Unforgiven by Lauren Kate Read Free Book Online Page A

calloused ones. She pulled away swiftly, instinctively, with a look that said if that hadn’t been an accident, he’d better not try it again.
    “I’m going that way.” She pointed in the direction of Rattlesnake Creek, wishing she hadn’t just divulged her plan. She wasn’t suggesting he join her.
    But that was exactly what Cam did.

    At the edge of the woods, he held aside a carob branch so she could duck underneath. Lilith watched him study the branch, as if he’d never seen this kind of tree before.
    “Don’t they have carobs where you’re from?” she asked. They were everywhere in Crossroads.
    “Yes and no,” Cam said.
    He muttered something under his breath as she made her way to her tree. She sat down and watched the water trickle over the rocks jutting up from the creek bed. A moment later, Cam joined her.
    “Where
are
you from?” she asked.
    “Around?” Cam reached between the crooked branches where Lilith stashed her guitar. Sometimes she came here and played when she cut lunch; it helped her to not think about how hungry she was.
    “Mysterious?” she said, mimicking his tone and taking the guitar from him.
    “Not as cool as it sounds,” Cam said. “Last night I slept in the doorway of a TV repair shop.”
    “O’Malley’s on Hill Street?” Lilith said, tuning her high E string. “That’s weird. I slept there once when I was grounded and had to get away from Janet.” She felt his eyes on her, yearning for her to elaborate. “Janet is my mom.” But that was a dead-end topic, so she changed the subject. “How’d you end up here?”
    Cam’s jaw tensed, and a vein appeared on his forehead, between his eyes. It was clearly the last thing he wanted to discuss, which made Lilith suspicious. He was hiding something, just like she was.
    “Enough
Behind the Music.
” Cam opened the guitar case he’d lifted from the band room and took out a green Fender Jaguar, property of Trumbull Prep. “Let’s play something.”
    Lilith sneezed and hugged her stomach. Hunger was running with rusty scissors through her insides.
    “A hunger sneeze,” Cam said. “I should never have let you talk us out of getting something to eat. Good thing you’re with me.”
    “Why?”
    “Because we’re good together.” He brushed his dark hair from his eyes. “And because I travel with exquisite snacks.”
    From his canvas bag he produced a sleeve of water crackers and a short, fat jar with foreign writing on it. He put his hand on the lid and tried to turn it. It didn’t budge. He tried once more. The vein appeared on his forehead again.
    “Here.” Lilith took the jar from him and slid it up her guitar strings, letting one of them pop the vacuum seal. She’d done it once at home when Bruce was hungry and a jar of pickles was the very last thing they had to eat.
    The lid twisted open in her hands.
    Cam ran the tip of his tongue across his teeth and nodded slightly. “I loosened it for you.”
    Lilith peered into the jar. It was crammed with tiny, wet, black eggs.
    “Ossetra,” Cam said. “The finest caviar.”
    Lilith had no idea what to do with caviar. Where did he get it—especially if he’d slept on the street the night before? Cam opened the package of crackers and used one to scoop out a mound of the glistening black stuff.
    “Close your eyes and open your mouth,” he said.
    She didn’t want to, but hunger got the better of her.
    The cracker was brittle, the caviar soft and lush. Then the brininess of the eggs struck her, and at first she thought she didn’t like it. But she let it sit on her tongue for a moment as a rich sensation spread through her mouth, buttery with an edge of sharpness. She swallowed, already addicted.
    When she opened her eyes, Cam was smiling at her.
    “Is this expensive?” she asked, feeling guilty.
    “Tastes best if you eat it slow.”
    A calm silence fell between them as they ate. She was grateful for the food, but it bothered her that this guy acted like they