Requiem for a Mouse Read Online Free PDF Page B

me.”
    Maverick waited for an answer.
    “I was just in the Riverside Tavern to grab a drink, that’s all.”
    Maverick crossed his arms, waiting for Prince to admit the truth.
    Prince raised his arms as if at gunpoint. “What? Are you going to search me?”
    With a small shake of his head, Maverick started walking. “Let’s go.”
    “Do you follow me around everywhere I go now?” Prince asked.
    “Only when Sasha tells me to.” Maverick’s response was crisp.
    “Why is it that I never see you coming?”
    “It’s a talent.”
    “What talent? Creepiness? Probably from years of being a creep.”
    “Then I guess it’s a skill.” Maverick’s eyes remained forward, like he couldn’t be bothered to even look at Prince.
    “No, it’s just weird,” Prince said. “Are you ever going to stop following me around?”
    “Are you ever going to stop gambling?”
    “Get a life.” Prince knew that his anger was misplaced, but he didn’t care. A few minutes ago he had his windpipe crushed by a man who looked down on him for his size. Now, he was being lectured for it. Even worse, it came by Sasha’s command. “Are you going to do everything she tells you to do? What if she tells you to bark? Sasha can’t babysit us forever.”
    “That’s because I’ll grow up.”
    Prince’s breath caught in his throat. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    Maverick turned toward Prince with an amused expression, as if pointing out a stark irony in Prince’s words.
    “Wait a second, do you think you’re babysitting me right now?”
    “Only because Sasha told me to.”
    Prince exploded. “Sasha says sit so you sit. Sasha says fetch so you fetch. What are you, her dog?”
    Maverick grinned. “If I’m the dog, then you must be the stick I fetch. Personally, I’d rather be the dog.”
    “At least the stick doesn’t put himself in a collar.”
    Maverick shrugged. “But eventually, we throw away the stick.” He stopped walking with a bemused smile. “And if the dog doesn’t bring it back, it’s left in the ground.”
    The wider Maverick’s smile grew, the hotter Prince’s anger burned.
    “And sometimes, it’s the same stick used to beat the dog, to teach it when not to bark!” Prince’s voice carried across the street earning him strange looks.
    “But in this case, the dog would break the stick in two.” Maverick stepped towards Prince, looming over him. “The stick would be stupid to even go near the dog.” His mouth was curved into the same grin John had worn.
    Prince looked away. He knew the exact words he could say to start a fight; they were stuck in his throat. But he had been in enough altercations with Maverick to know how the fight would turn out. Despite Maverick’s skinny build, he was strong and his fist always carried the force of his body.
    “I’d rather be abandoned than neutered,” Prince said. It was a compromise, words that danced around the real issue.
    With a slight nod, Maverick continued walking home with Prince behind him. “You can love a neutered dog, but you can’t love a broken stick.”
    Fuck compromises.
    “But only a dog can lead his master to death.” Even as the words left his mouth, Prince knew he would regret them.
    In a flash, Maverick was upon him, his elbow pressed against Prince’s neck. For the second time in under ten minutes, Prince choked. Maverick’s usual poise disintegrated as his dark eyes danced in fury.
    “You think that was my fault?” Maverick growled. “Maybe you shouldn’t have been at Hawk’s Lair then, begging for someone to come save you.” He shoved Prince against the wall and stepped away.
    “Nobody asked for your help,” Prince growled back, massaging his neck.
    “I saved your life.”
    “And you almost killed Sasha. It should’ve been me who paid the price, not her!”
    “I agree.”
    “So then why?”
    “If it was my choice, we would’ve left you there.”
    “Then whose choice was it?” Prince screamed.
    Silence ensued. Even