Twisted World: A Broken World Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

was funny to try and picture her in that role. Especially now that she was a frugal post-apocalyptic housewife who regularly lectured her eighteen-year-old daughter about wasting credits on frivolous things.
    “We’ll get by,” I said, and then hurried to Charlie’s room before Lila could stop me.
    I rapped my knuckles against the door, but only paused a second before pushing it open. Charlie, who was a perfectly gorgeous combination of her parent’s Asian and Mediterranean lineage, looked up from where she was sprawled across the bed.
    “Thank God,” she said, tossing the book she’d been pretending to read aside. Charlie didn’t read. “I’ve been dying of boredom.”
    “No big plans for this evening?” I said, lowering myself onto the bed at her side.
    Charlie snorted as she tossed her dark hair over her shoulder. “Nope. I spent all my credits. I can’t wait until pay day so I can go out!”
    “Yeah,” I muttered.
    Sure. Go out. That’s what I’ll be doing with my credits.
    She looked down, and a second later plucked the invitation I’d all but forgotten about out of my hand. “What’s this?”
    “I don’t know,” I said dismissively. “An invitation. I barely looked at it.”
    She pressed her lips together and narrowed her eyes on the paper as she read. “It’s to Dragon’s Lair. That’s where they’re holding that big fight.”
    My focus was on her threadbare comforter and a loose string I was desperately trying to pull out, so I was only half paying attention when I said, “Fight?”
    “Yeah. Special release program. The prison colony in DC is getting full, so they set this program up to allow some of the lesser offenders a way to earn their freedom.” Charlie shrugged like it was no big deal, but a shiver went through me. “I thought you’d heard. Everyone’s been talking about it.”
    Who’s idea was that? “I’ve been a little preoccupied.”
    “Oh, yeah. Right. Of course.” Pink spread across Charlie’s cheeks and she looked away.
    “Anyway, I hate going to fights and I don’t have a single credit to spare.” I went back to plucking at the string.
    “You don’t have to watch the fight.” She frowned when she realized she didn’t have an argument for the second part of my statement, but a second later her brown eyes lit up. When she turned them on me, I knew what she was going to say before the words were even out of her mouth. “We could go you know. All you have to do is ask Jackson to go with us.”
    Sometimes, I wondered if Charlie even liked spending time with me, or if she only did it for Jackson’s connections.
    I plucked at the loose string harder, thinking it through. My goal was to not lead Jackson on, but the idea of getting out for a bit—even if going to the entertainment district wasn’t something I typically liked to do—did sound appealing. Between Dad’s disappearance and Joshua’s death, followed very shortly by Mom slowly losing her mind, I was beginning to feel like everything around me had started to fall to pieces. Maybe a few hours in the entertainment district would do the trick? Jackson had unlimited credits and I knew he wouldn’t mind paying…
    “Come on.” Charlie waved the invitation in my face as if that would motivate me to make the decision. “You could take the opportunity to get to know Jackson better.”
    “What are you talking about?” I asked, narrowing my eyes on her. “I’ve known Jackson for years.”
    Of course, I knew what she was implying, what I didn’t get was why .
    Charlie sighed and shook her head. “You aren’t going to want to hear this, but I’m going to say it anyway. I know things are tough for you right now, but if you don’t take some initiative, they’re going to get worse. Jackson is in love with you. He has been for years. And he’s rich. He has more credits than he knows what to do with, and he lives in the biggest, nicest house inside these walls. Maybe inside any of the settlements.”