Read Online From Winter's Ashes: Girl Next Door Crime Romance Series - Book Two by Amy Leigh Simpson - Free Book Online
Authors: Amy Leigh Simpson
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home.”
Joselyn felt her jaw dislodge. “You wouldn’t dare.”
Finn licked his lips, leaning in until their noses almost touched. “Try me.”
Nuh-uh. Nope. Not happening. And as exhausted as she was, she knew she had to remain fully alert. No letting her guard down. She yawned. No way. Not for a single second.
“Mommy, daddy? Please wake up. Pretty please. I’m scared.” She pleaded again. Her voice a broken little wisp of desperation.
After the violent shriek of the tires and deafening roar of twisting steel all had fallen silent. Her screams had faded to intermittent hiccups and sniffles. The eerie hush of the falling rain like a blanket of white noise smothering the wreckage. Minutes or hours might have passed as her small body, suspended inches from the crushed roof of the car, wriggled against the cutting pressure of the seat belt.
Then a groaning sound. A snippet of hope that her parents had survived. She whimpered, fresh tears dripping in the already frozen tear tracks down her forehead. Never had a sweeter sound graced Joselyn’s ears than when her father’s gruff accent assured her she wasn’t alone.
“Charisma? … Joselyn?”
“Daddy. Oh, Daddy, I’m here. I’m—I’m scared.” She shivered hard, trembling uncontrollably from the cold that had long ago soaked through her winter coat.
Her father didn’t assure her everything would be all right. Somehow she knew nothing would ever be all right again.
Within moments he’d snaked his body through the hole of the driver’s side window and crawled to the opening behind him. His trembling hands released the seatbelt and braced her dangling body’s impact with the roof of the mangled car. Small shards of crumbled glass ground into her scalp as he wrestled her through the jagged window opening.
And then he held her tight, treasuring her survival for a fleeting moment as the rain turned to pelting hail, crashing down to earth, striking without mercy. Pungent vapors invaded the security she felt in his arms, singed her nostrils with each whimpering breath.
He pulled her back to look at her. His eyes sharp and assessing even as tears escaped his blue eyes to mix with the smears of blood on his handsome face. She realized she’d never seen him cry. And wished she never would again.
But with one blink the tears turned to panic as he looked toward the dangling electrical wires by the front of their upturned family sedan. A spark spit from the end.
Ripping her to her feet, he shoved her away. “Run, Joselyn! Do you understand me? Stop crying and run!”
Like everything else, her blood turned to ice. Inconsolable sobs racked her skinny body. She reached for him, desperate for comfort, for assurance from the fear that was so paralyzing. After those long lonely moments in the car, the thought of running off alone was more terrifying than anything else she could imagine. Her father screamed and shoved her again before he limped around to the passenger side that had received the brunt of the destruction.
After a beat of hesitation she followed him, keeping a safe distance. Her father’s footprints marred a deep red goo spreading on the icy ground.
She watched in a trance. His strong arms warred against the weight of the car; sobs and cursing marked the strange silence of the storm. He looked up again when a strong gust sent the wires flailing on the wind. “Joselyn, run!”
The anguish and terror in her father’s voice jolted her into action. She ran.
Hissss …
But the sound made her stop and turn around.
“BOOM!” A flash of heat and light erupted. Invisible arms gripped her and threw her to the ground, her back landing in perplexing pillowy softness against the frozen road. A burst of fire exploded above, propelling a river of flames an inch from her face.
As if seeing it from underneath protective glass, she felt nothing. Nothing but the resounding certainty that she’d just lost everything she loved.
Chapter 8
Finn Carson
You
Joselyn felt her jaw dislodge. “You wouldn’t dare.”
Finn licked his lips, leaning in until their noses almost touched. “Try me.”
Nuh-uh. Nope. Not happening. And as exhausted as she was, she knew she had to remain fully alert. No letting her guard down. She yawned. No way. Not for a single second.
“Mommy, daddy? Please wake up. Pretty please. I’m scared.” She pleaded again. Her voice a broken little wisp of desperation.
After the violent shriek of the tires and deafening roar of twisting steel all had fallen silent. Her screams had faded to intermittent hiccups and sniffles. The eerie hush of the falling rain like a blanket of white noise smothering the wreckage. Minutes or hours might have passed as her small body, suspended inches from the crushed roof of the car, wriggled against the cutting pressure of the seat belt.
Then a groaning sound. A snippet of hope that her parents had survived. She whimpered, fresh tears dripping in the already frozen tear tracks down her forehead. Never had a sweeter sound graced Joselyn’s ears than when her father’s gruff accent assured her she wasn’t alone.
“Charisma? … Joselyn?”
“Daddy. Oh, Daddy, I’m here. I’m—I’m scared.” She shivered hard, trembling uncontrollably from the cold that had long ago soaked through her winter coat.
Her father didn’t assure her everything would be all right. Somehow she knew nothing would ever be all right again.
Within moments he’d snaked his body through the hole of the driver’s side window and crawled to the opening behind him. His trembling hands released the seatbelt and braced her dangling body’s impact with the roof of the mangled car. Small shards of crumbled glass ground into her scalp as he wrestled her through the jagged window opening.
And then he held her tight, treasuring her survival for a fleeting moment as the rain turned to pelting hail, crashing down to earth, striking without mercy. Pungent vapors invaded the security she felt in his arms, singed her nostrils with each whimpering breath.
He pulled her back to look at her. His eyes sharp and assessing even as tears escaped his blue eyes to mix with the smears of blood on his handsome face. She realized she’d never seen him cry. And wished she never would again.
But with one blink the tears turned to panic as he looked toward the dangling electrical wires by the front of their upturned family sedan. A spark spit from the end.
Ripping her to her feet, he shoved her away. “Run, Joselyn! Do you understand me? Stop crying and run!”
Like everything else, her blood turned to ice. Inconsolable sobs racked her skinny body. She reached for him, desperate for comfort, for assurance from the fear that was so paralyzing. After those long lonely moments in the car, the thought of running off alone was more terrifying than anything else she could imagine. Her father screamed and shoved her again before he limped around to the passenger side that had received the brunt of the destruction.
After a beat of hesitation she followed him, keeping a safe distance. Her father’s footprints marred a deep red goo spreading on the icy ground.
She watched in a trance. His strong arms warred against the weight of the car; sobs and cursing marked the strange silence of the storm. He looked up again when a strong gust sent the wires flailing on the wind. “Joselyn, run!”
The anguish and terror in her father’s voice jolted her into action. She ran.
Hissss …
But the sound made her stop and turn around.
“BOOM!” A flash of heat and light erupted. Invisible arms gripped her and threw her to the ground, her back landing in perplexing pillowy softness against the frozen road. A burst of fire exploded above, propelling a river of flames an inch from her face.
As if seeing it from underneath protective glass, she felt nothing. Nothing but the resounding certainty that she’d just lost everything she loved.
Chapter 8
Finn Carson
You
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