Julien's Book Read Online Free PDF Page B

I mean, he looks like me, and has my job, and my name, but he's just a character she made up. He's way cooler than I am."
    "I can't imagine that," she said. She reached up and scratched the back of his head again. "I usually don't like mohawks," she said.
    "But you like mine?"
    "I love it."
    "Hey Julien," Carlos said. "We're about ready to get outta here, dude, and you're driving."
    Julien looked at his watch and then at Raven, debating for a second about trying to work out a little extra time with her. All this in spite of the fact that he knew she wasn't right for him and he'd probably regret it in the morning. Raven could see Julien's internal battle, and she snuggled up next to him, hoping to make his decision a little harder.
    "I can give you a ride back to your hotel whenever if you want to hang out a little longer," she said.
    "I'm driving," he said. "And we need to head home pretty early in the morning. I have to be at work at noon."
    "Tomorrow's Saturday."
    "I know."
    "You work on Saturday?"
    "Not usually, but I have to fill in for someone."
    "Where do you work?"
    "At the gym."
    Raven just looked at him as if that wasn't enough of an answer.
    "The gym where we train. I teach MMA and kickboxing."
    "You work at that place too?"
    "Yeah, I pretty much live there."
    "Really?" Her eyes lit up again as if living in a MMA gym was the hottest thing she could ever imagine.
    A random guy had been listening from the next table, and Raven's enthusiasm must have been a little too much for him to ignore. "You think living at a gym makes you a fighter?" The guy laughed and then turned to his friends mumbling, "I'd like to see what he's got in a street situation."
    Carlos was always up for a bar fight, and he lit up at the sound of those words. "Hey ese, you got something to say to my friend? I thought I heard you say something about a street situation. Did you need to ask him something to his face?"
    "I ain't your ese, you fucking wetback."
    Julien turned to the stranger with a measure of calmness that seemed unnatural in the tense situation. A few feet of space separated them, and Julien crossed it. Without so much as a word, he reached out and wrapped his right hand around the guy's neck."
    "I'm not a figh ter because I live at the gym, ese. I live at the gym because I'm a fighter."
    The stranger's face was a mask of terror, and despite him holding a pool cue in his hand (which he could have used as a weapon) he was completely motionless, petrified with fear.
    Julien's grasp around his neck was unrelenting, and he was prepared to finish the job if the guy refused to back down. "Now, apologize to my friend for what you just called him, and we can all go back to what we were doing."
    "I'm sorry," he choked out.
    "Sorry for what?" Julien asked, tightening his grip.
    "Shit dude, I'm sorry for callin' you a wetback," he sputtered. Julien let go of the guy's neck, and he bent over, gasping for air with a little too much drama.
    "Is that what you were talking about with the street situation, Ese ?" Carlos said. "Is that how y'all do it on the streets?"
    Just about everyone who was standing around laughed at Carlos' comment, but Julien wasn't entertained. He loved to fight, but it would have been just plain sadistic for him to engage with this idiot and his "street situation".
    Fortunately, the incident gave Julien an out with Raven as well. He told her he had a good time hanging out, but really needed to be getting back to the hotel. Raven wasn't accustomed to being denied, and she got a little pouty about it, but she shook it off and settled for writing her number on a napkin.
    "You only live two hours away. Maybe you could come back and see me sometime," she said, handing it to him.
    "Maybe so," he agreed. He folded the napkin and put it in the back pocket of his jeans. Considering how far most girls got with Julien, this minimal amount of interest was a compliment.
    Julien and his friends left Fast Eddie's and headed back to their