Read Online Burned: Black Cipher Files #3 (Black Cipher Files series) by Lisa Hughey - Free Book Online Page A

Sunshine, he would do it. “Fine. I’ll do it.”
    “Yeah. I knew you would. Just find her, call us, then follow her until we can get someone there to apprehend her.” He could practically see Jamie’s smirk through the cellular frequencies. “But dude, remember to go incognito. Remember the lessons.”
    Yeah, whatever. “Got to go.”
    Zeke nearly sprinted through Cambria’s quaint downtown. The sound of the surf shushed in the distance, and crisp, piney eucalyptus and the weighty smell of fog scented the air.
    He’d head over to Cal Poly, he’d stake out Susan Chen’s former professor, and he’d make sure nothing happened to mess up Sunshine Smith’s already complicated life. He’d seen the shadows in her gray eyes, and he was determined not to add to her burdens.

Ten
    I sat at the little bistro table and watched the morning fog swirl around the old wine barrels potted with flowers, the briny breeze off the ocean ruffled the lacy edges of an asparagus fern and drew out the sweet scent of alyssum.
    I considered the empty wrought iron chair across from me then glanced down the sidewalk towards the other end of town. Zeke Thorn was striding away, gesturing restrainedly while he talked into his cell. With an odd sense of melancholy, I watched the most interesting guy I’d met in a long time, possibly ever, rush away.
    Which was certainly ironic because I was usually the one running away. I’d been running since I was seven years old. Both physically and metaphorically.
    He sure flowed hot and cold.
    Of course, so did I. I didn’t need a guy in my life. Couldn’t have a guy in my life. That was my reality. But the overwhelming emotion tightening my throat and causing the tremble in my fingers as I picked up my teacup was regret. My throat convulsed and that last sip of tea stuck in the hollow as I watched him go. I wished I could call him back. I could pretend for a short hour we were friends, lovers even, sharing a cozy little date with scones and tea.
    A small, private birthday celebration.
    I was going to be twenty years old tomorrow. I’d never had a real boyfriend, never been intimate, never had a true friend, always too worried about being discovered to let anyone get close. Always worried about having to move again.
    Wistfully I watched as his silhouette got smaller and smaller, shrinking like the little kernel of hope that had swelled in me after that amazing, haunting kiss.
    Ruthlessly I shoved the hope aside, and crushed the futile emotion like I pulverized the dried herbs in my mortar and pestle. I sighed, took a final sip of my tea. Time to get back to the shop. Back to reality. Back to my life.
    Of course, now I had to come up with a plausible explanation for how I knew Zeke, because sure as sugar, Mama was going to ask more questions.
    I didn’t date. Ever. I certainly didn’t kiss men in front of my mother. My introduction to the dysfunctional side of relationships came too early and with too high a price tag.
    Men were pleasant enough in small doses, in public and never to be trusted to get too close. I had to protect myself and I had to protect my mother. That’s the way it had always been. We took care of each other.
    Except now Mama had Blue.
    My cell rang. Mama wouldn’t be interrupting me and that’s about the only person who ever called me on the damn thing anyway.
    I glanced at the display, noted it was the French pastry shop on the other end of town.
    “Hello?”
    “ Bonjour , Sunny,” Madame Broussard greeted me.
    “ Bonjour, Madame ,” I replied automatically, wondering why she was calling. For my birthday? Then I realized tomorrow wasn’t the official day of Sunshine Smith’s birth. Sunshine Smith’s birthday was in April.
    “Just wanted to let you know zere was un homme asking about you and vȏtre mére .”
    Zeke. I glanced down the street, where he was all but invisible.
    “He found me.”
    “Already?” Madame sputtered. “ Mais ...he was just here a second