Read Online Inheritance by Malinda Lo - Free Book Online Page B

funny, and reached out to smooth a piece of hair away from her eyes. His fingers lingered on her cheek, light as a feather. Her breath caught in her throat. And just like that, both his hands were in her hair, cupping her head, tipping her face up to his while he bent down to kiss her. His mouth was warm and firm on hers, his hands steady, but inside she felt him trembling like a butterfly on a leaf. She put her hands on his waist, drawing his body against hers. She felt the tail of his shirt hanging loose from the back of his jeans, and she ran her fingers under it and the T-shirt beneath, touching his skin. He shuddered in a long, twisting shiver that ricocheted through her, making her legs wobble. She pulled him closer so that she wouldn’t fall. He pushed her gently against the wall of the tower. The ledge pressed against the middle of her back, a hard edge above which was nothing—only the air over the city. A delirious confidence filled her. If she tumbled out of the tower, she would surely float, as if she were made of cloud and sky rather than flesh and bone.
    A phone rang, the unfamiliar peal echoing loudly in the tower. David was still kissing her, paying no attention to it, but she realized something was vibrating in her left front pocket. The phone that Amber had given her. “David,” she said, breaking away from him.
    “What?” He looked dazed.
    She pulled out the phone. Dr. Brand’s name showed up on the tiny screen, and the world seemed to crash to a halt. “It’s Dr. Brand,” she said, staring at the display.
    “Are you going to answer that?” David asked.
    She flipped the phone open with nervous hands, nearly dropping it as she lifted it to her ear. “Hello?”
    “Hello, Reese? This is Evelyn Brand.”
    “Um, hi.”
    “We’re having a press conference on Thursday at Angel Island, and we’d like to invite you and David to come. We’ll be giving tours of our ship. You can bring your parents if you’d like.”
    “Thursday?”
I could see Amber again in three days
, Reese thought, and she immediately felt guilty. She turned away from David, looking down at the palm trees that marched along the Dolores Street median. “What time? How are we supposed to get there?”
    “We’ll have ferries departing from Fisherman’s Wharf at ten AM . Can I expect the two of you? We’d really like to have the opportunity to explain everything to you.”
    Reese hesitated. David came to stand beside her. “We’ll think about it.”
    “All right,” Dr. Brand said. She didn’t sound surprised. “You can give me a call at this number when you decide. And, Reese, we really do hope you’ll come.”
    “Okay. Bye.” Reese ended the call and stared at the phone for a second before looking up at David.
    “What’d she say?”
    Reese relayed the invitation.
    “Do you want to go?” he asked.
    She put the phone back into her pocket. She knew that her reluctance to go was all about her issues with Amber, but facing that right now—with David only a couple of feet away—made panic shoot through her. “I don’t know.” She rubbed a hand over her eyes, and when her hand came away it was smeared with eye shadow. “Crap. I have to go wash this off. Can we talk about it later?”
    He seemed surprised, but he said, “Sure. It’s on Thursday, right?”
    “Yeah.” She headed for the stairs, struggling to hide her sudden anxiety.

CHAPTER 7
    On Wednesday Reese’s new phone rang as she was pulling on her jacket.
    “Oh my God, that is so loud,” Julian said.
    “I just got it. I haven’t fixed it yet,” Reese said, tugging it out of her pocket. It was her third phone in two months. She had lost the first during the car accident on Area 51, the second at Blue Base. Her dad had given her this one before he dropped her off at Julian’s house that morning. The only people who had her number were her parents, Julian, and David. She answered the phone. “Hey,” she said.
    “Hi,” David said.
    “Who is