AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Gabriel craved that, a knock-down, drag-out rematch. It was almost enough to send him back into the mall, throw caution to the wind, and fight.
Almost.
He ducked his head and started walking. “Go away.”
“I don’t know why I was worried,” Hunter said from behind him. “Considering you only seem to know how to run and hide.”
Gabriel swung around and hit him.
Or he tried to. Hunter had some serious military training, and he deflected the blow easily.
But Gabriel was no stranger to fighting dirty. He caught Hunter with a solid punch to the stomach.
Hunter got him in the jaw.
And then they were fighting in earnest.
Christ, it felt fantastic to drive his fist into something. Especially when Hunter fought back with enough force to really make it worth it. Enough force that Gabriel started to wonder if this would turn into a test of endurance.
Enough force that Gabriel started to wonder if he could win.
His back slammed into the concrete wall of the mall. Breath rushed out of his lungs. He braced against the wall to throw Hunter off, getting enough leverage to shove the other boy to the ground. He followed him down to pin him there.
“Whoa, hold up,” Hunter said, breathless. He made his hands into a T. “If I tear my clothes, my grandmother will shit a brick.”
Gabriel stared down at him, unsure whether to let him go.
Then he caught the glint of light on steel under Hunter’s jacket.
“You are one crazy bastard. You really did come armed.”
“Sure.”
“You had a gun and you still fought me like that?”
Hunter grinned. “Wait you were fighting for real? ”
Yeah, he had been but suddenly it didn’t seem so important.
Gabriel let him go.
Hunter rolled to his feet and dusted bits of grass from his hair. “You want a ride home?”
His brothers were still here. Gabriel could see their red SUV
across the parking lot. But getting a ride home with his brothers meant going back into the mall and facing the Guide.
“Yeah,” he said. “I do.”
The fight had loosened something in him. Not permanently Gabriel was too smart for that. But something about it felt good. Reassuring. Steadying, in a way.
It had been so long that Gabriel almost didn’t recognize it for what it was, until after they’d driven home, not talking, just listening to the music pouring from Hunter’s radio. Until after he’d let himself into an empty house, a luxury he didn’t experience very often.
It felt like the beginning of friendship.
CHAPTER 5
Math class.
