Read End of Day (Jack & Jill #1) for Free Online

“Don’t act all offended. That was basically your life before, I’m just suggesting you get paid for it now.”
    “These suck.” Jackson wadded the paper and tossed it back in the hat. “Every single one.”
    “Yeah, because my choices are so appealing. Let’s see what your last ingenious idea is.” She pulled the last piece of paper from her hat. “A surrogate? You think I’m going to spend the next ten years, fat, swollen, and pissing my pants every time I laugh?”
    Jackson shrugged. “What could be more beautiful than giving the gift of life?”
    She flicked the piece of paper at him. “Ending yours, you barnyard masturbating jerk!”
    He sighed, eyes red and glassy. “This is fucked. We shouldn’t be doing this. This is our life, we should take it seriously. I want my old job—the one where I’m actually using my computer engineering degree.”
    “Join the club. Do you have any idea how many tests I took and how hard I worked … all for nothing. I say we just do it. You start your own business and I’ll start retaking my exams.”
    Jackson sighed. “God you’re pathetic. You have a weak moment and I’m there, pulling you back to reality. I have a weak moment and you’re like, ‘Yeah, fuck it, bro, let’s jump off that cliff.’ McGraw said no to anything close to our old professions. It would give us an unnecessary hint of visibility, put us on the radar.”
    Jillian slumped in her chair, finishing the last of her beer. “I know, I know. Karma hates us. We shouldn’t even be here, but we are so screw it. Money’s not an issue, so for now I say we live with reckless abandon, shunning all reason and responsibility. Accountability is overrated. Let’s just be .”
    Jessica and Jude Day had been overachievers in every sense of the word. Could Jillian and Jackson let go of their inner drive for success and just be ? Not likely, but it was worth a try.
    Jackson slid her a pen and piece of paper. “Ok then. You’re right. It’s too hard to choose. So you pick the job for me and I’ll pick the one for you.”
    “Just like that? Out of the five choices I gave you, I get to pick the one?”
    “Yes. Just like that. And I get to pick yours.”
    The Knights stared at each other in a drunken gaze showdown. Luckily choosing random and meaningless professions didn’t require sobriety.
    “Fine.”
    “Fine.”

Chapter Five
    A J looked for every possible excuse to skip the association picnic. He even entertained the idea of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Unfortunately, Cage was still home so he considered any form of self-mutilation to be extreme and a bad example.
    “Everyone is going to hound you about the upcoming season and guilt you into getting them tickets for a game.” AJ made his last appeal as he packed their plates and utensils in a brown bag while Cage loaded the cooler.
    “What’s your deal? I’m usually being guilted into attending these things.” He laughed at his father’s peculiar mood.
    AJ shrugged. “No deal. What’s your deal today? Why are you so enthusiastic about attending a picnic with a bunch of people from your grandparents’ generation?”
    “Our new neighbors are close to my age.”
    Once. AJ had met her once. Jillian was a goddamn train wreck. He couldn’t get her out of his mind and Cage’s comment only aggravated AJ’s already edgy mood. “No, she’s not.”
    “She?”
    “They,” AJ corrected. “ They are older than you.”
    “But younger than you. It’s not like they’re old enough to be my parents. I haven’t met them, but they or she seemed pretty cool.”
    AJ sighed. “You saw her in her underwear.”
    “Let me repeat … she seemed pretty cool.” Cage smirked.
    “Behave.”
    *
    AJ cursed God and the local meteorologists for the blanket of blue sky that kidnapped the seventy percent chance of rain. Cage pulled his red Husker cap over his unkempt blond hair he inherited from his mother—along with his blue eyes—then grabbed the