Home From Within by Jennifer McCartney, Lisa Maggiore Read Free Book Online Page A

him.”
    Jessica thought about that. Would her father be capable of murdering a boy over a hickey? The answer she came up with did not surprise her. It was a definite yes.
     

     
    The day after the “boys-under-the-window” incident, her father told Jessica they needed to have a talk. Jessica waited for him in the office, seated on the capacious leather sofa, staring at the angry-faced bear. When her father entered, he placed two Colt .45s on the table between them. Jessica was used to seeing weapons in the house. Her father was a hunter and ran a business in which he used weapons and had special containers with locks for the arsenal he would take on business trips. He also had a large collection of antique swords, knives, and other devices that inflict catastrophic harm displayed on the walls. Jessica often thought no one in his right mind would ever want to break into this residence.
    “I need for you to understand that I will not have you jumping out the window to hang out with boys.” He leaned forward in his chair. “You see these on the table?”
    Jessica looked at them and nodded.
    “You ever have any boys outside your window again, they will be filled with bullets from these two guns. I will tell my cop friends that they were trying to break in. I will be completely absolved of any wrongdoing.”
    Jessica held her breath for a few seconds so she could steady herself.
    He stared at her with an intense yet distant look. It was as if he had roadblocks in front of his emotional highway and was not sure how to navigate around.
    “You are my daughter, and I will not allow anything bad to happen to you. Do you understand?”
    Jessica started to dig her nails into the palms of each hand. How was she going to control Barbara or anyone else in the neighborhood who thought it would be funny to throw rocks at her window? The pressure she felt at that moment was insurmountable. Kids could be killed, and none of it was in her control. Where was her mother in all this? Just a casual observer in a possible murder case?
    “I understand but . . .”
    “No, no buts. I have made it clear what the consequence will be if you disobey my rules again.”
    And with that, he collected his guns and walked out of the room, leaving Jessica to wrestle with this newfound madness.
     

     
    At dismissal time, Jessica was surprised to find Paul walking with her to her locker.
    “Are you going home to watch your little brother?” he asked.
    She looked at him puzzled, until the lie from yesterday came rushing back. “Oh, no not today.”
    “So you wanna do something?”
    “You mean right now?”
    “We have been set free.”
    Jessica smirked at that statement. Free was definitely relative. “Um, I wish I could, but my father’s coming back from a business trip so I have to go right home.”
    “Okay. What about tomorrow?”
    Jessica started to blush. She realized that he was asking her out.
    “Uh . . . I . . . I don’t know.”
    Paul was staring at her face. He looked around as they slowly approached her locker. “I wanna go out and do something.”
    “Do you mean with just me?” she whispered so the other students around could not hear.
    “Yeah,” he said, looking straight into her eyes.
    This moment was one she had fantasized about for the last two months. Funny thing is she had always daydreamed about scenarios in which they were already a couple, never about that first moment when he asked her out. Despite mounds of excitement that piled into her, reality began to bare its ugly teeth. She could never be Paul’s girlfriend, her father would see to that.
    Jessica stared back at his crystal clear blue eyes. There was no heaviness or glassy look to them this time.
    “Paul . . . I want to go with you, but I can’t.” She put her head down.
    He leaned closer. She could smell his clean scent.
    “So you want to go out with me?”
    “Yes,” she said, looking back up. “But I can’t.” Before Paul could ask the