Read Online Kept by Shawntelle Madison - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Shawntelle Madison
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nervousness.
“It’s an hour drive,” Alex said, “but I’ll get there as soon as I can. I’ll rent a car.”
“No you won’t!” I piped in. “You’re borrowing my car. This is Atlantic City. If I can’t find a rental to use, then this tourist trap isn’t doing its job properly.”
So, it was settled. And hopefully in a few hours I’d be an aunt.
We all left the hotel at the same time. Not that I couldn’t tolerate being in a room alone with Thorn, but due to everything that’d happened with my father, I was as jittery as a newborn pup. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t seen Thorn lately. I’d seen him the other morning at the track, certainly. But today something was different. As we walked to pick up my car from valet parking, I sensed a change inside me. I was looking forward to being alone with Thorn. I had so many things to ask him since thebattle with the Long Island werewolves. Most were about that night, when he’d saved me from the pack leader. What had happened to him?
“You got plans to get in the car, Nat?” Alex’s tone was persistent.
I’d drifted off again. It was all too easy with Thorn, my father, and my brother’s new baby weighing on my mind. This whole situation was an information overload.
Not more than thirty minutes later, even in the middle of night, Alex had driven off in my car and we had a rental. An SUV. Not my first choice, but Thorn had haggled me out of a nice little four-door vehicle.
“Do you seriously want to do a getaway in that?”
“What’s wrong with a Honda?”
He sighed. “If something goes wrong, I’m not making a run for it in a Honda Fit.”
I laughed. “Have you seen the gas prices around here? In the city?”
He got into the driver’s side of the SUV and sighed. “It’s the principle of the matter. You wouldn’t get it.”
Thankfully, I did get my way in one regard. I got my leather seats. Cloth seats weren’t the easiest to clean, so if I had to ride in a rental, I made sure it had leather seats. Easy to wipe off with an antibacterial wipe. Still, the leather seats in the SUV had a strange smell, as if the rental company hadn’t cleaned them very well, or often enough.
“You need help?” he asked.
As I cleaned the head support I mumbled, “No, I’m good.”
He didn’t hurry me, simply checked the stations on the radio until he found a mellow jazz one. Quite nice.
“You still like to listen to Miles Davis before bed?” he asked.
The question came out of nowhere, making me halt my cleaning. “I’m more into John Coltrane now. The local station turned me on to him. He’s really good with the tenor saxophone.”
I finished my work and settled into my seat. We had a few possibilities in mind for the location of the goblin’s market, so I sat back and kept my eyes on the well-lit road.
Questions bubbled in my mind while the music played. Why did Thorn come here with us? Why not let us find Dad and settle this debt on our own? Since he belonged to Erica now, he had no business helping my family—yet here he was—with me, all alone. Was it friendship or did he still care for me?
The soft lilt of the sax and drum set pulled me in and pushed my mind away from my troubles. I think that’s why I’ve always preferred jazz music. Especially when I was a kid. My aunt Vera loves jazz music and used to play it whenever we ate dinner at her house. Since my mom’s food is far better, and she loves cooking and serving it, I could pretty much count on one hand how many dinners I’d had at Vera’s house. But the exposure was enough to teach me the greats of jazz and harness their soothing effects on my anxiety.
“You never answered my question,” Thorn said. “Do you still listen to Miles Davis before bed?”
My mouth went as dry as my lips. The question brought about memories I’d buried deep and only retrieved on my loneliest of days. Us naked, with limbs intertwined. His fingertips lazily drawing figure eights along my
“It’s an hour drive,” Alex said, “but I’ll get there as soon as I can. I’ll rent a car.”
“No you won’t!” I piped in. “You’re borrowing my car. This is Atlantic City. If I can’t find a rental to use, then this tourist trap isn’t doing its job properly.”
So, it was settled. And hopefully in a few hours I’d be an aunt.
We all left the hotel at the same time. Not that I couldn’t tolerate being in a room alone with Thorn, but due to everything that’d happened with my father, I was as jittery as a newborn pup. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t seen Thorn lately. I’d seen him the other morning at the track, certainly. But today something was different. As we walked to pick up my car from valet parking, I sensed a change inside me. I was looking forward to being alone with Thorn. I had so many things to ask him since thebattle with the Long Island werewolves. Most were about that night, when he’d saved me from the pack leader. What had happened to him?
“You got plans to get in the car, Nat?” Alex’s tone was persistent.
I’d drifted off again. It was all too easy with Thorn, my father, and my brother’s new baby weighing on my mind. This whole situation was an information overload.
Not more than thirty minutes later, even in the middle of night, Alex had driven off in my car and we had a rental. An SUV. Not my first choice, but Thorn had haggled me out of a nice little four-door vehicle.
“Do you seriously want to do a getaway in that?”
“What’s wrong with a Honda?”
He sighed. “If something goes wrong, I’m not making a run for it in a Honda Fit.”
I laughed. “Have you seen the gas prices around here? In the city?”
He got into the driver’s side of the SUV and sighed. “It’s the principle of the matter. You wouldn’t get it.”
Thankfully, I did get my way in one regard. I got my leather seats. Cloth seats weren’t the easiest to clean, so if I had to ride in a rental, I made sure it had leather seats. Easy to wipe off with an antibacterial wipe. Still, the leather seats in the SUV had a strange smell, as if the rental company hadn’t cleaned them very well, or often enough.
“You need help?” he asked.
As I cleaned the head support I mumbled, “No, I’m good.”
He didn’t hurry me, simply checked the stations on the radio until he found a mellow jazz one. Quite nice.
“You still like to listen to Miles Davis before bed?” he asked.
The question came out of nowhere, making me halt my cleaning. “I’m more into John Coltrane now. The local station turned me on to him. He’s really good with the tenor saxophone.”
I finished my work and settled into my seat. We had a few possibilities in mind for the location of the goblin’s market, so I sat back and kept my eyes on the well-lit road.
Questions bubbled in my mind while the music played. Why did Thorn come here with us? Why not let us find Dad and settle this debt on our own? Since he belonged to Erica now, he had no business helping my family—yet here he was—with me, all alone. Was it friendship or did he still care for me?
The soft lilt of the sax and drum set pulled me in and pushed my mind away from my troubles. I think that’s why I’ve always preferred jazz music. Especially when I was a kid. My aunt Vera loves jazz music and used to play it whenever we ate dinner at her house. Since my mom’s food is far better, and she loves cooking and serving it, I could pretty much count on one hand how many dinners I’d had at Vera’s house. But the exposure was enough to teach me the greats of jazz and harness their soothing effects on my anxiety.
“You never answered my question,” Thorn said. “Do you still listen to Miles Davis before bed?”
My mouth went as dry as my lips. The question brought about memories I’d buried deep and only retrieved on my loneliest of days. Us naked, with limbs intertwined. His fingertips lazily drawing figure eights along my
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