The Tramp (The Bound Chronicles #1) Read Online Free Page A

or not?”
    “Yes, Snappy Snapstress. Give me a minute here.”
    She had already given him at least twenty and she could tell he wasn’t going to figure a way out of her trap. “Your knight is growing mold on it.”
    “Don’t help me.”
    “I’m trying to help myself.” Candy rifled her shaggy red hair in frustration, and rolled onto her back. She squinted her eyes at the cracks in the ceiling, transforming them into a network of roads on an old yellowed map, and began composing a story in her head to entertain herself. The bell banged on the front door again and she heard the conversation-in-progress between two men pour into the store.
    “…not saying the prohibition is a bad idea, Greg. I’m just wondering if you’re fighting a losing battle. I mean, where is it getting us?”
    Great, who’s that? Candy scooted her sneakers in closer to her butt to make sure they were still hidden from the latest intruders.
    “I’m weary of the rhetoric, Dave…”
    “It’s Pastor Dave,” she whispered to Louis upside down, worried when she saw her friend’s enthusiastic nod. “I’m gettin’ the hell out of here.”
    “What? What about our game?”
    The baritone voice went on in the other room, “… and there is something rotten growing here, my friend. Alcohol feeds it like an evil nectar. We have to stand united against it. Don’t tell me you’re turning away from the calling.”
    Ew, Mr. Davis, too? She finally recognized the second voice as that belonging to her and Louis’s high school guidance counselor. Greg Davis was definitely someone she had no interest in chatting up. There were still two weeks before school started and Candy intended to relish them. “You win,” she said and handed Louis her king.
    She flipped over on all fours and crawled over to spy around the side of the hutch. The two men had their backs to her. Candy ignored her friend’s disapproving pout, blew him a kiss, and donned her backpack.
    “Turning from that particular law is not turning from God, Greg, and I think we’d all do well to remember the difference. It’s the people of Shirley who are my concern, not the politics.”
    “Explain to me the difference, Dave.”
    She didn’t care who she was abandoning; she wasn’t hanging around to hear more of that. Feeling like a naughty puppy dog, she scuttled past the narrow opening and into the back room. Louis swatted her on the butt as he rose to greet the newcomers and Candy almost stood up to kick him in the balls.
    “Hi, Pastor Dave,” she heard him call as she slipped out the backdoor.
    “Whew. Escaped the shepherd-longing-for-a-lost-sheep look,” Candy sang to herself. The kid who was working the counter frowned at her over his cigarette. “You got customers, Chris.”
    “Aw man…” He stubbed his butt out in the dirt. “Alright, alright.”
    “See ya later.” She headed for the restaurant with spirits soaring on adrenaline. Bye-bye, Pastor Chipmunk.
    Her smile faded as soon as she thought it; the youth pastor’s friendly round face and slightly bucked teeth filled her with guilt. She heard other kids using that nickname for him but it was crappy and he didn’t deserve that. She liked him and his youth group actually was fun. But. She just didn’t think she believed in all that church stuff anymore. As soon as she had turned sixteen, she excused herself from the Wednesday night youth group carpool. She told her dad she could drive herself, but of course she never drove to church.
    “Better stuff to do…” Having conquered the stairs and mounted the patio deck outside Big Joe’s restaurant, she surveyed the area from her superior vantage point. The grounds were empty. Inside, she could see Mrs. Mendez wiping down the dining tables for the dinner hour. Otherwise, it was a ghost town: only one car in the parking lot and no delivery truck to signal Sam’s presence. She had hoped to run into him, but apparently there was no shipment scheduled. She saw a chair