Cain by Kathi S. Barton Read Free Book Online

trouble.
Just...I’m sure Miss Rocky isn’t who I was looking for anyway. If
you’ll wait here, I’ll go and get you your payment. You did keep
your end of the bargain.”
    Cain stood. He was tired and thinking
maybe Neil was correct. Julie didn’t want to be found. He’d been
looking for two days now and still nothing. He was about to turn
away when the man spoke again.
    “ Miss Rocky is a good
girl, you know. She didn’t get mad at me when I cut her up the
other week. Scared, I was, having myself a bad dream and all. All
she’d been doing was telling me to get my fool self out of the
rain. I sliced her belly right open, I did. I quit sleeping with
the knife in my hand now. Too dangerous for an old fool like me to
do that.”
    Cain looked around. It was her and he
knew it. “Do you know where she is? That’s the girl I’m looking
for.”
    “ She’ll be back directly.
Miss Sally, she got herself a nasty cut the other day and Miss
Rocky went to take her to the clinic. They’ll get nasty with us
when we go. Miss Rocky, she gives it right back to them. Funny
thing to watch her get all up in their faces like she does.” The
old man laughed. “Spouting off them rules like she done wrote
them.”
    Cain just bet she did. He nearly
smiled, then the anger surged forward. Damned girl. He was going to
string her up when he found her. Then he wasn’t sure what he was
going to do. But she was certainly not going to live here anymore.
Cain was about to thank the man when he saw the bane of his misery
coming toward him. He was glad that he’d seen her first or she
might have run. But he was nearly to her when she looked up. The
older woman she was helping was still walking and talking even
though Julie had stopped.
    “ Hello. Are you my Carl?”
Cain looked at the older woman again, Sally, the man had called
her. “No. No, not my Carl. He wasn’t as pretty as you
are.”
    When Julie took a step back, Cain
grabbed her arm. “I don’t think so, Miss Rocky. You’re coming with
me. Now.”
    “ I don’t want to. I like
it here. How did you find me anyway?” Julie asked as she struggled
against his grip.
    “ Oranges. If you try to
run, so help me I will chase you down and beat that beautiful ass
of yours. I’m in a foul mood and—”
    “ Well there’s a shocker!
Cain Waite in a foul mood. You’ve been in one since I’ve known
you.”
    He felt his lips twitch. Damned girl.
Cain pulled her tight to his body. “Do you think there’s a
correlation there? You’ve tested my temper since I’ve met
you.”
    “ See here. You let Miss
Rocky go. I don’t care how many oranges and pears you bring me. You
let her go right now, boy. I will hurt you.”
    Cain looked at the man coming toward
him. His gait was slow but sure and Cain did not want to hurt him.
He didn’t want to hurt anyone, especially a man protecting the same
person he was. But the older man was sporting a bat.
    “ Julie,” Cain growled low.
“Tell him to stop. Tell him I’m not hurting you. I don’t want to
cause any trouble. I just want to take you home with
me.”
    Cain waited and so did the man. Cain
never took his eyes off of Julie’s face. He was sure of one thing,
there was going to be a fight, but he would lay odds it wasn’t
going to be with the man behind him. She looked ready to do battle
and he was sure she would take skin and blood when she was
finished.
    “ Its okay, Moon. I know
him. I don’t like him or care for him overly much right now, but I
know him. I have to go with him for a minute, then I—”
    “ Moon? You know her,
right? I’m trying to get her off the streets. You know this isn’t
the kind of life for a pretty young woman. You tell her that she
needs to come with me, please,” Cain said to Moon.
    Sally stepped forward. “Oh, dearie, if
he wants you to get off the streets, then you should listen to him.
He’s right. This ain’t no life for the likes of you. You’ll be worn
down in no time and you know that Rodney