Read Touch for Free Online Page A

Allison hadn’t heard it ring.
     He glanced at the screen and grimaced dramatically.
    Allison laughed.
    “I’m disappointed,” he said, with mock gravity. “You didn’t strike me as someone who
     mocks the pain of others.”
    “You laughed.”
    “I did not. And if I did, it’s gallows humor.” He took the mug she handed him and
     held it cupped in the palms of his hands—something Allison couldn’t do, because the
     mugs were too hot. He also took the snacks and ate them. He was not a slow eater.
    “You didn’t eat lunch?”
    “I did. All of mine and half of Eric’s.” He looked around the room again, his expression
     shifting into neutral. “If it gets bad, we’re going to have to run.” Before she could
     speak, he said, “Yes, ‘we’ includes Emma.”
    Allison was silent. She didn’t want to be left behind. But the future as Chase painted
     it was grim. If they had to leave the city on short notice—and short could mean none—where
     were they going to go? What were they going to do?
    “I want to go with you, if you go.”
    “I know. I don’t want to take you. If it were up to me, we’d already be gone.”
    “Where?”
    Chase shrugged. “Wherever the old man sends us. He has the wallet. He doesn’t normally
     hang around for this long—and he doesn’t trust Emma, either.”
    “Did the old man train you?”
    “Yeah. He and Eric.”
    “Could he train us?”
    To her surprise, Chase didn’t sneer; he didn’t dismiss the idea out of hand. But he
     did empty his mug. He was tidy; he placed it back on the tray, along with the empty
     plate. Allison suspected he would have taken the tray back down to the kitchen if
     she’d finished as quickly.
    She couldn’t. She’d never been good at eating when upset.
    Chase didn’t have that problem—but he wouldn’t, would he? All of his life, seen from
     Allison’s vantage, was nothing
but
being upset. Any uneasiness Allison felt was probably trivial in comparison. And
     any pain. “Chase?”
    “Yeah?”
    “Promise you won’t leave me behind?”
    “I can’t. I can promise I won’t kill your best friend unless she deserves it. I can
     promise to be polite to your mother. I can promise to ask the old man about training
     you on really short notice. I don’t know
why
I’d promise any of this—but I will. I can’t promise to drag you out of your home
     and away from your family just so you can be a fugitive until the day you die.” He
     ran his hands through his hair again and stood. “Don’t ask.
    “In return, I won’t ask you to promise me that you’ll keep your distance from Emma.
     I won’t ask you to promise that you’ll warn me when—if—things with Emma start to go
     downhill.”
    “Promise you’ll stop nagging me?”
    He sucked in air. “That’s a borderline case. I can only promise to try.” He exhaled
     again. “If Emma cared about you at all—”
    Allison’s expression tightened. “If she cared about me at all, she’d stay as far away
     from me as possible, is that it? She’d leave me because that was safest for me?”
    “Yes.”
    “And if that wasn’t what I wanted?”
    “If you knew what we face pretty much continuously, you
would
want it.”
    The conversation was, once again, going straight downhill. “Chase, what’s the worst
     thing that’s ever happened to you?”
    He stared at her for a long moment and then looked down at his phone. “I’ve got to
     run. Hopefully I won’t see you tonight.” He headed toward the door, then turned back,
     his brow an oddly broken line across the bridge of his nose.
    “The worst thing that’s ever happened to me? Not dying.”
    * * *
    Not dying
.
    Allison saw Chase to the door and even saw him out; after he left the house, she watched
     him from the window, as if she were her mother. His hands were in his pockets, his
     shoulders hunched slightly against the brisk wind.
    She brought the snack tray down to the kitchen, set the table, and ate dinner with