Breathe, Annie, Breathe Read Online Free PDF Page B

drive you,” Jeremiah says, jingling his keys, and I shrug okay. Matt doesn’t look pleased, but I’m eighteen now. I make my own decisions. And even though getting a ride from Jeremiah is sort of like running into a burning building, I like the way I feel when he makes me laugh.
    I need to laugh.
    I say bye to Matt, follow Jeremiah over to his Jeep, and he opens the door for me. My knees tremble as I step up into the Jeep. He shuts the door and my hands shake as I buckle my seat belt. It smells like boy in here. Cologne, sweat, muskiness. I suck in a nervous deep breath as he climbs into the driver’s seat.
    I peek at him while he turns the key. A dusting of golden hair covers his strong hands and tan arms. Just like the light stubble on his face. Does he not shave on weekends? Jeremiah’s face is tan and his eyes are a pretty light blue, but I wouldn’t call him traditionally handsome. Something about him is too jagged. He’s cute though. Three black, circular tattoos the size of quarters race up his left forearm. A scar runs along the right side of his jaw, matching the scar on his right arm. There’s one beside his eye too. God, I hope he doesn’t get into knife fights or something.
    I decide to ask about it. “Jeremiah?”
    “Call me Jere. Only my Granny and PopPop call me Jeremiah.”
    “But I like Jeremiah better.”
    He flashes me a smile. “Jeremiah it is, then.”
    “How’d you get that scar on your jaw?”
    He starts telling me about how he loves Adventure Races, these crazy races that involve anything from running a half marathon and jumping over huge holes throughout the course, to running beside fire pits that spit out smoke like volcanoes. He explains he got the scar on his jaw from a race through a thick forest in Georgia: “A tree branch got me.”
    “What’s been your favorite race?” I ask.
    At a stoplight, he pops a piece of gum in his mouth and chews. “I had to do an obstacle course with rock climbing and inner tubing down a river, and then I rappelled off a mountain, and then I had to run a 10K after that. I came in fourth.”
    “Fourth place?” I exclaim.
    “I’m still pissed. I would’ve won it if I hadn’t lost control of my inner tube after I hit a rock in the water.”
    “Do you do a lot of races?”
    “I do normal races all the time, but I haven’t done an Adventure Race in a few months,” he says in a soft drawl.
    “Why not?”
    “I promised my mother I wouldn’t.”
    “Huh? Why? If you were doing well…”
    “She said I was addicted…I dunno.”
    Jere turns down 6th Avenue in silence, glancing at me. He hasn’t said a word in a few blocks. He kinda went gloomy.
    I can’t just sit here. “So did you train somebody today?”
    “Yeah. I paced for this guy who’s training for the Ironman Triathlon in Wisconsin this fall. We only did fifteen miles. It was a rest day.”
    I swear, these genetically enhanced brothers are gonna be the death of me.
    He drums the steering wheel. “I’m thinking I’ll do a ropes course this afternoon.”
    “Don’t you ever get tired?”
    “Oh yeah. I’m so beat at night, it takes like five minutes for my parents to wake me up in the mornings. Alarm clocks don’t work for me.”
    The image of his parents shaking him awake makes me giggle. “Your parents have to wake you up? How old are you?”
    He turns left, grinning. “Twenty. You?”
    “Eighteen. Did you run downtown where we did today? I didn’t see you.”
    “No, the Stones River Greenway. We needed room to stretch the run out.”
    “But then Matt asked you to drive downtown?”
    “No.” He glances over at me. “I came down here ’cause… I wanted to say I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable last week or whatever. With the blister and the Band-Aid. I saw the look on your face when you left.”
    “No, no. Everything’s good.” I’m such a liar.
    “I don’t believe you,” Jere says with a smirk. “I realized later it was weird that I