All Things Lost by Josh Aterovis Read Free Book Online

“Jake?”
         “You did remember!” his now deeper voice filled with pleasure.
         “Like I could forget you,” I said with a grin.
         “It's been a long time.”
         “Not that long. What's up?”
         “Guess what?”
         “Um…you're moving back here?”
         “What…? How'd you know?”
         “Judy, I mean your mom called Asher's mom today. I was over there earlier and heard then.”
         “Darn, I wanted to surprise you.”
         “Well you did; I wasn't expecting you to call. When are you moving?”
         “Soon I think. Like as soon as Mom finds a place for us to rent. Everything's ready on this end. School is out next week so that's not a problem.”
         “I thought you wanted to get away from this area? What changed?”
         “It was really more Mom's idea. She thinks it will be good for me to be closer to family.”
         “Good for you?”
          “Yeah. Things haven't been easy. I mean...” He broke off and took a deep breath. “And Mom says she misses the area too, it's where she grew up after all.”
         “Well, I'm glad you're moving back. I can't wait to see you.”
         “I can't wait to see you either. Are you and Asher still…?”
         “Yeah,” I said slowly. I wasn't sure where he was going with this. Jake and had come very close to dating once. He'd tried his hardest to steal me away from Asher and almost succeeded.
         “Oh. That's cool. I was just checking.”
         Great, I thought, just what Asher and I need right now.
         “Well Mom's saying I have to get off now. I guess I'll see you soon.”
         “Ok, and tell your mom I said hi.”
         “Ok, bye Killian.”
         “Bye, Jake.”
         We hung up and I stood staring at the phone for a minute. Was Jake still carrying a torch for me? And if so how did I feel about that? I shook my head as if to clear that line of questions. My hand was still on the phone when it started ringing so I just picked it up.
         “That was fast. What were you doing, sitting on the phone?” Asher said.
         “I just hung up. Jake called.”
         “Oh. Yeah, it was busy when I tried a minute ago. What did Jake want?”
         Was it my imagination or did Asher sound a little jealous? He knew all about my history with Jake but he'd never shown a jealous streak before.
         “He just wanted to make sure I knew he was moving back,” I told him.
         “Oh…ok…well…”
         “Did you call for a reason or were you just checking up on me?”
         “Checking up on you? I'm not…”
          “Never mind. I'm sorry.”
         “I was calling because somebody just called me.”
          “Who?”
         “Caleb.”
          “Who?”
         “Caleb? The kid from the internet?”
          “Oh yeah, the abused kid.”
          “Yeah.”
         “What did he say?
         “Get this; his dad told the investigators that Caleb attacked him, that it was self-defense. And they bought it. Caleb is in some sort of juvie jail right now for assault.”
         “Well how do you know that isn't true?  Maybe Caleb is lying to you.”
         “Oh come on, why would he lie to me? What would he have to gain from that? Besides, Caleb is little, like smaller than Will little, and his dad is huge.”
         “Have you met them?”
         “No…”
         “Then how do you know any of that? It's just what Caleb has told you. There are a lot of nut cases out there, Ash, people who make up stories just for the thrill of it.”
         “Well I don't buy that. He's a really nice kid. He doesn't deserve this.”
          “If he's innocent then the police or whoever will figure it out. That's their job. What do you want me to do about it?”
         “ Geez , Killian. What's wrong with you? Don't you have any feelings?”