Free The Best I Could by R. K. Ryals Page B

to get eaten alive by
mosquitoes out there.”
    “Yeah,” I answered, my gaze on the shadowed
lot. “I’m coming.”
    Hetty retreated, the door clicking shut
behind her. Eli remained in the shadows.
    “You working at the rescue tomorrow?” I
asked.
    A lighter flared, highlighting the hard
ridges of his face. The cigarette from before dangled from his
mouth. Puffing on it, he removed it.
    “I’m helping out at a boxing club in town.
Training troubled youth.”
    “Boxing? One of those things you’re into,
right?”
    “Yeah.” He was silent, and then, “You know
that sister of yours should really consider it. All of that
rage—”
    “By fighting?” I interrupted. “How does that
help? She’s already angry. She doesn’t need to learn how to hit
someone.”
    Eli stepped back into the light. “It’s not
like that. It’s a way to channel the anger in the right kind of
environment. Trust me, boxing helps. I’d be in a lot more trouble
if I didn’t do it.”
    I studied him. He wasn’t broad the way some
guys were, the kind of guys that lived in gyms. He was lean, his
body honed but not fake honed. He looked fit in a fast, ‘I can take
a punch and deliver it’ kind of way.
    My eyes dropped to his fingers. “You should
probably quit smoking then. Can’t be good for your breathing.”
    He smiled, and then exhaled smoke. “I’m
working on it.”
    “Looks like it.”
    Behind me, another light switched on.
    Eli walked backward. “Think about it … with
your sister.”
    I took a step back, the distance growing
between us. “You’re going to be okay, right?” It was the same
question he’d asked me on the hospital roof.
    He laughed. “You’re not pitying me, are you,
roof girl?”
    My cheeks reddened, and I was suddenly
grateful for the darkness.
    “I’m always careful,” he added.
    I caught the lewd suggestion in his tone.
    Backing toward the house, I watched the
darkness. I couldn’t see Eli, but I could feel his eyes. Even with
clothes on, I suddenly felt naked, stripped to the core.
    Halfway across the yard, I stopped.
    A car engine started up. Headlights flashed
down the road behind the empty lot, swinging as the vehicle turned
around. It crawled onto the street next to the clinic.
    The windows in the Porsche were down, and a
radio popped on. “Renegade” by Styx blasted into the darkness.
    Shaking my head, I stumbled toward the house
feeling like I’d just survived an earthquake. Maybe I had.

EIGHT
    Eli

    There are some things you wake up regretting.
My jaunt to the animal clinic in town and my conversation with
Tansy were definitely on that list. My mother and my anger were
heady drugs for me, drugs that carried me off the beaten path and
made me do things without thinking them through first.
    I still felt like the kid with a spoonful of
medicine in his mouth. The kid who wanted to fight but who kind of
liked the calm feeling that came after the syrup.
    Maybe that was why I hated my mother so much.
Maybe it was because I was still chasing that feeling after all of
these years.
    A pounding noise reverberated throughout the
cottage, growing more insistent with each knock.
    Sitting up, I groaned and ran my hands over
my face before throwing my legs over the side of the bed.
    The front door crashed open.
    “What the hell were you thinking?” my brother
cried, his voice echoing.
    Jonathan marched into my bedroom, the
cottage’s spare key dangling from his fingers.
    I eyed it. “Why bother knocking if you’re
just going to come in?”
    He glared. “Why bother getting your license
suspended if you’re just going to jack my car and drive?”
    “About that—”
    “Did you know Mom wanted to call the police?
She went into complete hysterics. Pops was dangerously close to
locking her in one of the bedrooms.”
    I couldn’t help myself, I grinned. “Tell me
you got that on video.”
    Stunned silence.
    “This is not a joke!” Jonathan roared.
    My face fell, weariness sinking into