Free Connor (The Kendall Family Series Book 2) by Randi Everheart

doing it anyway for what seemed like forever. He knew the mountain well, having worked for the park service that oversaw it, and so he knew where he could get away with it.
    Seth cursed again and Jess impatiently ran both hands through her bright pink hair, before nibbling at the chipped nail polish, blue on one hand and red on the other. She knew better than to ask again. He’d told her to fuck off last time. The mid-morning sun beat down on her black jeans and orange shirt, her splash of color in the green prompting Seth to have called her stupid once or twice just today. He was always insulting her, but that’s how guys were, she thought. Or at least the kind of guys who had any interest in a girl like her. She twirled the nose ring stud she wore, her square face bunched in a frown, her poorly tweezed eyebrows scrunched. People only looked at her a second time so they could stare unflatteringly, which had hardened her bitter heart.
    Finally, Seth lowered the black telescope in his grimy hands, dirt under his fingernails like usual. “They’re at the house,” he said, his voice nasal through his pug nose.
    “Hers?”
    He shot her a look, beady black eyes narrowed. “Yeah. What the fuck do you think I’ve been looking at all this time?”
    “Well how the fuck should I know?”
    “Stupid bitch.”
    From behind them, where he stood on a rock, Mark asked, “Who’s at her house?”
    “The cops,” Seth answered, scratching his thin goatee. He didn’t have enough facial hair to grow a real one yet. Greasy, uncombed black hair fell to his ears. “And the fucking Kendalls.”
    Jess asked, “The Kendalls? How the fuck did they get involved?”
    “How the fuck should I know?” Seth yelled.
    Mark said, “You two need to chill.”
    Seth and Jess glanced over their shoulders at him and said in unison, “Shut the fuck up!”
    Mark looked at them sulkily, tired of being treated like shit by both of them. He was the third wheel in their relationship and knew it. He was also annoyed that neither of them had asked him how his nose was doing since Sophia had broken it. Two pieces of white tape held down the splint bridging his nose. His cheeks were a little swollen under clouded blue eyes, and he’d soon have a blonde mustache to go with his close-cropped hair, since he couldn’t shave under the broken nose very well. He was better looking and taller than Seth, who’d made him shave the full goatee he’d once grown, out of resentment that it came in all the way. His clear skin contrasted with Seth’s pockmarks and continuing zits, just as his broad shoulders contrasted with Seth’s narrow ones. Some who watched them interact wondered why the two were friends at all, but Seth’s bullying had charted the course of their relationship from grade school, and Mark lived the life of an abuse victim, afraid to stand up for himself for fear of punishment.
    “What are we gonna do?” Jess asked.
    “I’m thinking ,” said Seth. “I can’t go home, not that I give a shit. She knows it was me. You two will get me supplies if I need ‘em. Use your car. Mine’s gotta stay where it is.” Though he couldn’t see his Challenger from their position, he glanced down to where he’d hidden it just off one of the few roads on the mountain. He’d set up the camouflaged location long ago for his camping here, but now staying in the hideout would help evade the cops, too. The road had almost no traffic, but someone could report the car once the cops told people to look for it. He’d leave it there until he found a chance to grab Sophia again. The next time he’d use the stun gun or something. She deserved a good smack in the head for that last stunt. That sort of thing kept Jess in line.
    Now he had to figure out where to take Sophia once he’d gotten her. With the police looking for him, previous plans were done with. Maybe he’d bring her here. She might enjoy a night under the stars. And under him as he thrust into her. His