Rock 01 - FRET by Sandrine Gasq-DIon Read Free Book Online Page B

say goodbye to them within a couple years.”
    “There are these things they call phones. Plus, I think email.” Gareth shoved my shoulder playfully.
    I sighed and ran a hand over my short hair. “Anyone I’d ever met as a kid didn’t really stick as a friend. We all had the same shit going on in our lives. Absent father, sad mom. I don’t have any siblings, so I just did what I had to do to get through school. I played football —”
    “I was going to say, you’d be perfect for football.”
    “Well as soon as I was old enough to enlist, I did. I went to boot camp and then BUD school.”
    “BUD school?”
    “It’s for Navy SEALS.”
    “Was it hard?”
    I snorted, and then laughed. I knew if I could see Gareth’s face, it would be flushed with embarrassment. I patted his shoulder with a grin.
    “Yeah. It was hard. There were nights I didn’t think I was going to make it. But, I pushed through. I did a lot of swimming and running, conditioning myself for the worst. Trust me, it ain’t no fun running on the beach in full gear and pack with sand rubbing in places you didn’t know you even had. It paid off in the end. More than half the guys I started with weren’t with me at the end. I started to understand my father a lot more, though, over the years.”
    “Yeah?” Gareth sighed. “I still don’t get mine. He moved to Tucson after a while. Ransom and I kept track of him over the years and then he went to jail. We both kept up our homes in Flagstaff even though we still know people there who knew our dad. They all know how he is, though.”
    “And you trust them to keep your secret?” I turned in the seat to stare at Gareth.
    “These people, we knew them when we were kids. They’re older now but they still remember how Ransom and I were treated. They diagnosed Dad with bipolar disorder when he went to prison. That actually explains so much about him. We knew he loved us, but there were some days when I thought he’d rather kill us than look at us.”
    Gareth looked over his shoulder and then switched lanes. We got off the highway and made a right turn onto a dark road. I was going to have to check out the area fully when we finally got to where we were going. Gareth seemed to drive for hours down this road but I know it was only about fifteen minutes. Everything seems to take longer in the dark.
    We crested a hill and then pulled into what appeared to be a small driveway. Gareth cut the engine and got out. I followed him to — a bridge?
    “What is this?” I asked, narrowing my eyes in the dark.
    “This is the bridge.” Gareth flipped open a small electric panel on the ground and lights illuminated the surroundings. “This.” He motioned behind us with his hand. “Is my unconventional house.”
    I turned and my eyes widened. Holy shit. I was looking at an honest-to-goodness treehouse. An actual fucking house in a fucking tree.
    Gareth grinned at the look on my face and began walking across the bridge. I took a tentative step and checked if it could hold my weight.
    “Don’t worry. It will hold you. This whole place was checked and re-checked. Ransom made sure of it. It’s structurally sound.”
    “It’s a treehouse,” I said slowly.
    “Yes. You’re very observant. Did they teach you that in the Navy?”
    “But how?” I followed Gareth to the front door and looked up. Rows upon rows of solar paneling lined the roof. “It has electric?”
    “Yep. And the toilet flushes, too.” Gareth looked amused.
    He unlocked the front door and as I stepped in, my mouth dropped in amazement. I’d never actually been inside a treehouse. I mean, I’d seen shows on them and shit, but to actually walk inside one?
    Freaky.
    I keep thinking the floor is going to fall in and I’ll plummet to my death. Gareth led me into the kitchen and opened a full sized refrigerator. He tossed me a bottle of water and then leaned against the counter, smiling at me.
    “Well? What do you think?”
    “I’m not sure