The Renegades (Book 5): United Read Online Free Page B

why not.” She glanced at me.
    “Ah, call me a pessimist but it seems that everything good that has ever come our way has eventually turned to shit.”
    She nudged me with her elbow. “Not everything.” She leaned over and pressed her lips against mine. As I pulled her in close, over her shoulder I saw Rowan and Jess come up. She caught sight of us. The smile on her face vanished. Wren must have sensed a change as she twisted in my arms, casting a glance over her shoulder.
    An hour into the party, with people filled up with liquid courage, a fight broke out downstairs. Baja went off to sort it out, while Elijah and I sat on the couch, Wren was off to my right and Rowan, Jess and Izzy across from us. Elijah puffed away on a large cigar with his feet up on the table. One thing that had changed was the conversation.
    Before, it would have been about finding food or gas or pursuing some asshole. But twelve months had changed that, people were back to trying to find excitement in their life, comparing and making out that their life didn’t suck as bad as anyone else’s. Basically Facebook but without the Internet.
    “So how are things down in Montauk?” Elijah asked behind a cloud of smoke. Izzy coughed and swiped the air so she could see him.
    I could see Izzy searching for the words. Each of the seven districts had around five hundred people, they each acted as their own small village. She ummed. It’s not like anyone could say, “Hey, I’m off to the Bahamas next month” or “I just landed my dream job in Hollywood.” It was more like “I learned how to fish” or “I finally can shoot the top off a bottle” or “We have created a new garden.”
    “Oh, lots going on down there. You really should join us.”
    I rolled my eyes. And there it was. Now people were trying to make out that their neck of the woods was better than the one we were in. It was the same old shit, repackaged and served up on a platter.
    “What about you, Johnny?” Jess asked. “What’s new in your world?”
    I could see the look in her eye. Like a kid prodding a hornet’s nest for fun. She was looking to get a reaction. She didn’t care what was going on in my world. She made that clear the day she shut me out of hers.
    “To be honest, I’m thinking of moving.”
    Wren slapped my leg playfully. “You never told me that.”
    “Yeah, I think it’s time.”
    “Which district are you going to?” Rowan asked.
    I eyed him over the top of my drink. “Actually none. I’m thinking of moving to the Fortress. Where Specs is.”
    Elijah began coughing on his cigar so much that Izzy passed him a drink and he washed it down. His eyes were red as the smoke stung them.
    “Are you out of your mind?” he said turning around.
    “Not any more than us staying here.”
    “But here there’s better protection. Better living. There’s enough people to carry the load of what needs to be done. Heck, I haven’t been out on the wall in over a month, it’s been beautiful.”
    Each of them looked at me as if I had lost the plot.
    “Why doesn’t Specs come here?” Elijah continued.
    “He’s made a life for himself where he is. It’s going well.”
    Jess gave a fake laugh. “Yeah, right. How well can you live in the middle of nowhere?”
    “Well you should know, moving all the way to the tip of the island. Oh, but that’s right, you just want some alone time,” I said.
    She glared at me.
    “What if you get back there and discover he’s not there?” Izzy asked.
    “I know he’s there. I’ve been talking to him using the ham radio over in North Haven.”
    “And you didn’t think to tell us?” Jess asked.
    Rowan shot Wren a questioning look. As they were siblings I kind of figured he would assume she might want to come with me. But I hadn’t told her. In fact, I hadn’t told anyone.
    “Why do you want to leave?” Jess asked.
    “I made a promise.”
    “You made me one, look how that turned out,” she replied in front of them all.