Freak Read Free

shoulder pressed into the back of Jake’s and she didn’t move away.
    â€œThey’re gonna take credit for this, aren’t they?” Jake whispered.
    â€œProbably,” Gaia replied.
    â€œFigures. I feel like Batman. I keep kicking ass and there’s no one I can tell about it,” Jake said. Then he smiled and nudged his shoulder back into hers. “ ’Cept you.”
    Gaia felt the corners of her mouth tugging up slightly. What was wrong with her? Was she actually enjoying flirtation?
    â€œSo, Gray’s Papaya after this?” Jake asked as thecops roused the two knuckleheads that had run into each other.
    Gaia’s stomach grumbled. “Definitely.”
    She tucked her chin and turned her face away from him, smiling for real. She’d been doing this forever—beating up toughs in the park, ducking from or dealing with cops, then going for a post-fight midnight snack. But she’d been doing it forever alone. And she’d always thought that was the way she liked it. Yes, actually. That was the way she had liked it.
    But now. . . now she liked having someone there. She liked having Jake to share all this with. She liked having an . . . ally.
    Huh. Maybe it’s true, Gaia thought, an evening breeze tickling a few strands of her long blond hair against her face. Maybe things can change.
    Venom
    TOM MOORE SAT AT THE SMOOTH metal table and glared across at the prisoners. His spine was straight, his fingers clasped into a knot, his elbows just slightly off the edge of the table-top. He breathed in and out deliberately, maintaining his composure—maintaining his calm.
    Just another set of criminals. Just another day.
    â€œAre you going to say anything?” Natasha asked.
    â€œI’ll ask the questions,” Tom spat back instantly. He could taste the venom in his own mouth.
    Just another set of criminals. Just another day.
    Tatiana blinked but remained otherwise impassive. She looked small and wan, her light skin translucent and green in her bright orange jumpsuit. The monstrous cuffs circling her tiny wrists were almost comical. Even though it was impossibly cold in the interrogation room, there was a line of sweat visible above her upper lip. It was taking a lot more effort for Tatiana to remain composed after days of stony, obstinate silence in her cell. Far more effort than her more experienced, more world-weary, more spy-game-weary mother.
    Tom shifted his gaze to Natasha again. Her dark hair was pulled back in a low braid that hung heavy and smooth down her back. She wore an amused smirk on her face. The face he had once held, once kissed, once touched with the tenderness that he’d formerly reserved only for his wife—his one true love.
    An acidic bitterness shot through his stomach. He could only hope his nausea couldn’t be detected by the detainees.
    â€œThat’s fine,” Natasha said finally, shifting slightly in her iron chair. “It’s just that you’re not. Asking questions, that is.”
    â€œFor whom were you working?” Tom asked flatly.
    The smirk deepened. “You don’t want to know that, Tom.”
    â€œDon’t say my name,” he snapped. “You don’t have that right.”
    Maddeningly, the smirk turned into a smile.
    â€œFor whom were you working?” he repeated.
    â€œEverything is connected, Tom,” Natasha said lightly. “It’s all coming full circle.”
    â€œOh, so now we’re being cryptic,” Tom snapped.
    â€œYou have to see the bigger picture. You have to look to the past to clearly see the future.”
    Tom clenched his teeth. She was trying to make him think about Katia, trying to make him crack. But Katia was not just his past. She was his past, his present, his future. Why he’d ever let himself lose sight of that, he had no idea.
    â€œFor whom were you working?” Tom repeated once again, glaring at her.
    â€œI