MILA 2.0: Redemption Read Online Free

needs,” he said matter-of-factly. Then, his lips curved into a wicked smile. “That, and the fact that I endlessly printed up anti-hunting articles off the internet and left them all around the house, in his car . . . taped to the deer heads. I’m pretty sure he was disgusted by my lack of manliness.”
    Tim grunted, muttering a few words under his breath. Not loudly enough for Lucas to catch them, but loud enough for me.
    “Better than the alternative.”
    I felt a ripple of sympathy for Tim. Hard to believe how very differently the two brothers had turned out. Suddenly, I was even more thankful for Lucas’s solid presence beside me.
    We piled the wood by the fireplace before settling into the dated but comfy stuffed chairs. A faint scent of cinnamon and vanilla lingered in the faded brown fabric.
    I noticed Lucas winced a little as he adjusted his position.
    “Your leg?” I asked.
    “It’s healed up fine. Just gets a little stiff sometimes.”
    I bowed my head, guilt gnawing at me, but then it snapped back up when I heard Lucas say my name.
    “Stop worrying, Mila. No regrets,” he whispered.
    Lucas had taken a bullet back at Holland’s lab in a last-ditch effort to buy Mom and me time to escape. He’d risked his life for us, even though he had no reason to. From day one, nothing about me seemed to faze him.
    He stood. “I need to check on something. Be right back.”
    I watched him retreat to the first doorway on the left, where he slept in a room on a tiny twin bed that was surrounded by loads of his computer equipment. I could hear the humming, even from outside.
    Tim went to the food cooler and unwrapped a packet of cheese, sniffed it, then shrugged and dumped the contents onto a plate. “Don’t take it personal. He always was socially awkward,” he said in an overly loud voice, and without a hint of irony.
    “I heard that!” Lucas called out from around the corner.
    “Whatever,” Tim said with a smirk. When he caught me watching him, his jaw tightened and he slunk back over to the stove.
    I turned my back and reclined in the chair. Somewhere in the distance, a coyote howled, his forlorn cry ringing through the still night air. An answering call yipped from the opposite direction and a sudden chill crept up my arms.
    “They’re on the trail of something,” Tim mused from the kitchen, almost wistfully.
    I pulled a blanket over myself and huddled under it,trying not to think of my own set of predators.
    Tim spoke again, over the sound of silverware clanging into metal camping bowls. “I’m no good at conversations.”
    Was that an olive branch? Or something else? “That’s okay. I’m not either.”
    “Not true. You and Lucas talk nonstop.” He said it casually, but the sounds from the kitchen had silenced.
    “Do we?”
    Tim didn’t know why I was here, actually. In fact, Tim had specifically requested to be spared the details. He was bright enough to realize we were probably hiding and neck-deep in trouble, but he’d made it clear that he wanted no part of it. The less Tim knew, the safer he was, and that was fine with me. He might not make the best company, but he was still Lucas’s brother. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to him. Especially not because of me.
    The clanging started up again. “It’s kind of annoying. How close you guys are,” he said. “He and I were never like that.”
    Close. The word rattled around in my head and caused me to shift in the chair. Was that the right word to describe Lucas and me? Yes, we’d been through a lot together, and he was someone I could count on in this ugly mess I called a life. But admitting that out loud seemed wrong, somehow. Like by admitting that Lucas and I were close, I was betraying Hunter, who’d given up so much to be with me.
    If only I could contact him. Hear his voice again. Know that he was okay.
    Tim cleared his throat with a rough cough. “Grub’s almost ready. Go fetch Boy Genius.”
    “Sure,” I said. Even