Alpha Dog Read Online Free Page A

door and tumbling onto the road, free at last. Of course, since it was a fantasy, instead of ending up a mangled mess with premature eye wrinkles, I’d simply land on my feet and take off running. I’d hop the barbed-wire fence and race over the ridge until I was certain Mom had lost my trail. Then I’d find a nice farm or ranch family to take me in. I’d convince them I was being hunted by the mob and that they couldn’t tell anyone I was there. Then I’d earn my keep by milking goats or something until I’d saved up some money. Then I’d fly to Ireland and find Seamus. . . .
    “Katie? . . . Katherine Anne McAllister! Are you listening to me? . . . Stop squinting!”

    My mood lifted as we pulled into Austin. First the traffic got thicker, and then the glass crown of the Frost Bank building appeared on the horizon. Soon other downtown buildings and the pink granite capitol dome came into view. And to the north loomed the infamous University of Texas Tower, its south-facing clock beckoning to me like a large smiley face.
    College,
I thought as a fluttery, pressurized sensation filled my chest. This was going to be perfect. No mom to fuss at me. No dad to tell embarrassing stories about me. No one constantly comparing me to my mother’s perfect girlhood. And best of all, no one who knew I’d just been dumped like moldy leftovers.
    Mom hadn’t even finished easing the Volvo into the Pearl Street Condominiums parking lot before I was out on the curb unloading my bags. A couple of swoon-worthy guys—frat boys, judging by the Greek letters on their baseball caps—were walking along the sidewalk. One of them smiled at me.
    Suddenly it occurred to me that a real college summer session would be going on at the same time as the Core Curriculum Program. I could meet real college students—college
guys.
Maybe Seamus would be there, having just transferred for a specialized graduate degree. I could just see him sauntering through campus, his beefy chest snug inside a Texas Longhorns shirt instead of a crewneck sweater. . . .
    “Katie!” Mom called, yanking me back into my present surroundings. I was still standing on the curb, gaping at the two hotties as they passed. She gave a disapproving glare and nodded toward my pile of luggage. “Let’s hurry and get inside. I’m sure you need to relieve yourself after all that coffee you drank this morning. It’s not healthy to hold it in, you know.” She picked up one of my bags and headed for the entrance.
    My face seemed to erupt into flames. I avoided looking at the two frat guys as I hoisted my last two bags and followed her into the building.
    “That reminds me,” she went on as we trudged up a Berber-carpeted staircase to the third floor. “All I see around here are burger and pizza joints. That kind of food is so bad for your complexion. If there’s time before I leave, we should stock up at a grocery store. Just because you won’t have me around to cook doesn’t mean you can eat junk. I didn’t get a scholarship by scarfing down sugar and fat all day, you know.”
    Every day Mom found a way to point out how blatantly inferior I was to herself at a young age. Even the words she used were repetitive: “When I was your age, I didn’t get to [insert feat of superhuman proportions] by [insert one of my regular, inferior habits].”
    Eventually we reached the third floor and stood in front of unit 302. On the door hung a wooden cutout of a cat with a ruffled gingham heart glued to the chest and the name Krantz stenciled underneath.
    Mom rapped on the door next to the wooden cat’s faceless head. “Be on your best behavior,” she whispered. “I’m sure you’ll have a strict curfew, and she’s probably going to check up on you all at least once a day, so you better keep things in order. No leaving your clothes and wet towels all over the place like you do at home.”
    “
Mo-om!
I know this already. You don’t need to keep reminding me.”
    “Honey, I’m