Haze by Erin Thomas Read Free Book Online Page B

swimmer. You want to talk front crawl, I’m your guy. I’m not a detective, and neither are you.”
    She crossed her arms and looked away.
    â€œWhy don’t we go for coffee? We can talk about this, okay?” We would be late for dinner, but so what?
    Abby studied me for long enough that I started to feel fidgety. I held myself still.
    â€œSee you around, Bram,” she said. She kicked her bicycle into motion.
    Panic rolled in my stomach. “Wait!” I pedaled hard and caught up with her as she turned onto a side street. I pulled ahead, then yanked my bike crossways in front of her, cutting her off.
    She braked, but not fast enough. We crashed down together, and I scraped across the asphalt. We lay there, panting, in a tangle of limbs and bicycles. My right leg and arm burned.
    â€œWhat the hell was that?” she shouted, shoving me.
    â€œAre you okay?” I was an idiot. I was the world’s biggest idiot.
    â€œNo thanks to you.” Slowly, she stood and brushed gravel off her jeans. One knee was torn. Red, broken skin showed underneath. Her cycling gloves had protected her hands. She was moving fine. I exhaled.
    â€œI never meant to—I just wanted to talk,” I said.
    â€œNothing to talk about,” she said, glaring. “You don’t want to help, fine. Just stay out of my way.”
    â€œAbby, I—” But she was already pulling her bike free from mine. She checked it over, making sure nothing was bent or broken.
    She wasn’t interested in me. She never had been. I was only useful.
    â€œAre you okay? Can you stand?” she asked. Her voice was cold. It didn’t match the words.
    â€œFine,” I said.
    I watched her ride away.

chapter fourteen
    I made it back to school just in time for Tuesday chicken dinner. I didn’t say much, not even when Droid asked about my torn sleeve and the scrapes on my arm.
    And when I finished eating, I was still fuming. If I were a cartoon character, there would have been a black cloud over my head.
    â€œStudy hall, bro?” Droid asked on the way up to our room. I grunted and shook my head. I wasn’t going to be able to concentrate, math test or no math test.
    Instead, I changed into a pair of long shorts and a T-shirt. The T-shirt sleeve flapped against the road rash on my arm. Each touch stung. It felt sharp. I wanted that. “I’ll be in the weight room,” I told Droid.
    He raised a thick eyebrow. Yeah, I’d been for a bike ride. But I needed to move, and no way would I be allowed off campus for a run at this time of night.
    The weight room was deserted. Good. Somebody had strung a row of cardboard skeletons along the wall of mirrors. Somebody else had taken a marker and labeled the bones. The room smelled like stale sweat, as usual.
    I started on the treadmill. It wasn’t the same as a real run. But at least my feet were pounding, my blood was racing and I didn’t have to think.
    My legs felt rubbery. After the treadmill, I moved on to my upper-body workout. One of the fluorescent lights in the room was loose and buzzing. It set my teeth on edge.
    The last time I’d been in this room, Jeremy had been here too. I took a second to hope with every fiber in my body that he was going to get better.
    And then I worked. Arms out, then back slowly, pushing from the shoulders. Ten presses. A break. Ten more. I knew my routine by heart. Sweat dripped into my eyes and stung. Jeremy would have said I was pressing too much weight. I didn’t care. I wanted to.
    Every time Abby slipped into my thoughts, I drove her out of my mind. I had just been…convenient for her. Someone to help her find answers.
    Hell, if Jeremy was my brother, I would probably have done the same. He was a friend. And he had taken a big risk, telling me as much as he had.
    Was what happened to him my fault?
    I stood slowly. My knees shook. I looked around the room, and suddenly none of the machines made