Read Online Blakeshire by Jamie Magee - Free Book Online Page B

know one another. If I told him I had no emotions, then I would have no choice but to see the logic in the path he had taken and give him the forgiveness he was asking for, but I was not a liar; until I could look at him and not see Willow, I would not be able to get over this bitter jealousy that was eating me alive.
    “Logic always needs proof.”
    He sighed, then clenched his jaw. After a brief moment, he said, “Pack your bags.”
    “Let me see if I understand this. You’re asking me to move into a palace? A place where you have to ‘act’ like you’re in love with Willow for the sake of God knows how many dark people or lurking Escorts, and by watching you do that I will have proof that you were looking for me all the while?”
    Those eyes did a slow once over on my slightly trembling body. “I know you still feel my emotions, Madison Marie. So, yes. Even if you had to watch me do that, you would know where my true emotions lie.”
    Silence erupted all around us as our underlying issue, Willow, was placed on the table.
    “I’m not going to lie. I do love her…it’s just not the same kind of love.”
    I felt sick to my stomach and had to step away. I liked it better when I was numb.
    He gripped my arm. “I grew up at her side. Saw her every single month. I’ve watched her die and come back to life. In the last few months, I have been through hell because of that girl. I went through that hell with my head held high simply because I love my people and I have been told that the only way to save them was to love her. So I did. I do.”
    He sucked at wooing girls. I wanted to be lied to right now. He was too blunt for me.
    He dipped his head so he could catch my gaze. “Madison Marie, I have never looked at her the way I look at you.”
    “And how do you look at me?” I asked in the firmest voice I could manage.
    An ironic smile lit upon his eyes. “The same way my dad looked at my mom…you have caused me to relive every single word my father said to me when I was too arrogant to listen to him, and that hurts just as bad as the rejection you have given me from day one.”
    My ability to see into the thoughts of others had given me the perfect tool to analyze Drake at his core. I was never able to see everything I wanted, but I knew for sure that most of the time his thoughts centered on his dad. That when he looked at Willow, he heard his father in his mind, telling him he would know when he was face-to-face with his soul mate. That the way he saw the world would instantly change. He tried to see the world differently around Willow, but the only change was how much darker it became, how much more impossible the world seemed.
    Even though I never met his dad, I felt like he was talking to me, too. The way I saw the world did change when I discovered that Drake was real, literally.
    Drake had killed his father by accident just a few months ago, and he was nowhere near over that. The old me wanted to fix him, tell him that he would move through this, and then ensure that he did. The new me, the one that was going to exploit this lack of fear I had, wanted to chase obsession. If I went with him, I would find a way to do both—and maybe, just maybe I could figure out if I had the will to forgive this boy that I had longed for.
    I trusted him to keep me safe, to keep me alive to fulfill the fate before me, and that says a lot.
    “If I come with you, I have conditions,” I stated evenly.
    “Listening.”
    “You are going to give me free reign to chase my obsessions.”
    He smirked and then nodded once.
    “You are going to keep me safe.”
    “Always,” he breathed.
    “And you are going to take me to meet your dad.”
    I knew from being around Willow and Landen’s family that there was a dimension that was filled with peace and bliss; in this place, the soul of Drake’s father, Livingston, resided. His other brothers, even his mother, had seen him there. Drake was the only holdout, and I really believed