King of Forgotten Clubs Read Online Free Page A

fugitive again.

CHAPTER FIVE
How to Wreck

    Exhibit G: I lose the girl.

    I gasped for air as I leaned against the dirty brick wall.
    “We have to keep moving.” Kali fidgeted with a strand of her hair. “They’ll catch up to us if we stay here too long.”
    “You forgot to mention the part,” I paused to breathe, “where helping you would get me shot at. With guns.”
    “It’s not like they’d shoot at us with bows and arrows, now, is it?”
    I glared at her.
    “Come on. I know a place where we can duck off the street.” She tried to walk away.
    I wrapped my fingers around her wrist. “No more running.”
    “Fine, we’ll walk there. Can we just go?”
    I shook my head. “Not yet. I need to know something first.”
    “We don’t have time for this.” She hopped from foot to foot.
    I tugged her closer. “It’ll only take a minute.” I reached out and ran a hand over her hair. It slid softly through my fingers.  
    Kali made a noise deep in her throat and leaned forward. Before I let myself think through what I was doing, I pressed my lips against hers. She melted against me, and we glided across each other, frictionless.
    What were we doing? I pulled away from her. I felt as though I’d misplaced my common sense, and maybe my lungs with it.
    “Don’t stop,” she said, her words low and warm.
    We tangled together again, her fingertips hard against my back. I breathed her in. She was peppermint and root beer Chapstick and something unfathomable. It wasn’t enough. My hand slid down the smooth plane of her back, found the frayed top of the jeans that had been mine a week ago. Her leg wrapped around mine. We fell back against the wall.
    She tilted her head back, and I obligingly moved to explore the slope of her neck, inhaled against the silk of her hair.
    “Annabelle,” I said.
    The fantasy shattered.  
    Kali turned to stone in my arms. “We have to go,” she said, separating herself from me.
    “That’s not what I meant.” As if I could explain away saying the wrong girl’s name.
    “It’s this way.” She started walking again, her back to me.
    I stumbled after her. I couldn’t find the words to fix this. Maybe I could tell her: “You’re worth getting shot at for,” or, I have a speech disorder.”
    Then there was what I wanted to say but couldn’t: “Don’t leave me.”

    “Where is this place?” We’d been weaving through alleys for ten minutes, and I was beginning to think her goal was to lose me in them.
    “We’re almost there.” She turned abruptly and jumped a few inches onto a fire escape. Some sort of loud banging drifted down from a window up above.
    “Looks promising,” I joked.
    She didn’t answer. I didn’t think I really expected her to.
    I grabbed a handrail and hauled myself up. The black fire escape hugged the wall all the way to a third-story window. Considering there were two more stories after that, the building seemed like a bit of a fire hazard. “Please tell me you’re not taking me to a drug den.”
    She flashed a smile over her shoulder. “Better.” Then she remembered she was mad at me and threw in a glare for good measure.  
    She reached the top of the fire escape. A blast of noise accompanied her tossing the window open. The place seemed a little less subtle than I’d imagined, and a little more loud.
    When she hopped through the window, I followed her, trying to hide my panic. She could be taking me anywhere. Did I really trust her?
    For some ungodly reason, I did.
    The room inside was lit with strobe lights. Kali pulled a blackout curtain closed behind us.  
    “Where are we?” I shouted over a thumping bass.  
    I didn’t know it was possible to soundproof windows, but they must have in order to keep the place from being heard in Idaho. People were packed into the small squarish area, all of them gyrating to the music. It was the kind of place that should come with a seizure warning. Or at least a migraine warning.
    Kali’s teeth looked