Read Online Love's Embers (Canon City Series) by Lauren Marie - Free Book Online

to bring his hand up to her, but saw her flinch back flat against the wall.
    Her hand came up to his chest and she tried to push him away. “Don’t,” she hissed and sucked in air. She continued to push against his chest and shook her head.
    He put his hand on her arm and was at a loss for how to help her. “Lark, what can I do?” He watched her as she tried to catch her breath and suddenly thought about sandwich bags.
    “Just don’t.” She tried to pull away from his hand, but he wouldn’t release her arm.
    He moved to her side. “Lark, bend over and try to relax,” he said and put his hand on the back of her neck.
    ****
    Lark felt his hand on the back of her head. He tried to make her bend over and she heard his words, but everything from six months ago slammed into her. She could still hear the laughter and the voices from that night.
    She found as much strength as she could muster and swung her hand up. She slapped his cheek with force. “Don’t touch me,” she hissed between breaths and ran toward the back door.  She flung it open and went out to the driveway. She grabbed the front of her sweater and tried to get her breathing under control. Her chest burned and she wanted to claw a hole in her neck if it would help just to breathe. She moved to her Bronco and put her hands on the cold hood. The ice and snow on the SUV and around helped her cool off. She grabbed a handful of snow and put it up to her cheeks. The voices started to fade and then she heard footsteps behind her. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Charlie stop half way to her. He held her coat in his hands.
    Lark turned around and leaned against her SUV. She continued to suck in air and still couldn’t talk. Charlie held the coat out to her and she grabbed it. She held it against her chest and wouldn’t take her eyes off him. As her throat tightened and tears welled in her eyes, she thought about the boy she used to know and care about. Was this him? Was it really her Charlie?
    “Lark, I didn’t mean to scare...” he started.
    “Don’t,” she said and waved her hand. She looked into his eyes and tried to find her voice. “We will never be friends, again, Charlie, if that’s even what we were. You said that in your letter. Just stay away from me and everything will be fine.” She moved quickly past him and went into the house. She locked the door and slid down to the floor and then buried her face in the coat and cried.

Chapter Eight

    Charlie looked at the back door and wanted to go make sure Lark was okay. She’d said some very intense things to him that he was going to have to think about. All those months ago, when he’d decided to come back to Canon City, he knew he’d need to deal with hurt feelings, but he never expected anything like this.
    He felt bad that she was so angry with him and hoped they could get past it, but he also felt that there was something else brewing just under the surface. Why was she so frightened?  He knew from his own past experiences it could be hard for her to talk about. He stared at the back door for a long time and then decided to leave it alone for now.
    Charlie turned up the drive to head back to his house, and shook his head. He didn’t know how to help ease her upset.
    ****
    Lark cried her way up to her room then lay down on her bed. Her chest was on fire from her anxiety attack. She put her hands up on her head and wanted to scream. She’d just done something to Charlie that he wouldn’t understand. 
    After she accused him of withholding information about what she’d done to make him cut her off, she’d let what happened back in June effect her and she’d done the same to him.  She rolled over onto her side and began to think it was unfair of her to do that to him, no matter how angry she let the past make her feel. Charlie had no way of knowing what her problems were and he would probably try to find out from Gran.
    Lark couldn’t have that. Gran could not be told anything about