Thicker Than Water - DK5 by Melissa Good Read Free Book Online

cool night air. Lena stopped on the stone steps and took a breath, tilting her head back to look up at the night sky. “Thank you.” She hugged herself. “I’ll pay you guys back. I’ve got some money in my savings account.” She looked around with a lost expression.
    “I’ll have to take it all out anyway. I’ll need clothes before I can go back to work tomorrow.” She paused. “If they haven’t fired me.”
    Kerry and Dar exchanged glances. “C’mon.” Kerry put a hand on her arm and steered her towards the Lexus. “The first thing you need is a shower and some clean stuff to wear. We’ve got both back at our place.”
    “I can’t ask you to do that.” But Lena looked pathetically grateful.
    “You’re not. Let’s go.” Dar keyed the doors open and motioned her inside. The poor kid looked so ragged, and so at a loss, Dar felt like… Like what, Dar? her conscience pricked her. Like you want to go punch her mother? She closed the door after Lena climbed up inside, then walked around and started to get in. She paused and rested her arm on the edge of the windowsill as she Thicker Than Water 29
    gazed down the sidewalk.
    She remembered walking down it, dressed in her scary, punky best, with parts of her aching from the fight but happy, because her daddy was there next to her. They’d stopped on the corner and leaned back against the coral wall, across from the parking lot where she’d spotted her dad’s truck. Andrew had looked her over and shook his head. “Lord. You are mah kid, ain’t you.”
    Dar had stuck her hands into her ripped pockets and just nodded.
    “Y’know, they don’t much give medals to folks who do what I do,” Andrew had said, looking off into the distance. “And I sure ain’t got none to give up, but here.” He’d taken off his dog tags and put them around Dar’s neck.
    Dar remembered looking up at him, and she knew her face must have shown how she felt, because he’d smiled and cupped her cheek with one callused hand.
    They’d just gone on home after that, after a stop at a gas sta-tion mart to pick up a couple of ice cream bars and two bottles of pop. Even her mother had listened to the story and, with a sigh, given her a pat on the knee and told her she’d done a good thing.
    It had felt like winning the lottery, that winning of her parents’ praise, and listening to Lena, Dar realized all over again how different it could have been for her.
    “Dar?” Kerry leaned over and tugged on Dar’s shirt. “You okay?”
    “Yeah.” Dar slid behind the wheel and closed the door. “I was just thinking of something.”
    Kerry studied the angular profile for a moment, then patted Dar’s thigh and half turned in her seat to address Lena. “You’re doing data entry, aren’t you?”
    Lena was running her fingers over the soft leather of the seat.
    She glanced up guiltily. “Um…oh, yeah, yeah, I do. It’s a telemar-keting thingie. I put in the orders.” Her eyes dropped. “Or, I did.
    My boss hates when people are late. I can just imagine what his reaction was when I didn’t show for work for two days.”
    “Don’t worry about it.” Kerry smiled at her. “So, what exactly happened?”
    Lena pushed some very dirty hair back off her forehead. “Oh, my God, it was like…It was so incredibly stupid.” She exhaled, but her spirit was rebounding a little. “I can’t believe it. It’s like some dumb weird ass dream thing, you know?”
    “No. But if you’d tell me, I would,” Kerry replied patiently.
    Lena emitted a sigh. “Okay. Like, I told you I was really into this Internet thing, right?”

    30 Melissa Good Dar and Kerry exchanged looks. “We can relate to that,”
    Kerry said.
    Lena was momentarily distracted. “Are you guys on the Internet?”
    “We run the Internet,” Dar said as she pulled carefully onto the highway. “So, yeah, you could say we’re on it, under it, inside it, crawling all over it.”
    “Wow. For real?” Lena watched Dar’s