I Am Not Junco Omnibus: Books Four - Six Read Online Free PDF

was thinking how it fucking sucks to have no one this year, right? I swear, you're like a gift from God." I look up at him and smile and his face is so serious it takes me back for a moment. "What?"
    He blows out a breath. "What did you do, Junco?"
    I crack a smile. "You promise not to get mad at me?"
    He nods, but he looks worried. "Yeah, OK. I promise."
    "And you promise not to tell my dad? I mean, he probably wouldn't care as long as I never get caught, but still. Don't tell him, OK?"
    Another nod.
    "I killed the Peaks mayor."
    He stands up and pulls his fingers through his hair and turns away. "Why?"
    I shrug. "I needed his biometrics to get an extra SEAR knife for Gid and me. They take them away to control us, and we're sick of it."
    He just stares at me like I'm some kind of monster.
    "What? It's not fair, my dad even said so. Matthew should not be allowed to take away a part of my body. It's a violation. And I know Gid feels it too. It hurts us to be without them, Aren."
    "Did Gideon put you up to this, Junco?" His face is so serious I almost panic at telling him.
    "No. He doesn't even know. I haven't seen him in more than six months, he went missing over the summer and no one knows where he went, not even my dad."
    "Who else knows?"
    "Just James. Why?"
    "Junco," he takes my face in his hands, "you don't say another word about this, you understand? Ever. You hear me?"
    I swallow and nod. "Yeah, sure. I wasn't gonna tell anyone but you're here, so…"
    "Not even Gideon."
    I crinkle my face at him. "Why?"
    "Please, just listen to me, OK?"
    I shrug. "Whatever. I can keep a secret, you don't have to worry about that."
    He breathes out his relief and I watch him visibly shake off his apprehension. "OK, well. Besides killing the Mayor of Peak City, stealing some United Republics biometrics, and then purchasing two globally illegal weapons, what the fuck else you been up to lately?"
    I laugh and push him back on the bed. "Ya know, Aren, if you'd have told me you wanted to date me I'd have been all over you years ago."
    He laughs. All the way up to his eyes. "Is that right?"
    I lean down and kiss him. His hands are suddenly all over my body, my shirt is off and my pants are unbuttoned before I even draw back to see how serious he is.
    His half-mast gaze is all the proof I need. I lift his shirt off too and then he tackles me and makes the last twenty-four hours of stress and unhappiness melt away.

     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter Six
     

    It takes me three minutes to twist my excessively long hair up into a pony and throw on a pair of soft and faded denim jeans, a pair of brown leather field boots, and a white tank top. Then I sit on the bed in Selia's room and mope while she does her hair and make-up in the bathroom. The house audio is blaring some upbeat music with a female singer when Sel pops her curler-cluttered head out of the doorway. "This is that Cora chick I was telling you about, Junco. She's playing tonight in the arena on the main atoll. Wanna go see her?"
    "What for?"
    Selia stares at me like I'm a zit mucking up her perfect facial skin or something.
    "Uh, I mean, do you want to go see her?"
    She fiddles with a wayward curler as she talks. "Have you ever been to a concert, Junco? Ashur told me—"
    "I've been to plenty of concerts, Selia. Jasus, you people think I'm an infant the way ya'll act like I've never been anywhere. I've traveled all over the world, I've seen Asgarth—"
    "Junco, I mean like a rock concert?"
    "What's the difference? It's music, right?"
    She shakes her head and disappears back into the bathroom, but she doesn't stop talking to me. "Ashur said you never really had a teen phase, so ya know. I was just wondering if you wanted to go out. Act a little more like a young person and not quite so much like a grandma who happens to like cutting off heads. Have some fun and all that."
    It bothers me that she knows so much about Ashur these days. Apparently she was in the Band for an extended period