Chasing Shadows Read Online Free PDF Page A

looked at him quite that way.  Even before his court martial and short stint in Leavenworth.  
    Jay nodded at whatever the girl said, and she handed him the car keys.  He held her door open for her. 
    "Polite, too," Lucky continued.  With a throaty growl, the Mustang's gears grinding, its rear fish-tailing in the slush, the car drove away.  "Is he gonna be a problem?" 
    "No," Chase said, returning the Maxims to his saddlebag.  "I'll handle it.  You get back to Deacon, tell him the deal's on for tomorrow."  
    Lucky stood still for a moment.  Chase beat him to the punch before he could express more misgivings.  
    "Relax, everything's going to be over and done with by the day after Christmas."
    Lucky shook his head forlornly.  "Boxing Day, the English call it.  Let's hope it's not us going home in a box."
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 3
     
    As Jay left his house and approached KC, he felt excited, worse than a kid waiting for Santa Claus.  A little scared, too.  
    Having KC with him helped a lot.  She really cared about what happened to him, about his dreams and making them come true.  Thanks to KC, after tomorrow he'd leave this one horse town and never look back.  
    No regrets, except maybe one.  He wanted to see Chase one more time.  
    Part of him did, at least.  The other part wanted to punch his big brother in the face.  Knock him down and tell Chase what he really thought of him—dishonoring the memory of their parents with his stupid scheme to rip off the Marines and sell their guns.  
    Forget about Chase.  After tomorrow, he'd never see him or this place again.
    Up and down the street, houses were decked out with plastic Santas, snowmen and a rainbow of blinking lights.  The twilight of the winter night made Jay's unadorned home seem small, lonely as Charlie Brown's pathetic Christmas tree.  He hadn't had the heart to get any of the decorations down from the attic.  The last time he'd seen them was last year when he and Chase carefully packed them away after their parents' funeral.
    "You all right?" KC asked, sliding one hand down his arm to squeeze his hand.  
    That was the thing about KC.  Yeah, she was hot, with a body that was lean and tight, but she didn't treat him like any of the girls at school did.  She didn't look at him with pity because he'd been on his own this past year after his folks died and Chase left to screw up his own life.  Didn't think he was a loser because instead of graduating with Neil and his other friends last June, he'd had to repeat most of his senior year and at nineteen was older than a lot of the other kids.  
    KC didn't mother him.  She cared about him, took the time to listen, to find out what he really wanted.
    And she was helping to make those dreams come true.  No more boring high school classes, no cafeteria nightmares with the cliques and mini-dramas the other kids seemed to think passed for real life.  Jay was out of this place with its three bars, two stop lights, and one grocery store, its dreary weather and even drearier future. 
    "You nervous?"  KC asked.  She zipped her black leather jacket up tight, the Mustang's heater wasn't the most efficient. 
    Jay shrugged in answer to her question and cranked the Godsmack on the stereo.  KC didn't say anything.  Another nice thing about her, she knew when to shut up.  Unlike girls his own age.  They all seemed like such children compared to KC.
    They drove through downtown, taking all of two minutes despite being caught at the red light in front of Coalton Drugs, the town's communication center.  Old Man Sinderson had had a field day after the scandal with Chase.  Those Westin boys, run wild with no parents to watch over them, knew no good would ever come of them , he proclaimed to anyone who came near his perch behind the counter. The oldest kicked out of the Marines, served time for almost killing a soldier, the youngest almost flunked out of school, even though he's meant to be