The Painted Boy Read Free Page B

killed?”
    She nodded.
    “I don’t want to impose on her, either.”
    “Are you kidding? She’s out of school, too, and is probably dying to do something. If you leave her alone, all she does is sit in her room and play her guitar.”
    “Yeah, but I don’t know her and she doesn’t know me . . .”
    “Don’t worry about it. All you need to know is that she’s one of my best friends and plays in a band with my boyfriend, Ramon. You’ll like her—she’s cute.”
    “Great. I’ll make such a good first impression on her all grubby like this.”
    “You made a good first impression on me.”
    He studied her for a moment with that solemn, dark-eyed gaze of his. Then he shrugged.
    “And I have no idea how or why,” he said.
    “Maybe I just like the way you climb into a tree.”
    “Right.”
    She smiled. “Finish your burrito. I’m going to talk to Tío and then call Anna to come pick you up.”
    “Do you always get your own way?” he asked as she got up from the table.
    Rosalie smiled. “Only when I’m right,” she said.
    Then she disappeared into the restaurant.
     
     
    Jay finished his burrito, washing it down with half a glass of water. He hadn’t thought the salsa was too hot while he was eating, but the spices had crept up on him. Setting the glass down, he got up and walked to the back wall of the patio. When he was satisfied that the gangbangers weren’t still lurking around, he returned to the table to enjoy the quiet and warmth of the patio while he waited for Rosalie to return.
    She reminded him of his sisters—not pushy, just very sure of herself—and it made him feel a little more at home in a place that was so different from where he’d grown up. When he caught the bus two days ago in Chicago, there’d still been snow on the ground. There’d been a lot of snow because they’d been having a brutal winter. But as the bus took him south, the snow had slowly disappeared, the temperatures rose, and then he was here, in this strange city in the middle of a landscape that seemed to be made up of nothing more than rocks and dirt.
    He remembered Paupau nodding sagely when he told her where he was going, as though it was what she’d expected. As though she was familiar with his destination and it was exactly the place he was supposed to go. But now that he was here, he wasn’t so sure. It seemed so much more intimidating than it had in the guidebook he’d been reading on the bus trip south.
    Rosalie was right. He was just a kid still. He should be enjoying the March break and anticipating his return to classes. Except he didn’t care much for school—or at least it didn’t care much for him. Teachers, his fellow students—they all sensed the secret he carried but couldn’t share. He doubted they would put it in so many words, but they knew there was something different about him and kept him at arm’s length.
    Maybe it was for the best that he had chosen a place so far away. The city and surrounding desert felt completely alien to him, but maybe alien was good. For one thing, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d met someone his own age who didn’t immediately tense up around him.
    He noticed a tiny lizard making its way up the wall of saguaro ribs. It appeared to notice him at the same time because it froze in place—the lizard version of invisibility.
    “What do you think, little brother?” he asked it. “Is Paupau a wise teacher, or just a crazy old lady?”
    “Who are you talking to?”
    Rosalie had returned. She stood in the doorway with a tall, well-muscled man standing behind her. His black hair was slicked back from his forehead and his skin was dark against his white shirt. Faded tattoos patterned his forearms. His face was impassive.
    Jay started to point at the lizard, but it had taken his momentary distraction to vanish back in between the saguaro ribs.
    “Myself, apparently,” he said.
    Rosalie’s eyebrows lifted.
    “My niece tells me you’re looking for a