Read Online Quiver (Revenge Book 1) by Trevion Burns - Free Book Online Page B

Boulevard, between Court and 6 th ,” she said, desperate to get home and away from this person forever. Coco would be more difficult to get rid of, since they worked together, but Veda was sure she could be done with Gage tonight. Coco had already said he was only at the hospital every few months, just to check in, and he’d already checked in that morning; therefore, Veda was confident she’d never have to see him again. She’d never have to endure the baffling loss of focus, the tightness in her bones, and the shortness of breath she couldn’t explain whenever she was in his presence.
    “How was your first day at work?” He leaned back in his seat when he made it to a stoplight, shooting her a look. When she returned his gaze, his chest swelled, eyes growing darker. “Besides avoiding me like the plague, I mean. Did the surgeons treat you well?”
    Veda thought up an answer that would help her remain detached.
    “Where’s your fiancée?” left her lips instead, before she could even think to stop it.
    He looked away, stroking his beard. “Not here.” His hooded eyes reclaimed hers.
    “Why not?”
    “She hates my friends.”
    “I’m shocked .”
    He smirked, pulling off when the light turned green.
    Veda didn’t miss how slowly he was moving that Phantom. She knew how fast the bad boy could go. For a young man with a lead foot, that growling engine was heaven on Earth, but he was driving like somebody’s grandpa. Could he speed it up already? She clenched her crossed thighs.
    “Todd can be a real asshole,” Gage said. “But I’ve known him for as long as I’ve been alive, and he’s good at the core.”
    Veda snickered, feeling his eyes burning the side of her face. Whatever. No point in arguing with him.
    As they neared her neighborhood, she pointed to an approaching corner. “I know a shortcut. Just take a right here….”
    He blazed past that corner without even looking.
    Veda shot him a stunned expression.
    His smile grew. “Are you new in town?”
    She turned to watch her shortcut—her freedom—breezing by. Slumping back into her seat, she swallowed a moan as her thumping heart seemed to relocate to her center, pumping with more fervor every second, becoming impossible to ignore. “I was born here. Raised on the hill. I left during senior year.”
    “From the hill to anesthesiologist.” He smiled at her. “Good for you.”
    “Sometimes I wonder if I’m crazy. The plan was to get the hell out of Shadow Rock and never look back, but….” Things to do, people to kill . She smiled at her thoughts.
    “Everyone wants to leave… until they leave.” He came to another stoplight and met her eyes. “Something about this island. It gets in your blood.” His gaze fell to her lips. “You don’t even know it until it’s already shooting through your veins and attacking your nervous system.”
    Veda licked her lips, not sure if he was talking about Shadow Rock or himself. “How would your fiancée feel if she knew I was in your car?”
    He looked away. “My fiancée doesn’t dictate my life.”
    Veda didn’t miss the clip in his voice. Was it anger? Guilt? The more sadistic part of her yearned to flick at it.  To aggravate whatever fire went ablaze inside him whenever she brought up his fiancée, but she gave him a break. No need to torture someone she was never going to see again. Where was the fun in that, if she couldn’t witness the aftermath?
    “Does your family still live here?” he asked.
    “My parents left a few years after I went to college.”
    He frowned. “Didn’t you say you left senior year? They didn’t go with you?”
    The air left Veda’s lungs. She pointed a trembling finger to another corner. “Shortcut. Make a right.”
    Gage breezed past that corner.
    And it finally occurred to her. “Am I being held hostage?”
    He gripped the steering wheel. “Are you seeing anybody?”
    She threw him a horrified look. “Seriously?”
    “Just an innocent