Read Online Blur by Kristen Middleton - Free Book Online

comforting having him around. Almost.
    Caleb took much longer this time, but when he returned, he still hadn’t discovered anything unusual.
    “Thank you for doing that, Caleb,” said my mother, handing him a glass of red wine. “You could probably use a little of this right now.”
    “I thought you’d never ask,” he answered with a lopsided grin. “Although I’d better not overindulge; I hear the cops in this area are pretty wicked.”
    She giggled and then turned to Nathan. “Honey, can you fire up the grill? I’m sure everyone is starving by now.”
    “Yeah, I’m fading away,” said Nathan, raising his hands in front of his face. “I can barely see my hands.”
    Mom smiled and shook her head. Then she turned to me. “Nikki? Honey, why don’t you go upstairs and rest for a little while. I’ll fix you a plate of food and bring it up later, if you don’t feel like coming back down.”
    I glanced at Caleb, who was staring at my mother like she was a filet mignon. I knew right then that it was time to make an exit.
    “Okay, I need to change anyway,” I said, getting off the couch. As I left, I could hear them talking and wanted to puke at the way she was flirting with the sheriff. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Caleb; I just didn’t think she was ready to start anything after what just happened.
    I raced upstairs to my bedroom, still feeling tense. The gnawing feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach was driving me crazy and I just wanted to go back to my old home in San Diego.  
    Feeling helpless, I kept the lights off and changed into a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, keeping my attention on the balcony window. When I finished, I grabbed my bat and slowly walked over to the glass and worked up the nerve to look down below. I half expected to see some kind of ghoul lurking around in the darkness. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary, however, which still wasn’t enough to calm my nerves.
    “What are you doing?” whispered Nathan next to my ear.
    “Holy crap! Don’t you ever freak me out like that again!” I snapped. “You almost gave me a fucking heart attack!”
    “Wow, I’m sorry. Just settle down, will you?”
    I rubbed the beads of sweat from my forehead and then looked at him. “I don’t care what the sheriff says, I saw someone out there watching me in the kitchen.”
    He sighed. “I’m not sure what you saw, either, but what I do know is that ever since we found that girl’s body, you’ve been going crazy. I mean, isn’t it possible that you saw a raccoon staring at you in the window? You said so yourself, you couldn’t even see the face very well.”
    “I can tell the difference between a raccoon’s face and a person’s, Nathan. I’m not a complete moron,” I said, glancing through the window again.
    We both stared outside in silence for a while.
    “Maybe it really is dad, then,” he said softly. “He might be trying to frighten her or all of us.”
    “I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel right. Dad had major anger issues, but he doesn’t seem the type of person who’d waste his time doing this kind of thing. In fact, he’s probably hiding on the other side of the world by now with the help of some of his cop friends.”
    “Maybe,” said Nathan.
    I yawned. “I guess I’m going to bed. I lost my appetite anyway. Could you tell mom? I don’t really want to go back down there. It’s nauseating.”
    He chuckled. “Okay, Nik, if you need us, just holler.”
    “Oh, you’ll hear me. Count on that.”
    After he left, I turned on the television and watched a movie about a girl who’d fallen in love with both a vampire and a werewolf. I’d already seen it a million times, so my eyelids grew heavy fairly quickly. Ten minutes later I was out cold in my bed and dreaming of Duncan, who turned into a werewolf and was trying to kill my own vampire boyfriend. Every time I tried to see the vampire’s face, however, it was a blur.

Chapter Eight
     
     

    Mom was still