The Sovereign Era (Book 2): Pilgrimage by Matthew Wayne Selznick Read Free Book Online Page B

shrugged. “I’m just gonna hang out. I’ll watch you guys play.”
    Tammy smiled, and her eyebrows went up. Katrina caught the expression and smiled slowly. “Big fun, you betcha.”
    I laughed, and sure enough, rather than actually watch them play Go Fish or whatever, I dug around in the bookcase between the dining room and the living room.
    “How’d your TV thing go, little Nate?” Katrina shuffled the cards.
    “It was awesome.” I groaned with enough exaggeration to convey the opposite.
    Tammy said, “That host looks like a child molester.” Her voice was low, her short laugh even lower.
    “He smells like shit,” I said.
    “Figures.” Katrina, no different from everybody else in that crowd and, hell, might as well face it, everybody else in the country by now, knew the score with my enhanced senses. “Must have been a nice treat for you.”
    “Not,” I said.
    “The world is asshole-heavy,” Tammy said. She nodded to Katrina. “Gimme three.”
    The world is asshole-heavy. Fuck, yeah.
    I put down the issue of RE:Search I’d been thumbing through.
    “Hey, you guys.”
    “Yeppers, little Nate?” Katrina frowned at her cards. “Dealer takes two.”
    “Um…you two remember a party at Preston’s, a couple of years ago? Were you guys there?”
    I’m a body-language speed-reader; it’s a side-effect of my super-sensitive sensorium. Katrina, she was a smart one; I could see her try to control her reaction. Tammy, on the other hand, didn’t seem to care.
    “Whoo! That was a pretty big night!” She laughed.
    Katrina glowered at her. “You were still with Ian, right, honey?”
    Tammy frowned. “Yes, Katrina. Thanks for mentioning. And you were with that alcoholic guitar player…what was his name, again, honey?”
    Katrina’s nostrils flared. “His name is Ernie.”
    The two of them exchanged a steady look that I guess signified some kind of truce: no territory gained by either side. Not that I had any clue what had them suddenly so bitchy with each other. There was so much history in this crowd; sometimes I felt like I’d never know everybody’s whole story.
    Tonight, though, I was only interested in one little part.
    “So, um…yeah…”
    Katrina gave me a big-sister smile. “We aren’t gonna tell you about it, little Nate.”
    I laughed. “You don’t even know what I’m talking about!”
    “Sure we do,” Katrina said. “But you’re not getting anywhere with us.”
    Tammy snorted. “Oh, c’mon. Who cares? It was two years ago. Everybody was stupid.”
    Katrina pointed at her with a long, elegant finger. “Tammy!”
    “What? It’s not like Crystal didn’t give Eric way worse than he tried to do to Lina. That asshole could barely walk when she was done with him!”
    Eric.
    I had a first name.
    Eric. Eric what ?
    Katrina tossed her cards across the table, not quite at Tammy. “You are such a fucking bitch.”
    “It’s cool, Katrina,” I said. “I know what happened. Lina told me.”
    Katrina looked dubious. “She did?”
    “Yeah. Just not the guy’s name.” I looked at Tammy. “What’s his last name, anyway? This Eric guy?”
    Katrina’s second “Tammy…” was thick with warning.
    Tammy smiled coldly at Katrina, gave her the finger, and turned to look at me. “His name’s Eric Finn, little Nate.” Katrina’s nickname for me sounded wrong coming from Tammy. I couldn’t tell if she was making fun of me or digging at Katrina for whatever reason.
    I didn’t care.
    I had a name.
    Katrina stood up. She was tall and long, over six feet in her cowboy boots and the silly thrift-store top hat she liked to wear.
    “Tammy,” she said with acid sweetness, “will you kindly have a word with me outside for a moment? Cunt?” Tammy’s face darkened.
    “Don’t bother, Kat.” She got up, scooped her purse off the floor, and went for the front door. “You are way too hung up, woman. It was two years ago. Everybody’s moved on.”
    “That’s not up to you!”
    “Oh,