Read Online Brush of Shade by Jan Harman - Free Book Online

mad at me when he
was the one who drove like a maniac. Shade stood, angling his body in front of
my opened door, hands braced against the frame, forming a barrier against
Trent.
     “Get lost.
She’s my date.” Trent shoved the car door against Shade’s back. “Move.”
    The situation
was dangerously close to crossing some line between them. I wet my lips,
determined to put a stop to this. Older, and with better control over his
temper than a high school guy, I focused my attention upon Shade. Streaks of
white dissected his irises, forming raised ice like wedges. My mouth clamped
shut, cutting off the strangled cry. After all these hard weeks, a display of
male stupidity had finally sent me plunging into the abyss.
    Don’t be
this. Look away. Find normal .
    “Back off,” Shade
warned in a chilling tone that echoed ominously within the car’s tight
interior. “Do you think scaring your date to death is a turn on? The two of you
could’ve been killed. How dare you risk Olivia’s life,” he yelled, silencing
the younger male’s adrenaline hyped string of repercussions. Shade’s fisted
hands clenched and unclenched as though he was fighting to regain control of
his temper.
    Trent’s feet
shuffled near the door that banged once more into Shade. “I said get lost.”
    “With pleasure. I’ll drive Olivia home,” Shade replied, his
voice, like his stance, far from calm.
    “No, way. I’ll take her home. When we’re ready,” Trent
retorted.
    “Not a chance.
You brought her out here knowing she spent months recovering from a car crash
that killed her parents. Either you’re a cruel bastard or you’re just an
insensitive jerk. Either way, she doesn’t need you.”
    “Like she needs your sort.”
    “Stop arguing.”
I’d tried to shout over their voices, but it seemed I’d left my voice back on
one of the curves. At least I had their attention. “I’ve got to go home with
Trent. If I don’t, Aunt Claire will hound me until she finds out what happened.
Please, she’ll go back into smothering mode.” I ducked my head, sending strands
of hair falling across my face and sticking to my damp brow. The real reason,
my crazed reactions, would have me back on heavy medications. I clutched my
purse to my chest. I’d been doing so well finding normal.
    Gentle fingers
tucked my hair behind my ears. Like touching metal in the dry indoors,
multiplied by ten, the charge tingled through my body. I sucked in a startled
gasp. Ice crystals sparkled and Shade’s mouth dropped open. Towering icebergs
melted.
    Don’t make
this a thing. It was just a reflection caused by the interior light.
    Trent elbowed
Shade to the side. “We weren’t in any danger. I know every curve of these
roads.”
    Shade snorted.
“One of these days, Cassidy, you’re going to go too far. Only because I don’t
want to frighten her aunt, will I allow Olivia to ride home with you. Don’t
think of making any detours. I’ll be swinging by the Pepperdine Manor on my way
home just to be sure.”
    Trent’s nostrils
flared. “Who are you to tell me what to do?”
    “Cross me,”
Shade said very quietly in a way that raised goose bumps on my arms.
    Surely I’d imagined
the implied threat. I stared from Shade’s determined, angry expression to
Trent’s belligerent stance. It was clear the gauntlet had been dropped, and
somehow I was caught in the middle. “Trent, just get in the car,” I pleaded,
tugging on his arm.
    “Are you sure
about this?” Shade asked, holding my door open. “I’ll take it real slow.”
    I rubbed the
back of my neck, my index finger tracing across the scar. “I can handle it.”
His dark expression said otherwise. I was inclined to agree, but he stepped to
the side, allowing us to leave.
    “Can you believe
that guy?” Trent fumed, his tirade getting louder now that we were on the main
road.
    “That guy helped
push your car out of the ditch.” I took a long slurp on my slushy, noisily
sucking up the last of the