Too Young (The Jewel Project #1)

Chapter 1.1 - Hunted

Too Young

He'd never seen it like that. Confused, sure. Inexperienced, obviously. Wildly unprepared, understatement of the century. But too young? Could someone actually be old enough for murder?

Chapter One

Hunted

Chicago: Three years ago

"We shouldn't be here."

Sam glanced over his shoulder. His brother stared at him from an armchair, wringing his hands above an open book.

"We're in a bookstore, Jerry." He turned back to his tome and flipped through a couple more pages. Ancient civilizations, their way of life, language and writing. Everything he ever wanted to know was in that book. He reached the pre-Columbian chapter and stopped there.

"Yes, I know, but Dad said we should come straight home from school." Jerry stood and put his book on top of the pile on the table in front of him.

"When we were twelve." Honestly, Jerry could be so paranoid sometimes. "I'm fifteen, you're sixteen. I think we're old enough to handle a detour." And it wasn't like they were doing something bad. Just furthering our education. Feeding their hobbies, actually, but why hang on semantics?

Jerry brushed his thumb on the spine of the books. He picked a couple up. "Detour over. We should go." He whirled around and headed for the register.

With a sigh, Sam gathered his own batch and followed Jerry. He wished he could stay a little longer, but a lecture from his parents - or Jerry for that matter - wasn't appealing.

"My, you're mighty interested in science." The girl at the cash register gave Jerry a dazzling smile as she turned over his books. "You like to experiment, don't you?"

Sam rolled his eyes. This wasn't the first girl to hit on Jerry. He was mister tall, dark and handsome, after all. And girls loved that.

"Oh, yes," Jerry answered. That girl was maybe one or two years older than him, but he talked to her as if she was a grown woman.

The girl seemed to like that because she giggled. "And have you found the right chemistry set, yet?" She winked.

"Of course. It wasn't easy, but I managed to find a couple of good ones." He smiled.
The girl's mouth fell open. Completely ignoring the effect of his words, Jerry picked the books out of her hand and stuffed them in his backpack.

Sam bit on the back of his hand not to laugh. Jerry was clueless! He wouldn't recognize flirting if it hit him in the face with a frying pan.

"Your turn, kid," she snapped.

Sam jumped to attention. Kid? He was only a couple of inches shorter than Jerry and didn't look much younger. Fuming, he dropped his books on the counter. She scanned his purchase and seemed glad to see the back of him. Not that he found her attractive with her frizzy hair and too-thin physique, but it still hurt to be shoved into the kid category by someone who hit on his one-year-older brother.

"What did you get this time?" Jerry asked

Sam slid the books inside his backpack, still mentally cursing. He never cursed aloud in front of Jerry. His brother got very moralizing when he slipped. "Same old, same old." No need to ask Jerry what he'd brought. His room was practically a chemistry book haven. "We should stop being such geeks," he said as they exited the bookstore and wound up in the hallway of the mall. "That girl liked you. Maybe you should ask her out."