Never Let Go Read Online Free PDF Page A

out a hand to help me.
    I take it and step over the side, careful not to tip the canoe. Just because I can swim doesn’t mean I want to get wet.
    Andrew nods at me when I get inside. “Ready?”
    “Ready,” I say.
    He puts his paddle in the water and pushes away from shore. The canoe dips forward. “Start paddling,” he says.
    I do. We fall into a brisk but comforting rhythm. It’s so quiet out here. So peaceful. I wish I’d had a spot like this to go to after my grandma died. There had been a lot on my mind. I could have benefited from some honest introspection.
    Halfway to the island, Andrew pulls his oar out of the water and turns to face me. It’s just the two of us in the middle of the lake. “Tell me something about yourself,” he suggests.
    “Like what?”
    “Your deepest secret,” Andrew says, straight-faced. “Something you’ve never told another soul.”
    I look at him for a moment, trying hard to determine if he’s serious. I take it he is.
    I lower my voice. “I’m actually an axe murderer,” I confide. “I run the streets at night looking for my next victim. I prey on the homeless and the weak. When they’re not looking, I pick up my axe—” I heft the paddle in my hands, “—and splat! Right in the back of the head.”
    Andrew starts to laugh. I grin back. But, he keeps laughing, more and more, until I can’t tell if he’s making fun of me or merely amused.
    “What?” I say. “Can’t you handle the truth?”
    “ Splat ?” Andrew asks, wiping tears from his eyes. “ Splat ! That’s the sound you think an axe makes?” He breaks off, unable to contain his laughter. “That’s the sound you get when you swat a fly with a newspaper!”
    I cross my arms. “I think I know the intricacies of my psychosis,” I protest.
    Andrew keeps laughing. “I mean, I’m not one to argue semantics…” he grins, “…but I would have chosen something like ‘ thunk ’, or even ‘thud ’!”
    I scoop up a handful of water and splash it at him. My aim is good. It hits him right in the face. He stops cold.
    “I don’t think it’s a good idea to laugh at an axe murder,” I warn.
    A mischievous light flickers in his eye. “No,” he says. His hands dart to the sides of the canoe. “I don’t think it is.”
    Without any warning, he starts rocking the boat side to side.
    I screech. “No! Andrew, don’t you dare…!”
    “Dare what?” He rocks the boat harder. Water splashes everywhere. “ This ?”
    “Yes, that !” I squeal. My heart is racing, but I can’t keep from laughing. “Stop it!”
    Andrew doesn’t let up. Every rock sends us closer to tipping over. “You promise you won’t splat me in the back of the woods with your axe?”
    “Yes, yes!” I promise. “Whatever you want!” I hold the sides to try to counteract Andrew’s force. Still I can’t help laughing. “Andrew, stop it!”
    “All right, all right,” he relents. The boat slows and goes still.
    Blood is thundering in my ears. I’ve come this close to being dropped into a lake full of icy water, and yet I can’t keep the goofy smile from my face.
    “Better?” he asks.
    “Much,” I say. “And if I wasn’t so worried about that pretty little hairdo of yours, I’d totally have called you out on your bluff. There’s no way you would have tipped us over.”
    Andrew looks at me in a sneaky way. “Are you sure you want to try me?”
    “No, no!” I backtrack.
    He laughs. “Got you.”
    I try to force my lips into their best impression of a scowl. It doesn’t work. I’m having way too much fun. For all I care, we can turn back right now and this would already be the best date I’ve been on in years.
    And that has nothing to do with the fact that it’s the only date I’ve been on in years.
    We get to the island. Andrew helps me out, then drags the canoe onto shore. He shields his eyes and looks up at the sky. “I say we’ve got another hour and a half, two hours of sunlight left,” he tells