Girl Jacked Read Online Free Page B

floor and noticed the spilled soda and bags of food.
    “Hungry?” He picked up the bags and took out a loaf of bread and some sliced chicken.
    Now it was her turn to stare.
    He shrugged, but still made sandwiches for both of them. Then he went and sat on the old green couch.
    He looked over. I should clean up the soda before it turns into a goo-stain. Why didn’t Gina ever get bottles? She always got the paper cups. Jack smiled. She likes straws.
    “You’re not going after her?” He barely understood Replacement as she chomped a massive bite from her sandwich.
    “She’ll go to her ‘friend’s’ house.” Whoever the hell that is. “I got a hunch that we’re done.”
    “Great.” Replacement shrugged and moved to sit next him. He didn’t argue he just took another bite of his sandwich. “She really flipped out when she came home and found me in the shower. I tried to explain, but she went a little wacko.”
    “That explains it,” Jack muttered.
    He watched her from the corner of his eye. She looked and acted young for her age, but she still had the same impish grin. It had been so long since he’d last seen her and he thought of how many things had changed since then.
    They ate in silence and then sat staring at the wall for a few minutes. It was unusual in that it wasn’t awkward.
    Jack got up and suppressed a groan. His back was a little sore from flipping the lumberjack. He threw the paper plates into the trash, looked at the clock: 2:57 am, and then out the window.
    It’s snowing.
    “You got a ride home or do you want to crash here?” He yawned and stretched.
    Replacement lit up as if she had hit the lottery. “The couch is fine!” She bounced up and down with her hands spread out.
    “We’ll go out to the college in the morning,” Jack called over his shoulder as he walked into his bedroom and shut the door.
     
    Jack lay in bed for almost an hour, unable to sleep. Worse still, he couldn’t stop thinking about Michelle.
    If she isn’t in California, this is not going to be good. The police would have checked the hospitals and morgue...
    He closed his eyes and breathed deeply as he tried to force those thoughts from his head.
    Think about something else. Think about something good about her.
    It wasn’t hard for Jack to remember. He thought about that memory often.
    Michelle had been twelve. While other kids were playing and having fun during summer break, she was babysitting, wiping up snot, and changing diapers. As each week passed, Chandler and Jack turned guessing about what she was going to spend the money on into a game. They went from guessing a doll to a dollhouse to finally thinking that she had enough money to buy a pony.
    “I’m saving it for something big!” she said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted.”
    Nearing the end of the summer, Jack came for a visit and sleep over. When he arrived, the house was dark except for a few candles lit here and there. Chandler pulled Jack outside and told him why.
    “Aunt Haddie’s work cut back on her hours this summer. Now she doesn’t have enough money for rent and they shut the electricity off.”
    While they were outside talking, they saw Michelle with a flashlight rummaging around Aunt Haddie’s closet in the bedroom.
    The next morning Michelle started searching under the couch cushions. She said that everyone should try to look for some spare change anywhere they could. She suggested Aunt Haddie check through her old pocketbooks in the closet.
    Aunt Haddie returned a few minutes later beaming with a large wad of cash in her hand.
    Jack had never forgotten the look on the old woman’s face as she leapt around the kitchen holding up that money. All four of them joined in dancing in a circle with Aunt Haddie calling out; “Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Jesus!”
    If you asked Michelle about it today, she’d still tell you an angel put it there.
     
    He tried to concentrate and make a to-do list in his mind, but he lay there