Family Ties — читать онлайн бесплатно полностью

“This doesn’t concern you.”

“It kinda does. Mom’ll be upset if you kill him. Dad too. Not to mention Birdy. Besides, I’ll have to find a new place to sleep.”

“Everything’s a joke to you, isn’t it?”

“You’re serious enough for the whole family.”

“All right,” Rich said slowly. “If I give you my word, will that be enough?”

“Your word?” Danny said, confirmation rather than question.

“I already gave it to Mom. But if you want…”

“Nah. That’s good enough for me. Come on girls,” he said to them, “the big dogs wanna bark at each other through the fence.

“Rich…?” Christy said.

“Get her inside,” Rich said to Danny. “And turn on the light.”

Danny gave me an all-too-cheery wave before he hustled the girls into the house. He closed the door without a second glance and turned on the light a moment later.

I faced Rich and readied for a fight. He swung a right and I blocked it without even thinking.

“Relax, shit stain,” he said. He reached up again, and I realized he wasn’t trying to hit me. He put his hand on my temple with his thumb above the bandage on my brow.

“Keep your fucking hands off me.” I batted him away again.

“Suit yourself.” He nodded at my wound. “Keep it clean. Use Vaseline to keep it moist, and keep it covered with a bandage. It shouldn’t scar.”

“No thanks to you.” I felt my anger rising but kept it in check.

He looked at me and laughed. “You think you’re so tough…”

“You wanna find out?” I shot back. “Let’s go a few rounds without your gun.”

He simply laughed again.

“What, this is funny?”

“No, it’s a fucking disgrace,” he said at last.

“Yeah, well, fuck you too.”

“Aw, now you’ve done it,” he mocked. “You’ve gone and hurt my feelings.”

“Is there something you wanna tell me? Or are you just jerking off with

this macho bullshit?”

He surprised me with a laugh. “I’ll have to remember that. ‘Jerking off with this macho bullshit…’ That’s good.” Then all of a sudden he grew serious. “I don’t like you. But you’re a smart kid, so you probably figured that out.

“The feeling’s mutual.”

“That’s fine. I don’t care whether you like me or not. All I care about is Birdy.”

“Laugh all you like. But if you hurt her, I hurt you. Are we clear?”

The door to the house opened and Christy’s voice came through.

“Let me go, Danny! No! Let— me— go!” A hundred pounds of blonde fury stormed out of the house. She stopped when she saw Rich and me in seemingly polite conversation.

Rich actually smiled at me.