Hunter Moon (The Moon Series) by Jeanette Battista Read Free Book Online Page A

shoved it back behind her ear. “Not likely. They had put down roots here. And they didn’t take anything when they left, not that there was ever much to take. But you get my point.”
    Rafe nodded. “Where did these guys hang out? They have any friends that are still around?”
    Audra eyed him nervously. “I don’t think you and your buddy over there should head over to the place they hang out. Unless he’s way more of a badass than he looks.”
    Finn resisted the urge to smile. Instead he just nodded at her to continue. He hoped he looked like the strong and silent type. She rolled her eyes. “It’s your funeral.” She turned back to Rafe. “It’s the Eight Ball, that gin mill just at the edge of town.”
    Rafe’s eyebrows rose. “You’re not hanging out there now, are you?”
    Audra snorted. “You kidding me? I’ve got enough scars, thank you very much.” She stood up painfully. “That it? ‘Cause that’s all I got. You know the way out.”
    Finn followed Rafe out of Audra’s front door. They had walked to the end of the lot and had just hit the sidewalk when Finn couldn’t contain himself. “Okay, what was the point of that exercise?”
    Rafe said, “Audra and her grandmother know most everything that goes on in this town. If they don’t know about it, it’s not worth knowing. I figured they’d have some idea about the disappearances.”
    “What’s with her?”
    Rafe cut his eyes over at him. “You mean the attitude? Or the scars?”
    “Both.” Finn would be lying if he said he didn’t want to know about them.
    Rafe ran a hand through his shaggy hair. This time his hair was cut that way deliberately, not because he’d been neglected and forgotten. Finn had forgotten for a second how much the kid had in common with Audra. “She hates my family—no big surprise there. Audra used to run with Teresa’s crew, but then they turned on her for some reason. I never found out why and Audra won’t talk about it, even now. Anyway, the girls nearly killed her—she almost lost a leg and was in the hospital for weeks after.”
    “I figured something like that may have happened.” Finn wasn’t an idiot and the subtext between Rafe and Audra had been so obvious that it could almost be called text. “Did she give you anything to go on?”
    “Not much. And I’m not sure we’re properly equipped for the Eight Ball.”
    “How bad can it be?” Finn had been in plenty bars up in the mountains. Some were a little rough, but he’d never had a problem before. He was the kind of guy that could get along anywhere.
    Rafe gave him a wary side-eye, but said nothing.
     

Chapter Seven
     
    Finn told himself that the next time his companion said they weren’t properly equipped to go somewhere he would listen. If his body wasn’t found in a shallow grave somewhere, that is. At this point, he wasn’t entirely sure if that was outside of the realm of possibility.
    The Eight Ball was so far beyond the kind of dive bars Finn was used to as to almost be from another planet. This was a blue collar biker bar, not some college beer bar. The floor was dusty from the dirt that came from construction sites, brought in by countless pairs of work boots stepping over the threshold. The music was mostly old rock and country. The furniture was wooden, scarred, and full of large, unpleasant-looking men. There were a couple of pool tables in the back, all with games going.
    The men who populated the place—because there wasn’t a woman to be seen, not even behind the bar—wore work clothes: flannel shirts over stained and singed white t-shirts, heavy work pants or jeans, or biker gear. A lot had the weathered look of those who are out of doors in the hot sun. A few looked like human jerky.
    None of them looked remotely friendly.
    He wished he’d worn something a little more rugged and a little less likely to get his ass kicked. His cargo shorts and faded t-shirt were fine for hanging around the house in Miami, but in