My Blood Approves by Amanda Hocking Read Free Book Online Page B

think it had stopped
bleeding.
    With my other hand, I used the washcloth to
wipe off the cutting bored, pushing bloodied slices of green pepper
into the sink and down the drain.
    “ What’s going on?” Mom
always had the best timing and chose just then to come out of the
bedroom. Her hair was its usually frizzy mess, but she’d put on
worn out jeans and an over sized sweatshirt.
    “ I just cut my finger.” I
held up my injured appendage.
    Milo came out of the bathroom and jogged
over to me. As if I were a complete invalid, he started drying my
finger with a paper towel before putting on the Band-Aid.
    “ Milo, you know better than
to let her help you in the kitchen,” Mom said.
    She went over to the coffee table to grab an
ashtray, and then lit a cigarette as she walked back into the
kitchen. Her eyes scanned over Jack, but she didn’t say anything to
him. Instead, she just set the ashtray on the kitchen table and sat
down.
    “ Sorry,” Jack mumbled once
my finger was sufficiently bandaged. Whatever had gotten into him
seemed to be dissipating and the color in his cheeks
returned.
    “ I’m the one that cut my
finger. There’s no reason for you to be sorry.” I looked over at
him, and he smiled at me, but it wasn’t his usual cheerful
grin.
    “ We don’t really need a
salad anyway,” Milo decided.
    He pushed past me, collecting the vegetables
that I'd cut and tossing them in the garbage. They all hadn’t been
tainted with my blood, but enough of them had where it didn’t seem
worth it.
    “ So…” Mom blew out a smoke
ring and gazed intently at Jack. Her features still had that same
worn look they always did, but there was something extra in her
voice. “You must be Jack.”
    When she accented his name, that’s when I
realized what it was. She wasn’t as overt as Jane had been, but the
look in her eyes and the tone to her voice… it was definitely
seductive. My stomach twisted nauseously.
    “ And you must be Alice’s
mom,” Jack grinned at her, authentically this time. He leaned back
against the counter and crossed one foot over his ankle, bouncing
the toe of his blue Converse on the tile.
    “ Anna.” This time, my
mother actually did a “casual” lick of her lips when she looked at
him.
    I rolled my eyes, and then looked to Milo to
see if he noticed her being so ridiculous, but he was no help. He
just stood in the middle of the kitchen with his arms crossed over
his chest, staring at Jack.
    “ Anna.” Jack repeated, and
my mother looked down, flicking her cigarette in the
ashtray.
    “ So tell me about
yourself.” Her eyes went back up to him, and they had never looked
so young before.
    My mother was only thirty-four, but she
usually looked much older than that. But when she looked at Jack,
this girliness underneath came through. I could see how beautiful
and radiant she must’ve been when she was young, before she had
me.
    “ What do you want to know?”
Jack tilted his head at her.
    “ Everything,” she asked,
coy.
    “ Well, that’s an awful lot
to tell. Where would you like me to start?”
    “ What do you with
yourself?” Her eyes had gone sultry, and I had to fight the urge to
vomit or take Jack’s hand or something.
    Milo pulled up a chair next to Mom, but he
didn’t look even slightly disturbed by her behavior. He had become
too enamored by Jack and just listened for his answer.
    “ Not a lot really,” Jack
admitted.
    “ You don’t work?” Mom
pressed.
    “ Nope.” He shrugged, and
this time I felt irritated that he didn’t have to work and didn’t
think anything of it. Mom should’ve felt the same way, but she
didn’t. “I mean, I’ve done a lot of odd jobs over the years. Like I
tried some bartending for awhile and once I was tour guide for
Niagara caves out in Harmony, but that was too far away so I quit.
I don’t know. Nothing’s just really stuck, I guess.”
    “ How do you support
yourself?” It was a logical question, so it kinda surprised me that
Mom