Read Online Lightbringer by K.D. McEntire - Free Book Online Page A

said tightly to Chel as Eddie parked the car. “Get out and get to class before I forget you're my sister.” She turned back to the windshield, squared her shoulders, tilted her head back, and closed her eyes. Licking her lips, she ran over her schedule for the day in her mind. Meanwhile, in the parking lot, car doors slammed and students cat-called. The Cabriolet vibrated when Chel, pushing roughly past Eddie, made her exit, slamming his door as loud as she could. The engine cooled, ticking loudly.
    Eddie shifted in his seat. “She's gone.”
    “I know.” Wendy sucked the top of her tongue ring in irritation, rolling the ball at the end against the roof of her mouth.
    “It's just a phase…I think.”
    “I know that, too.”
    He touched her shoulder gingerly, brushing a few of her curls off her cheek. “Wendy—”
    “Don't. We've been over it.” Wendy leaned forward, eyes still closed, and pressed the heels of her hands into her temples. “She has no idea what's going on. All she knows is Dad's not here and Mom's in the hospital and Jon can't get two words out around her without pissing her off. She's a nightmare and I'm getting to where I've had enough, you know?”
    “She doesn't mean it.”
    “I know.” Wendy took several deep, cleansing breaths, and sat back. When she opened her eyes Eddie was still there, hand on the armrest, fingers curled upward. Wendy settled her hand in his tentatively, and he gently closed his fingers around hers, as if she were a delicate creation he might crush if he held her too hard.
    “You've always got me,” Eddie reminded her.
    She sighed. “No I don't. Not really. Not the way I need…someone. But not you.”
    “I do love you, you know,” he offered, almost off-handly. Wendy glanced at him but his eyes were trained at thin clouds puffing across the sky. “You're totally hot. And my best friend. Two birds and all. Plus you're kinda awesome.”
    “We've been over this,” she said again but it came out more of a question, hesitant and soft. “It wouldn't work, remember?”
    Eddie slanted a look at her and Wendy's heart thrummed for just a moment, a quick staccato beat against her ribs. He was handsome, there was no doubt about that, with a quicksilver smile and even features, a wrestler's compact muscles and hair silky against his neck. Due to the most recent batch of dye, the black had faded to silver, giving him an ethereal look, and the few blond highlights that remained caught the sun like molten gold.
    “Have we?” He squeezed her hand. He twisted so that he was facing her and reached out, stroking her right cheek with fingertips calloused from years of rough work in his uncle's garage. “You decided it wouldn't work and we've never even kissed. How do you know for sure?”
    Chest throbbing, Wendy leaned her cheek into his touch, loving the warmth of him and the delicate way those talented fingers stroked a path from the cup of her ear to the curve of her chin, cupping her face and drawing her forward. His breath fanned across her lips, smelling of citrus and honey and Wendy trembled, hesitating on the brink of what she'd wanted for years.
    “I can't,” she mouthed and then, with more force, said aloud, “I can't.”
    “You won't,” he corrected, sitting back. He seemed mellow though, unoffended at her refusal. “Not the same thing.”
    “Eddie, I go out and look for my mom's soul every damn night.” She held up her scraped hand and the opposing wrist, exposing the deep scratch left over from the tussle with the two Walkers from the night before. “It hurts me, okay? I get hurt.”
    “Wendy—”
    “This job, this thing I have to do, it's not fun or easy or romantic. What in the hell makes you think that a relationship between us would do anything but complicate my life?”
    “First of all, I'm not asking for a relationship, you are.” Eddie held his hands up to stall her reply. “And before you get on your high horse, it's not that no one wants to