomach churned, both with confusion and with sadness. Why had he shown up here after all this time? What could it mean?
Was it some paternal sixth sense that had dragged him back into her life? Did he somehow know she'd beenon the verge of ditching her virginity, and he'd crawled out from whatever rock he'd been hiding under all these years to give her an old-fashioned heart-to-heart talk on morality, safe sex, and self-control?
Or was it just one more whacked-out coincidence in her life?
She leaned closer to the photo and stared into his eyes.
They appeared to be soft, kind, intelligent eyes -- and the smile looked genuine. The man she'd met on Saturday night had not seemed genuine at all. The warmth and gentleness she saw in the picture had been missing from that man. He was different, somehow.Lesser.
Apparently abandoning your kid and living on the run could take a lot out of a person. In the kitchen, Gaia was met by the aroma of fresh bagels and hot coffee. Ed, who had positioned his chair close to the table, looked up from spreading cream cheese on a poppy seed bagel. "You didn't have to get dressed on my account."
She was annoyed at the blush his grin brought to her face. "Shut up." Her eyes narrowed. "How did you get in here, anyway?"
"Door was unlocked," Ed said. "You should really talk to your roomies about that. I mean this is a nice neighborhood, but why court robbery, or worse?"
Gaia collapsed into a chair. That was weird. George never left the door unlocked. Must've been another brilliant Ella maneuver.
"Do you think it's kismet that this place is handicap accessible?" Ed asked suddenly.
Gaia raised an eyebrow. "It's either kismet...or the building code."
"I'm serious," said Ed. "Do you have any idea how many places in this city aren't?"
She felt a pang of pity but squashed it fast. "So what's kismet got to do with it?"
"You happen to live in wheelchair-friendly digs. I happen to be in a wheelchair." Ed shrugged. "It's like the universe is arranging it so that we can hang out."
"The universe clearly has too much time on its hands." She sat down and pulled her knees up, leaning them against the edge of the table.
"Like lox?"
"Hate them."
"Then I'm glad I didn't buy any." Ed pushed a steaming cup of coffee across the table toward her. "Three sugars, no cream, right?"
Gaia nodded, refusing to be charmed by the fact that he remembered, and took a careful sip.She could feel him staring at her.
"You look like hell," he said, shaking a lock of brown hair back off his forehead. Suddenly he appeared to realize this was not a smart thing to say to a girl -- any girl. "I mean...in a good way," he added lamely.
Gaia gave him a sidelong glance. "That's funny. I feel like hell." She took another, bolder sip of the hot coffee, letting the steamy liquid warm her from the inside.
"Now we're getting to it," Ed said, clasping his hands together and then cracking his knuckles. "You were unsurprisingly unfindable yesterday, Gaia. So let's hear it." He broke off a piece of bagel and pointed it at her. "Who was the lucky guy and how did the ceremonial shedding of the chastity belt go?"
Gaia ignored the bile rising in her throat, picked up a marble bagel, and took a gigantic bite. There was a reason she'd avoided Ed all day yesterday -- the need to avoidforced emotional spillage. "Subtlety isn't exactly a talent of yours, is it, Ed?" she said with her mouth full.
"Look who's talking."
He had a point there. She studied Ed for a moment -- the just-this-side-of-scruffy hair, the eager yet wary brown eyes, the dot of dried blood on his chin where he'd cut himself shaving. Gaia hated that she had to talk about this, but she did. She'd sucked Ed into the whole sorry situation when she confessed her virginity. Like it or not, over the past few weeks she had made Ed a friend, or something very close. He might as well know the truth.
Gaia closed her eyes. Shook her head. Sighed.
"It didn't happen," she said. And her whole body felt empty.
Ed dropped the knife onto the floor with a clatter. "It didn't?"
"Ed!" She opened her eyes and glared at him. "Think you can sound just a little more amused by that?"
"Sorry it didn't work out for you." Ed cleared his throat, and she could swear he was hiding a grin behind his steaming coffee. Some friend. "So what happened?" he asked.
Gaia took another aggressive bite of bagel. She chewed and swallowed before answering. "Let's just say I was witness to somebody beating me to it."
"Shut up!" Ed's eyes opened wide. "Gaia, tell me who we're talking about here. You can't keep me in this kind of suspense."
Say it, she commanded herself. Just say it. "It was Sam Moon."
A sudden shower of chewed bagel bits pelted Gaia's arms. "God, Ed! Food is to go in the mouth.In," Gaia said, brushing off her arms irritably.
"Do you mean you walked in on Sam and...Heather?" Ed choked out while simultaneously attempting to wipe his mouth.
Somehow, saying it out loud gave Gaia a bit of distance. The words were vibrating in the fragrant air of the kitchen. Outside of her instead of inside. "Ironic, isn't it?" Gaia asked, flicking one last bagel wad off her...
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