"L. Lee Lowe - Mortal Ghost" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lowe L Lee)

him. She flipped her board up, catching it in one hand. Nubi dropped down at Jesse's feet, panting.

'Don't you want to try?' she asked.

Tondi came sauntering over, Kevin right behind. He was carrying a bulging carrier bag, and his muscles
bulged under his tan. Jesse was sure that the cut-off T-shirt he was wearing cost as much as it took to feed a
third-world family for a month. Three months.

'Refreshments,' Kevin said with a smirk. No doubt he was underage. He called to Mick and Don. 'Hey, take a
break. Lager's here.'

Kevin and Tondi sprawled on the grass. Sarah glanced at Jesse, and he caught the flicker of uncertainty in her
eyes. Good. He'd agreed to go skateboarding -- not to be taken down. Defiantly, he turned on his heel to study
the ramp. Mick and Don joined the others, both having worked up a sweat. Mick stripped off his too-tight
tank-top, wiped his face ostentatiously, and stretched out with his arms behind his head, midriff ridged and
bare and bragging.

Sarah flicked her plait over her shoulder. Brushing damp scallops of hair off her forehead, she took a step
backwards. Mick could stand a shower, she thought, a little surprised at her own disgust. She used to admire
the view as well as the next girl. Her eyes wandered towards Jesse, who was holding himself stiffly, his back
proud and inaccessible under the old T-shirt. He was tall, but not too tall, lean to the point of hunger. He
Chapter 5 36
probably had more growing to do; he certainly needed feeding. Although his muscles were as well-defined as
Mick's -- his hair as blond, his shoulders fully as broad -- there was something more understated, less showy
about Jesse. Subtler, somehow. Even his skin, though tanned, didn't seemed newly gilded like Don's after a
week spent sailing the Mediterranean. Perhaps it was that Jesse wore his skin like a promise, and a refuge,
reminding her of the exquisite polished surfaces of the Zen poetry they'd done in school last year, poems
beautiful in their very impenetrability. His ragged hair hung well below the neckline. It was wild and soft and
unruly, for he'd washed it only this morning. She thought that she might cut it for him, if he let her. She
watched him a moment longer, then settled onto the ground, taking care to keep her distance from Mick, and
accepted a lager. Jesse smoked his cigarette.

'Aren't you thirsty?' Mick asked him.

'I don't drink,' Jesse said without turning round.

'Well, pass us a cig then,' Kevin drawled.

Reluctantly Jesse handed him the packet.

Tondi shaded her eyes and looked up at Jesse. 'Which school do you go to?' she asked, taking another swig
from her can.

'I don't go to school.'

Mick raised his eyebrows. 'Lucky sod,' he said. 'Where do you work?'

'I don't work,' Jesse said.

The four friends exchanged glances, while Sarah stared at her can.