Silence - eARC Read Online Free Page A

something about her, and—she flushed with embarrassment. Her mom never had a good reputation. He crossed his arms and leaned against the side of the alley he had surprised her from. “What’re you doing in this part of town? Bucket closed a while ago.” He had this little half-smile on his lips that kept on distracting her, making her trip over her own thoughts.
    “I was looking for someplace to get breakfast,” she confessed. Is this where Mom works? Somewhere around here?
    He chuckled to himself. “You’re definitely in the wrong place, then. Unless you’ve got a hankering for bait. Hardware store sells worms and some old shoe leather that they call ‘beef jerky.’”
    “What are you doing in this part of town? Besides scaring girls.”
    Dylan regarded her for a moment, that same smile on his face. “I parked my bike back there,” he said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. “Figured that I would take in the morning air on a walk.” He looked up and down the street, pausing. “You know, I’m heading down towards the docks; that should be your best bet for finding some food. Want me to show you how to get there?”
    The hottest guy I’ve seen all year, let alone here, is offering to walk me to breakfast… New York smarts would have said, “Ask him for directions, and let him wander off.” But this wasn’t New York. And he wasn’t giving off a dangerous vibe even though he looked a little dangerous. Besides…how much trouble could he give her? You can’t knock someone out and carry them off on a motorcycle without people noticing. This was a small town; people would notice anything unusual. “Sure,” she said.
    “There’s a diner that opens for the fishermen,” he told her, as they headed back from where she had come. “I don’t even know if it’s got a name. ‘Diner’ is all it says on the sign on top, and if you ask for ‘the diner’ that’s where people will send you. It opens at 4 A.M. and closes at 2 in the afternoon. There’s a fancy restaurant over by the Yacht Club, but they don’t open until 3, and unless you happen to be the kid of someone that belongs to the Yacht Club, they’ll never let you in wearing jeans.” He glanced down at her slim-cuts and trainers. Was he just checking me out? “Us peasants have to learn to keep our place, y’know?”
    Staci shook her head. “I—this isn’t like New York. And every other place Mom lived at, I was never there long enough to matter.” She felt her heart sinking. So I’m going to have to go to school here, and…figure out the other kids here. Yacht Club? I mean— In New York when you had money, you went to private school. Dad did all right but he didn’t have that kind of money, or at least, he hadn’t seen a reason to spend it on her schooling. Here…she was a complete outsider, from the Big City. She groaned internally, just thinking about what she would have to deal with when the school year started up.
    “So tell me what New York was like,” Dylan responded easily.
    “Um. Louder. And brighter. And it actually had, you know, people.” She bit her lip, determined to stare ahead instead of meeting his perfect eyes again. “People like my friends, everyone I’ve ever known. I just got here yesterday, and this place feels like a ghost town.”
    “Moving is never easy. Unless you’re rich, of course. You’ll find your place, though. Small towns like this can have their charms, if you give them a chance.” She caught his grin from the corner of her vision, and instantly felt herself blush again. Down, girl.
    “Have you been here long? Going to school, or…?” Staci let the question hang in the air. She chanced a look at Dylan; he walked so confidently, thumbs looped through his belt, chin thrust out and head up. He looked like someone straight from a movie set.
    “No, not too long. I don’t live in town at the moment. And I’m out of school, thank you very much. Just kind of doing my own thing, for now.