The Forsaken Read Online Free Page A

about it? Nothing. So stay out of my life.” He took a long drag. “At least I don’t wake up alone, like you.”
    Jude scratched his neck tensely. “How long? How long are we gonna do this?”
    “I don’t know. But I guess it’s me. I’m the bad guy, and you’re just trying to save me, is that right?”
    “That’s not what I meant.”
    Kevin hopped up onto the counter and leaned over, shutting the television off. “I don’t want you coming here anymore, Jude. It’s not fun for me, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
    “Yeah, it’s a real party for me too.”
    “Good,” he said, taking another drag. “Looks like we finally agree on something.”
    “I didn’t come here to argue with you,” Jude confessed. He handed Kevin an envelope with cash in it. “This should hold you off for a little while.”
    Kevin took it and counted the bills before stuffing them back inside. “What is this, guilt money? I’m not a thug or some snitch you can pay off to give yourself a clear conscience. I don’t need your money.”
    “Then burn it. I don’t care. You’re unbelievable.” Jude rushed toward the door.
    “That’s what you’re best at, right?” Kevin said, giving Jude the finger. “You love walking away. You know, I really missed this.”
    It was abrupt and bitter, the way unannounced drop-ins usually ended up. Jude didn’t say a word, but he left a dent in the apartment door as he exited.
    Hangovers were nothing compared to the gut-wrenching nausea Kevin felt when he and Jude fought. He hated it, but it was like there was nothing he could do. Like the future, past, and present were all already written and they were born to be cruel to each. It wasn’t what his mother would want. It wasn’t what Dad would’ve wanted either. But days like today, it was what he wanted.
    Kevin breathed in the solemn fumes of his slow-dying cigarette and hopped off the counter. He placed a few hundred dollars in Crystal’s purse, picturing her naked one last time. He’d be gone by the time she finished with her shower. He never could handle watching her leave.

4

    NIGHT HAD FALLEN. JUDE felt more comfortable with the dark, even though most nights were damp and often drifted in cold. But after hours of mindless paperwork and playing nice with coworkers, the nights were a welcome reprieve.
    If the chief even allowed him to participate in a case, they were the boring ones with neat endings and slow plots. Nothing intense. Nothing that could make a real difference. Just a crap ton of papers to scribble in and forms that needed filing. It was better for the department, the chief claimed, for him to remain out of public attention. And that’s what the chief, the commissioner, and most of the dimwitted pencil pushers at the office wanted—for him to become a ghost. The gritty street assignments, the unique and sometimes open-ended thrills of the city, that’s what kept him alive. He preferred losing himself in the disturbances of a city that needed him, content to be the skeleton in everyone’s closet or the secret at the back of their minds.
    Thoughts like these were dangerous. He had to keep them at bay if he wanted to find any form of contentment. The brooding, arctic stare he put to work above his half smile grew more calloused every day. Perhaps the solace of a cool cup of coffee at nine o’clock in the evening could’ve offered him some comfort, but the fact was that he was still thinking about his terrible relationship with his brother. Each bitter sip of coffee tasted like the fights they often brought to life.
    To distract himself, Jude studied the few quiet souls in the diner. They weren’t much to look at, but he did it anyway. It was part of the profiling technique he never could quite turn off. The waitresses with too much lipstick and heels that made it hard to walk. Two factory employees, disgruntled about the recent layoffs. And one lonely priest in the corner finishing a plate of eggs. These were the