Raw Vengeance (The Rich Fordham Series) Read Online Free Page B
Author: Josh Handrich
one, especially not his mother, because he knew she wouldn’t approve.
His mother’s condescending remark did nothing but make him dig in his heels and want to fight. “If you weren’t such a bitch sometimes, maybe I wouldn’t be gay,” he screamed. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you—”
She slapped his face with the viciousness of a rabid dog, leaving a dark bruise on his chocolate-colored skin. “Don’t you ever call me names again, you hear me? I’m leaving, and I don’t want any fuss from you. I’ll be on the road for a week, starting in Iowa. If I hear you’ve given the bodyguards trouble, I’ll get rid of you for good!”
After slamming the door, she vanished. No kiss, no hug, no “enjoy your first day of high school.” Just the coldness of a mother who did not love or accept her son. Tyler stared at a picture of them, smiling, taken at Disney World when he was five. It was a photo of happier times. Now he viewed it with contempt and loneliness.
Five minutes later, Tyler raised the garage door and fired up the Cadillac Escalade’s V8 engine. He turned on a local radio morning show, put on his designer glasses, and kept his speed within legal limits. A “DWB”— driving while black—was the last thing he needed to be pulled over for. By freeway, the drive to Loring High School took fifteen minutes. All the while, the two bodyguards trailed within two car lengths.
A half mile prior to the school, the traffic began to pile up, and his nerves and stomach jitters began to take control of him. The school itself was a mixture of cultures, races, and socioeconomic statuses. He knew being black, gay, and coming from an affluent background made him an instant target. The two stiffs only made him stick out more and would make his life miserable. The conga line finally made its way into the high school’s back parking lot, where he found a spot in the middle. After parking, he checked his appearance in the window. He wore black shorts with a blue-striped polo shirt and matching black leather sandals. He kept his hair close-cropped and his tall frame in lean condition.
Tyler swung his backpack over his shoulder and approached the spooks in the car; they looked bored, even though the day had barely begun. “Would you guys mind keeping a low profile? If people get wind that you’re with me, they’ll bust my balls.”
Peter Raines, the more senior and lazy of the two, replied, “You sure? Your old lady is paying us to make sure you don’t get your feelings hurt.”
Without responding to the patronizing remark, he replied, “I appreciate you guys being here, but really, I’ll be fine.” The two men looked at each other only enough to make it appear that they cared.
“ Whatever, kid. You don’t want us here, you won’t see us.” Peter rolled up his window and blew out of the parking lot a minute later.
CHAPTER 5
“ Hey, check him out. Dude’s driving a tricked-out Caddy,” Labron pointed out to his buddies as they watched a brand new Cadillac pull into the Loring High School parking lot.
The two-story high school’s location, wedged between Chicago’s urban and suburban districts, gave it a mostly white population with a minority of Mexicans, African-Americans, and Somalis. The brown, all-brick, block-like building sat right on the edge of a four-lane highway with residential areas on all sides. Students always congregated at the back entrance near the gymnasium due to the lack of wall-mounted cameras and rarely got busted by the staff for smoking, drugs, and fighting.
“ Who the fuck is that?” asked Deon, the alpha of the group of boys. At nineteen, he was the oldest and should have already finished high school if not for his failing grades. The four watched as a black teenager like themselves got out, looked himself over, picked up his backpack, and walked toward a car with an older white guy and a black guy sitting inside. After a minute, the car drove off, and the teen
His mother’s condescending remark did nothing but make him dig in his heels and want to fight. “If you weren’t such a bitch sometimes, maybe I wouldn’t be gay,” he screamed. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you—”
She slapped his face with the viciousness of a rabid dog, leaving a dark bruise on his chocolate-colored skin. “Don’t you ever call me names again, you hear me? I’m leaving, and I don’t want any fuss from you. I’ll be on the road for a week, starting in Iowa. If I hear you’ve given the bodyguards trouble, I’ll get rid of you for good!”
After slamming the door, she vanished. No kiss, no hug, no “enjoy your first day of high school.” Just the coldness of a mother who did not love or accept her son. Tyler stared at a picture of them, smiling, taken at Disney World when he was five. It was a photo of happier times. Now he viewed it with contempt and loneliness.
Five minutes later, Tyler raised the garage door and fired up the Cadillac Escalade’s V8 engine. He turned on a local radio morning show, put on his designer glasses, and kept his speed within legal limits. A “DWB”— driving while black—was the last thing he needed to be pulled over for. By freeway, the drive to Loring High School took fifteen minutes. All the while, the two bodyguards trailed within two car lengths.
A half mile prior to the school, the traffic began to pile up, and his nerves and stomach jitters began to take control of him. The school itself was a mixture of cultures, races, and socioeconomic statuses. He knew being black, gay, and coming from an affluent background made him an instant target. The two stiffs only made him stick out more and would make his life miserable. The conga line finally made its way into the high school’s back parking lot, where he found a spot in the middle. After parking, he checked his appearance in the window. He wore black shorts with a blue-striped polo shirt and matching black leather sandals. He kept his hair close-cropped and his tall frame in lean condition.
Tyler swung his backpack over his shoulder and approached the spooks in the car; they looked bored, even though the day had barely begun. “Would you guys mind keeping a low profile? If people get wind that you’re with me, they’ll bust my balls.”
Peter Raines, the more senior and lazy of the two, replied, “You sure? Your old lady is paying us to make sure you don’t get your feelings hurt.”
Without responding to the patronizing remark, he replied, “I appreciate you guys being here, but really, I’ll be fine.” The two men looked at each other only enough to make it appear that they cared.
“ Whatever, kid. You don’t want us here, you won’t see us.” Peter rolled up his window and blew out of the parking lot a minute later.
CHAPTER 5
“ Hey, check him out. Dude’s driving a tricked-out Caddy,” Labron pointed out to his buddies as they watched a brand new Cadillac pull into the Loring High School parking lot.
The two-story high school’s location, wedged between Chicago’s urban and suburban districts, gave it a mostly white population with a minority of Mexicans, African-Americans, and Somalis. The brown, all-brick, block-like building sat right on the edge of a four-lane highway with residential areas on all sides. Students always congregated at the back entrance near the gymnasium due to the lack of wall-mounted cameras and rarely got busted by the staff for smoking, drugs, and fighting.
“ Who the fuck is that?” asked Deon, the alpha of the group of boys. At nineteen, he was the oldest and should have already finished high school if not for his failing grades. The four watched as a black teenager like themselves got out, looked himself over, picked up his backpack, and walked toward a car with an older white guy and a black guy sitting inside. After a minute, the car drove off, and the teen
Readers choose
Jennifer Paetsch
Bernard Cornwell
Rebecca Grace Allen
Jan Coffey
John Buchan
Lynn Cahoon
Annabel Joseph
Ania Ahlborn
Susan Crawford
E.G. Rodford