Lucas Read Online Free PDF Page B

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    â€˜What?’ he grinned.
    Kick him, I thought, kick him … but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything. All I could do was look with disbelief into his eyes as he tightened his grip and moved even closer – and then a deep-throated snarl ripped through the air behind him.
    â€˜Shit!’ he hissed, paralysed with fear. ‘What’s that? ’
    It was Deefer, standing tall, with his teeth bared and his hackles up. The snarl sounded wet and bloody.
    Jamie still had hold of my hand. I yanked it away.
    â€˜What is it?’ he whispered, his eyes darting, trying to see behind him without turning his head.
    I couldn’t speak. Even if I’d wanted to, I couldn’t say anything. I wanted him away from me, I wanted to push him away, but I couldn’t bear to touch him. My hand, the hand he’d taken … I realised I was holding it out to one side, keeping it away from me. My throat was as dry as a bone.
    â€˜Christ, Cait,’ he said through gritted teeth. ‘What the hell is it? Tell me!’
    I was very close to setting Deefer on him. One word from me and he’d have ripped Jamie to pieces. Instead, after what seemed like an hour, but was probably only thirty seconds or so, I managed to calm down a little, get my thoughts in order, and find a voice. I told Deefer to sit. I told him to stay and guard. Then I told Jamie to move back.
    â€˜What—’
    â€˜Move back now or I’ll set the dog on you.’
    He took a cautious step back.
    â€˜Don’t turn around,’ I told him. ‘Don’t move. If you move, he’ll bite you.’
    Jamie looked at me. ‘Hey, Cait, come on. Look, you don’t think I was serious, do you? I was only messing around. I wasn’t—’
    I walked away.
    â€˜Cait!’ he called out. ‘Just a minute … what are you doing? Cait? You can’t leave me here, I’ll freeze. Cait!’
    By the time I reached the creek my calmness had evaporated and I was shaking like a leaf. I took a deep breath and yelled for Deefer. While I was waiting for him to answer, I slid down the bank of the creek and washed my hands inthe running water, scrubbing until they were numb, until there was no trace of feeling left. Then I washed the tears from my face.
    It’s your own fault, I told myself, how could you have been so stupid? Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid … why didn’t you turn around and walk away as soon as you saw him? You know what he’s like. Why didn’t you just walk away?
    I knew the answer.
    I didn’t walk away because I didn’t want to appear rude. I didn’t want to appear unfriendly …
    It was pathetic.
    When I clambered back up the bank Deefer was sitting on the bridge, wagging his tail.
    â€˜Where the hell were you?’ I said, wiping snotty tears from my face. ‘You’re supposed to look after me. Come here.’ He lowered his head and waddled over to me, crouched low to the ground. ‘Next time,’ I told him, ‘next time … just come back when I call you. All right?’ I patted his head. ‘It’s no good leaving it until the last minute – when I call you, you come back.’ His tail thumped and he yawned with shame. ‘And don’t you dare tell anyone about this,’ I sniffed. ‘It’s between you and me, OK? If Dad finds out, he’ll kill him. I’m not joking, Deef. He’ll kill him.’
    The house was quiet when I got back. I went upstairs and took a shower, changed into some clean clothes, checked in the mirror to make sure the tears didn’t show, then bundled up my T-shirt and shorts with a pile of dirty washing and went back down to the kitchen. I was putting the clothes in the washing machine when Dad came in.
    â€˜Hey there, Cait – what are you doing?’
    â€˜Just a bit of washing … I was … there was some oil on the