Read Online Blakeshire by Jamie Magee - Free Book Online

always had in the past. I had used Willow as a lifeline, one that led me to Madison. I would forevermore be in Willow’s debt, but I couldn’t worry about that right now. I had to seek redemption, and the only way I could do that was by being honest.
    I did love Willow Haywood, but I dare say I was not in love with her. I couldn’t give her something I never possessed any more than she could have. Our hearts had been robbed long before our paths had been crossed by a dark fate.
    I was staring at the thief that took mine this very second.
     
    ~Madison~
     
    Slowly, Drake moved closer to me as his eyes glided across my body. Everywhere he looked, I felt a scorching sensation intensify. It always left a deep, humming sensation in its wake; I had yet to figure out how he managed to do that to me. It was even odder that he was still able to do that to my soul after what I went through. It was like everything about my abilities had been altered with the exception of how I saw and felt him. Strange.
    “I didn’t leave you to fight at her side. I left you to defend my kingdom,” he said carefully to me, as if he were expecting me either to erupt with rage or collapse with jealousy.
    Drake was with me when I saved Monroe in The Realm. He tried to stop me from hurting myself, and in truth if he weren’t there to help get me out of that fire there is no telling what shape I would be in.
    “Who said I had issue with that?” I muttered as I gripped my towel and braced my legs, ensuring that my knees wouldn’t buckle.
    His emotions were so strong that I literally felt my soul being wrapped in them.
    “This wall is up again,” he murmured, now standing just inches from me.
    I must look calm, reserved on the outside. If he knew what was going on inside my head, he never would have said that.
    My eyes were steadfastly pointed at the ground. That was my defense. “It never had a chance to fall. We lost tonight. Once again…we lost.”
    His long fingertips reached for my chin and beckoned me to look up, giving my eyes no choice but to meet those dark, spellbinding eyes of his.
    His thumb traced my bottom lip, and there I felt passion so intense that I had to sigh. “Then you shouldn’t be afraid to stare into my eyes,” he said softly.
    I sucked in a sharp breath. “I wasn’t afraid before; I was mad. Now I’m neither.” My voice trembled, taking away any strength that I wanted to convey.
    “You’re lying.”
    “Are you trying to fight with me?” I accused.
    He leaned a little closer to me. “You always breathe in audibly just before you speak a lie. You still feel emotions; you just think they are gone because they’re not out of control anymore.”
    “If that gives you peace of mind, so be it. I lost several key emotions, and right now I’m numb.”
    “Are you, now?” he said as his hand reached for my waist.
    “Don’t,” I said as I let my eyes fall.
    “Don’t what?” His lips breathed against my temple.
    “The first time you kissed me, it was for proof. Like I was applying to be your girlfriend and you wanted to know my qualifications. The second time was to tick off Britain. Now you are going to kiss me just to see if you are my prince, if you can wake me from my emotional sleep.” I stepped back. “Relationships aren’t built like that.”
    Long before I felt his emotion shift to agony, I felt horrible for saying that—after I felt that, I just wanted to find a hole to hide in. Because it was a lie. Each time he’d kissed me before, I could swear the Earth moved beneath my feet. His mind right now had reflected images that led me to believe he felt the same way. He let me see every memory he had of when our lips touched, in both the present and the past.
    Last night when he took me home, we went to one of my hangouts. There I saw Anna, the girl Britain had cheated on me with. Of course, Britain showed up a few moments later. We ignored him and in our own way put on a show for them. Drake leaned