Read Online Drip Drop Teardrop, a Novella by Samantha Young - Free Book Online Page B

blinked, the screen going black. Drawing on all her
determination, she craned her neck around to see Brennus holding
the remote and glaring down at her.
    “ What?” she
snapped.
    His eyes narrowed to
dangerous slits and then he was sitting down on the opposite sofa,
his elbows braced on his knees as he leaned towards her.
    “ What’s going
on?”
    She shrugged.
    “ Avery… why
are you pulling away? Is it because of last night?”
    “ I’m not
pulling away,” she huffed. “Maybe I’m just not a very nice
person.”
    When he rolled his eyes
at her, Avery had to hold back a smile. It was such a
un-Brennus-like expression it was comical on him. “Right,” he
replied sarcastically. “Or maybe you’re just writing this off
before it’s even begun.”
    Anger rippled through her
at the suggestion. “Writing this off? I have the chance to save
Aunt Caroline’s life… you think I’m writing this off?”
    At her retort Brennus’
expression darkened, a sad rejection entering his eyes before he
thought to curb it. A twinge of pain originating from her chest
drew into a battle with her mind. She had to stop feeling bad every
time she hurt his feelings!
    “ This can’t
just be about saving Aunt Caroline, Avery. It won’t work. It has to
be about you and me too.”
    Avery shook her head.
“Brennus, Caroline is everything to me. If I do this, then it’s
because of her.”
    “ You would
trade your life for hers in a sense then?” He frowned. “Why? Why is
she everything?”
    It seemed like such a
silly question. But then she took a moment to remember that Brennus
had only ever had people in his life that had betrayed and hurt
him. When he had traded his life… in the end it had been for the
wrong person.
    She leaned
back more comfortably into the sofa and smiled at the thought of
her aunt. “Because… she gave up a free and easy life to raise a
pre-pubescent child. She taught me to be a person with good values
and principles. She’s never cared what anyone else thinks about her
and she’s never judged me because I do care. She’s always pointed me in
the right direction. She helped me make decisions that have made my
life better. In school she was on the school newspaper and she said
it was really fun, so I joined the school newspaper and I
met Sarah . Aunt
Caroline played volleyball, so she taught me, and I tried out for
the team and I played for the last three years in school and met
some really great people. She had such an amazing time at NYU doing
journalism that I knew I would too, and I did, the little time I
was there.” It was true. She wouldn’t know how to be without
Caroline. All the biggest decisions in her life had been shaped by
her. Suddenly her chest felt tight with panic.
    “ What about
your parents?”
    Avery frowned at the
abruptness of the question and the question itself. “What about my
parents?”
    He shrugged slightly.
“Well, what was your relationship with them like?”
    The vice on her chest
tightened. “I don’t know. I was a kid.”
    “ You were
ten. You must remember them.”
    Her skin felt too tight.
She scratched the nape of her neck and looked into the fireplace,
escaping the penetrating darkness of Brennus’ gaze. She got the
creepy feeling he knew her thoughts before she did. “I don’t know.
They were great. They loved me… I don’t know.” She shrugged again
and her eyes prickled with frustrated tears. Angry tears.
Self-directed angry tears. “I guess I was kind of a
brat.”
    “ Brat,
how?”
    Avery laughed hollowly.
“They did a lot of things for me. Mostly because I would throw a
fit otherwise.”
    The corner of Brennus’
mouth quirked up. “Sounds like every kid on the planet.”
    She shook her
head. “Not every kid. I mean… I really pushed them.” She snorted
thinking back. “When I was six we were in the department store and
I saw this gorgeous doll house, big enough for me to fit in. It
must have cost a fortune because when I said I wanted