Free Chasing Thunder by Ginger Voight Page B

response, flipping onto his back and straddling her across his body for round two.
     
     
     
    Baby clutched her oversized clothing to her body as she eased down the dark hallway toward the living room. It was still illuminated only by the television, so she was sure that Kid was alone, having resumed his game. And of course she was right. He was playing live, using a headset, trash-talking his opponents as he worked his way through a first-person shooter game. The minute he spotted her, however, he was quick to bid his fellow gamers adieu, sacrificing his man on the field so he could turn off the gaming system.
    “Hey,” he said again.
    “Hey,” she responded.
    He was on his feet in a flash. “Did you want to play? I have a ton of games.”
    She shook her head. After the night she’d had, the last thing she wanted to do was immerse herself in a virtual world where she had to fight for her life. It was a lot less fun to her now that she had actually done so.
    “Oh,” he said, shifting on his feet awkwardly. “You want, like, something to drink or something?”
    She nodded. Clearly he could hear her grumbling stomach all the way across the room. She followed him to the kitchen. He flooded the room with light and headed to the side-by-side refrigerator. “You hungry?” he asked as he perused the contents.
    “I could eat,” she said.
    He glanced at her. “What do you like?”
    She laughed. She was so hungry she could have eaten the refrigerator, chrome and all. “I’m not picky.”
    “Right.” He opened the freezer and grabbed a frozen pizza. It wasn’t fancy, but it was quick. And who didn’t like pizza? He offered her the choice of pepperoni or supreme. She picked the supreme and he smiled. “Good,” he said. “Because if I even look at a mushroom, I puke.” She laughed and watched him put her pizza on one pan and the mushroom-free one on another. “Baked okay?” he asked. “I hate microwaved pizzas.”
    “Me, too,” she said with a shy smile. “But I’m so hungry I think I could eat it frozen.”
    He returned to the fridge while they waited for the oven to preheat. “No worries. We’ve got other stuff, too.” He pulled out some cheese dip and snatched a bag of tortilla chips from the counter. “Grab whatever you want to drink. I’ll take this to the table.”
    She nodded and complied, following him obediently to the dining room table around the bar from the kitchen. He turned the TV to a music channel so they could listen to some tunes while they ate. She took her seat next to him and unscrewed the cap from her root beer. He scooted the jar of dip toward her, not judging her in the least when she scooped up a chip full of nacho sauce. He matched her scoop for scoop.
    “So how do you know M.J.?” he finally asked.
    She shrugged. “I don’t.” She didn’t know how much she should share about what happened in the alley, so she said nothing. Instead, she whitewashed the events to something a little more believable and less incriminating. “I lost all my belongings my first day in L.A., so she helped me out.”
    He nodded. “You were lucky you ran into her first. It’s dangerous out there for a girl on her own.”
    She gulped down a swig of root beer and nodded.
    “That’s what she does,” he stated, reaching for another chip.
    “What’s that?”
    It was his turn to shrug. “Help teens. Runaways mostly.”
    “Oh,” was all she said.
    “I guess what I’m trying to say is that you’re safe with her. With us. If you were worried about it, that is.”
    “I was,” she admitted honestly. “I met some other people. I ended up sleeping in an abandoned building last night. When I woke up this morning, my bag and my shoes were gone. Along with my money and my ID. I guess the good news is that there’s nothing left to steal.”
    She tried to make it a joke, but couldn’t even bring herself to laugh. Kid was immediately sympathetic. “M.J. will help with that, too. Anything you