Read Online Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn - Free Book Online

inspired no visceral reaction that might prompt me to take a closer look.
    Though if I was being honest, I sometimes wondered if I had trained those responses out of myself entirely. Wild sex didn’t go with my well-ordered approach tolife, so I had simply cut it out. Lucy often suggested I was wired with a Dead-Inside-O-Tron, which controlled my lack of lustfulness.
    Anxiety stabbed at my insides again, sending a wave of nausea spiraling through me. I gripped the edge of the countertop. I
had
to make this stop.
    â€œI need a glamour,” I blurted out.
    Scott’s expression shifted, concern passing through his eyes. He sat up straight, regarding me keenly.
    â€œYou never answered my question. What is Annie making you do?”
    I took a swig of my beer and manufactured a quick smile. “It’s this party thing she wants me to go to. Not a big deal, but she’s freaking out extra hard today.”
    â€œA party,” he said, sounding out each syllable. “Is that really the best idea? For you?”
    I toyed with the discarded cap of my beer bottle.
    â€œI can handle it. Whatever she wants, I always handle it.”
    But even as the words spilled out of my mouth, a sliver of doubt niggled at me. Could I handle
this
?
    â€œYou know,” I said. “I might be able to handle it better if you’d just try that spell already.”
    I tried to make my tone light. But he saw right through me.
    He slid off the countertop and rested his hands on my shoulders, the concern overtaking his expression entirely.
    â€œI’ve told you over and over again: it’s too dangerous,” he said. “Everything I do magic-wise is basic, simple—enough for people to pay me a few bucks for a fun party trick, but hardly earth-shattering. That spell is outside of the realm of anything I’ve ever tried before. You could end up hurt. Maimed. Or worse.”
    I shrugged out of his grasp. “I was kidding.”
    I wasn’t. Someday I’d convince him to try that spell.
    Someday I’d be normal.
    â€œYou can say no to Annie,” he said. “You know that, right? You don’t have to go along with every single thing she says and put up with every single demand she piles on top of you just because she’s . . . her. If she wants you to do something that’s going to put you in danger . . .”
    â€œNo.” I shook my head a little too vehemently. “It’s nothing like that.”
    â€œI don’t understand why you stick with her,” he continued. “Why can’t you find another job, one that’s not so—”
    â€œI like this one just fine,” I said firmly. “I’m good at it. And you know I need stability.”
    â€œâ€˜Stability’ equals a crazy boss who orders you around in an increasingly crazy manner?”
    â€œStability equals dealing with a brand of crazy I
know
.”
    He blew out a long, frustrated breath. I knew he didn’t understand. Though Scott could still reminisce about pre-fame Annie Chang with affection, the two of them had experienced some sort of falling out when Aveda started making a name for herself. These days they could barely stand to be in each other’s company. I’d never pressed either of them for details, but I knew it had to be bad: mentioning Aveda’s more outlandish behavior was the only thing that shocked Scott out of his relaxed state.
    There was no way I could explain to him that, in a weird way, I found it comforting that I could always depend on Aveda to be so . . . Aveda-like. We’d known each other so long, we were practically part of each other’s DNA. And with Mom and Dad gone and Bea well into her unpredictable teens, she was the closest thing to stable family I had.
    So yeah, maybe her latest request was sending me into an Anxiety Ball–inducing tizzy. But no one else would’ve gone to bat for me with that