Read Online Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jeaniene Frost
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get you home.”
It had been a long time since I’d been in a man’s arms. Sure, Bones might have carried me before when I was unconscious, but that didn’t count. Now I was very aware ofhis hard chest against me, how effortlessly he held me, and how really good he smelled. It wasn’t cologne—he never wore any. It was a clean scent that was uniquely his and it was…intoxicating.
“Do you think I’m pretty?” I heard myself ask.
Something I couldn’t name flashed across his face.
“No. I don’t think you’re pretty. I think you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”
“Liar,” I breathed. “He wouldn’t have done that if I was. He wouldn’t have been with her .”
“Who?”
I ignored him, caught up in the memory. “Maybe he knew. Maybe on some deep, deep level, he could sense I was evil. I wish I hadn’t been born this way. I wish I hadn’t been born at all.”
“You listen to me, Kitten,” Bones cut me off. In my rant, I’d almost forgotten he was there. “I don’t know who you’re taking about, but you are not evil. Not one single cell of you. There is nothing wrong with you, and sod anyone who can’t see that for themselves.”
My head lolled on his arm. After a minute, my depression lifted, and I began to giggle again.
“Winston liked me. As long as I have moonshine, I’ve always got a date with a ghost!”
“I hate to inform you, luv, but you and Winston don’t have a future together.”
“Says who?” I laughed, noticing that the trees were tilted sideways. That was weird. And they seemed to be spinning as well.
Bones lifted my head up. I blinked. The trees were straight again! Then all I could see was his face as he leaned very close.
“I say.”
He seemed like he was spinning also. Maybe everything was spinning. It felt that way.
“I’m drunk, aren’t I?”
Since I’d never been drunk before, I needed clarification.
His snort tickled my face. “Impressively so.”
“Don’t you dare try to bite me,” I said, noticing his mouth was only a few inches from my neck.
“Don’t fret. That was the furthest thing from my mind.”
The truck came into view. Bones carried me to the passenger side and deposited me on the seat. I slumped, tired all of a sudden.
His door shut, and then the engine vibrated to life. I kept shifting to get comfortable, but my truck didn’t have an extended cab and the interior was cramped.
“Here,” Bones said after several minutes, and pulled my head down to his lap.
“Pig!” I screamed, jerking up so fast, my cheek banged on the steering wheel.
He just laughed. “Isn’t your mind in the gutter? You shouldn’t be so quick to label Winston a drunken pervert. Pot calling the kettle black, if you ask me. I only had the most honorable of intentions, I assure you.”
I eyed his lap and the extremely uncomfortable truck door, weighing my options. Then I flopped back down and put my head on his thigh, closing my eyes.
“Wake me when we get to my house.”
F IVE
I T WAS WEEK FIVE. I TRUDGED INTO THE CAVE, wishing Bones would just beat me unconscious again instead of what I knew was coming. My makeover, courtesy of a vampire.
He wasn’t perched on his usual boulder. Maybe he was still sleeping. I was about ten minutes early. It didn’t take as long this time to give my mother the latest in a long line of lies about where I was going. The first few weeks, I told her I’d taken a job waitressing, but with always being broke, I knew I had to get more inventive. At last I settled on telling her I’d signed up for an intensive exercise program people took to prepare for boot camp. She’d been aghast at the thought of me being exposed to the military, but I assured her that all I wanted was the training to help with my extracurricular activities. Very extracurricular activities, since killing vampires was on no college course I’d read about.
“Bones?” I called out, traveling further into the cave.
A whoosh of air
It had been a long time since I’d been in a man’s arms. Sure, Bones might have carried me before when I was unconscious, but that didn’t count. Now I was very aware ofhis hard chest against me, how effortlessly he held me, and how really good he smelled. It wasn’t cologne—he never wore any. It was a clean scent that was uniquely his and it was…intoxicating.
“Do you think I’m pretty?” I heard myself ask.
Something I couldn’t name flashed across his face.
“No. I don’t think you’re pretty. I think you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”
“Liar,” I breathed. “He wouldn’t have done that if I was. He wouldn’t have been with her .”
“Who?”
I ignored him, caught up in the memory. “Maybe he knew. Maybe on some deep, deep level, he could sense I was evil. I wish I hadn’t been born this way. I wish I hadn’t been born at all.”
“You listen to me, Kitten,” Bones cut me off. In my rant, I’d almost forgotten he was there. “I don’t know who you’re taking about, but you are not evil. Not one single cell of you. There is nothing wrong with you, and sod anyone who can’t see that for themselves.”
My head lolled on his arm. After a minute, my depression lifted, and I began to giggle again.
“Winston liked me. As long as I have moonshine, I’ve always got a date with a ghost!”
“I hate to inform you, luv, but you and Winston don’t have a future together.”
“Says who?” I laughed, noticing that the trees were tilted sideways. That was weird. And they seemed to be spinning as well.
Bones lifted my head up. I blinked. The trees were straight again! Then all I could see was his face as he leaned very close.
“I say.”
He seemed like he was spinning also. Maybe everything was spinning. It felt that way.
“I’m drunk, aren’t I?”
Since I’d never been drunk before, I needed clarification.
His snort tickled my face. “Impressively so.”
“Don’t you dare try to bite me,” I said, noticing his mouth was only a few inches from my neck.
“Don’t fret. That was the furthest thing from my mind.”
The truck came into view. Bones carried me to the passenger side and deposited me on the seat. I slumped, tired all of a sudden.
His door shut, and then the engine vibrated to life. I kept shifting to get comfortable, but my truck didn’t have an extended cab and the interior was cramped.
“Here,” Bones said after several minutes, and pulled my head down to his lap.
“Pig!” I screamed, jerking up so fast, my cheek banged on the steering wheel.
He just laughed. “Isn’t your mind in the gutter? You shouldn’t be so quick to label Winston a drunken pervert. Pot calling the kettle black, if you ask me. I only had the most honorable of intentions, I assure you.”
I eyed his lap and the extremely uncomfortable truck door, weighing my options. Then I flopped back down and put my head on his thigh, closing my eyes.
“Wake me when we get to my house.”
F IVE
I T WAS WEEK FIVE. I TRUDGED INTO THE CAVE, wishing Bones would just beat me unconscious again instead of what I knew was coming. My makeover, courtesy of a vampire.
He wasn’t perched on his usual boulder. Maybe he was still sleeping. I was about ten minutes early. It didn’t take as long this time to give my mother the latest in a long line of lies about where I was going. The first few weeks, I told her I’d taken a job waitressing, but with always being broke, I knew I had to get more inventive. At last I settled on telling her I’d signed up for an intensive exercise program people took to prepare for boot camp. She’d been aghast at the thought of me being exposed to the military, but I assured her that all I wanted was the training to help with my extracurricular activities. Very extracurricular activities, since killing vampires was on no college course I’d read about.
“Bones?” I called out, traveling further into the cave.
A whoosh of air
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