River's End (River's End Series, #1) by Leanne Davis Read Free Book Online Page B

another ever since she was sixteen.
    “Yeah, we all work here if we want. Shane’s a mechanic. He has one of the shops turned into a workshop. He takes in work from the outside and can fix anything. He keeps the ranch supplied in trucks and machinery.”
    “And this is what you want? To work here?”
    Joey shrugged, his gaze pinned on the river, but his mind obviously somewhere else. “I don’t know what I want to do, or where I want to be. Sometimes I think I should just leave. I don’t know where I’d go… but maybe, I should just go somewhere. You know what I mean? Maybe join the military or something. Go see something besides horses and farmlands.”
    “I know about wanting more than what is right before you. So yes, I know what you mean.” Erin looked out at the river too, feeling a kinship with Joey. She knew exactly what that felt like. She had never belonged anywhere and never knew what she wanted to do. Then again, she didn’t have the luxury of wondering what she wanted or where she wanted to be. She was usually too busy trying to survive whichever particular day she was caught in.
    Joey glanced at her. “You wanna come down here with us tonight?”
    “Us? Where?
    “Some people from around. We’ll have a fire at the beach, some food, drinks; it would be a good time to meet the people around here. We do that sometimes. No one’s going to bother us down at our beach. And we bother no one either.”
    Joey’s eyes gleamed as he stared at her. Shivers of anticipation slithered through her body. What else did she have to do?
    “Yes, thanks. Maybe I’d best find some clothes to wear in the meantime. Where do I shop around here?”
    He grinned. “Finally got a large discount chain close. Takes about an hour to get to.”
    “Are you serious?”
    “Welcome to the country.”

Chapter Five
     
    The flames flickered and crackled over the beach and surrounding mountains. It was beautiful and almost haunting the way the shadows danced and shifted from the fire that was burning at the center of the sandy beach. Large driftwood branches were fed into it by any one of the dozens of people on the beach. At times, the flames leaped higher than ten feet. Erin had to step back when the heat scorched her face. The river was behind her, inky and strange feeling. It seemed creepy to her now that it was night; the way it flowed and splashed in the dark, yet she could hardly see it.
    Feeling the lovely pull of tequila that warmed her blood, and settled in her gut, Erin found everything looked better, fuzzier, and warmer. She took another sip of the drink Joey handed her and munched on the handful of chips someone had set up on a rock. Music blared out of a stereo. She met so many people, she doubted she’d remember any of their names. Most of them were young, and all of them knew Joey Rydell.
    Her brother, Chance, had his hand up a poor girl’s shirt. Even from a distance across the fire, Erin could see their tongues twisting together. Erin rolled her eyes in disgust as Chance managed to pull the poor blonde away from the fire into the darker shadows beyond. Yuck. How could the poor girl not have more self-esteem than to think she could do no better than her brother?
    Erin looked down until she felt a hand on her own. When she glanced up, Joey was standing close, his face illuminated by the strange light of the fire. Her breath caught, he was that handsome.
    Her stomach jumped when she saw his gaze upon her.
    “You managed to find some clothes, I see.”
    She had to spend a hundred dollars she didn’t want to spend. But now had some jeans, shirts, and finally, a decent pair of tennis shoes. At least, she wouldn’t be such a disgrace around the ranch. As it was now, she needed to stay there awhile before she could figure out what to do next. The questions, the indecision, and trapped feelings of her life sent a rush of acid into her gut. God, she hated knowing she had nowhere else to go. Nothing else. She now had