Never Meant to Be by Yarro Rai Read Free Book Online Page A

smiled.
    As we walked towards my car together and he turned to walk in the other direction, I called back to him one last time.
    “Johnny, I think you deserve better. You are better.”
    Johnny looked to me and nodded before we separated.
     
    ***
     
    Johnny’s Diary
     
    I remember a single white cloud was slowly crawling through a blue carpet of sky. The only thing that blurred my vision was the image of Esther floating in front of me. I heard a voice calling to me again and again.
    “Johnny, Johnny! Will you do it or not?” Katherine was sitting right in front of us.
    “What’s up with you two jerks? You really got me into trouble.” Katherine said obnoxiously as the waiter served her coffee. She was wearing her dark sunglasses even inside the restaurant.
    I stroked the gun inside my pocket. “You gave me the wrong guy. I nearly jumped a...”
    “I know, I know...But I swear, I'm very close to finding your guy. That’s why I'm asking: Will you  do it or not? Edi said that you kind of know her.” I looked at Edi.  The idiot wasn't able to keep anything secret.
    “Well, I don’t know, I--" before I could say anything else, Katherine interrupted.
    “But the man you're looking for works in her company. And I'm not lying to you.” I tried to look into her eyes, but half of her face was covered by her pair of obnoxious sunglasses. “So, what do you say? Are you in?”
    I looked out the window and at the single cloud.              
    “Okay. You can count me in, but she's --”
    “Okay, then we have a deal.” She interrupted me before I could continue.
    “Yup.”
    Katherine's cell phone rang and she answered it. It must have been her husband.
    “Yes, honey, I'll be there...Yes, the deal's almost done...No, I don't think they will... What’s going on with you boys? Yeah, don’t forget to do what I told you. Okay, it needs to happen as soon as possible.” She threw the money onto the table.
    I looked at Katherine. She was wearing an impossibly tight and low-cut top and a pencil skirt. For God's sake, you've got to be about to turn forty , I thought to myself. But it was her smirk and sunglasses that made me doubt in her the most. Never trust those hidden eyes. We picked up the money and left.
    “God, how the hell did you find her?” Edi asked as soon as we left the restaurant.
    “Don’t ask, man. I was looking for that man and for few weeks I really thought I was on to something, but it turned out to be her house. It was a complete mess--another miss--but by then she knew why I was there. I was high and blurted out everything like a movie monologue, and the more I said about him, the more she seemed to know him.  She said she wanted to help me, that she had connections in the upper class,  and that I was just on a wild goose chase. Sometimes, I'm tempted to just give up, but then I think about him and just can't take it. I need to find him.”
    “So, what about that girl? What’s her name...Esther? Are you going to...?” Edi had asked me a question I wasn’t prepared for.
    “I don’t know...I mean, I don’t want to be around her too much...I'm scared things could get complicated.”  I touched the tattoo on my arm nervously.
    Esther entering into the equation could change the answers. But what would the answer be?
     
    ***
     
     
    Esther's diary
     
    It wasn't an ordinary evening for me. I was walking in public after days of working and being cooped up inside. And I was with Johnny. He walked beside me, pointing out all the places and streets where we used to run wild while trying to discover the world.
    “So you read all of it?” He asked me wide-eyed after I mentioned his journal.
    “No, just few pages.” I lied, hoping it would put his mind at ease. He looked at me suspiciously.
    “I'm sorry, did I miss anything? Do you want me to see something?.”
    “You don’t remem--? Never mind, nothing.” He cut his sentence short. “Why is that man following us?”
    I looked