Read Online Scarred by Amber Lynn Natusch - Free Book Online Page A

you...be around you?”
    “Normally, I would say that was a possibility, but not tonight, Jay. I think he's up to something. He was acting so oddly,” I replied, tugging my hair just enough to let the sting of it soothe me slightly. “It's frustrating. Things were just getting better between us, and then he ruins it. Does he always clam up like this?”
    “Ruby,” Jay said in a normal voice, “Sean is complicated . Always has been. Sometimes things are black and white with him, others it's all gray. You have to learn to read between the lines.”
    “Between the lines?”
    “Listen. All I can tell you is that if what you're looking for is somebody you can read like an open book, you'd be better off with a guy like Cooper. Sean will never be that.”
    “But it's like he flips a switch, and I've totally missed what happened...what caused the change.”
    “What were you talking about when he got all strange tonight?”
    “He was talking about doing something the 'easy way', and I wanted to know what the hard way was. He wouldn't tell me,” I explained. “Then he got mad and said that I didn't know what he was capable of—what his father had turned him into.”
    Jay made that sharp inhaling sound that can only be done through a grimaced expression. Apparently the conversation had gone further south than he'd anticipated.
    “Not good, Ruby,” he managed finally.
    “I gathered that. Thanks.”
    “Sean's had a hard life. Harder than the rest of us by a long shot. He's developed...” Jay paused, searching for the right words. “ Coping mechanisms.”
    “Which are?” I prompted.
    “I don’t know, Ruby. I’m not in the guy’s head. What I do know is that he's a tough nut to crack, and, whether you know it or not, you have on some level or another,” he said softly. “I'd never seen it happen before you came around. There's something about you. He's different when you're around.”
    “Then why do I feel like he’s pushing me away?” I whined, utterly frustrated.
    “Coping mechanism. People can't hurt you nearly as much when they're an arm's length away,” he whispered. “I gotta go. Peyta needs me. Remember what I told you. Don't let him push you. Push back!”
    He hung up before I could say anything else. ‘ Don't let him push you’ carried through my mind over and over again. Was Ares so terrible that Sean had become incapable of being loved? Had he broken him? Sean had always been so certain, so fearless in my eyes. What would it have taken to break that spirit? Fracture that soul? My face flushed with anger thinking of how long he must have suffered under his father's thumb.
    I hoped one day Scarlet would get another face-to-face with Ares―so she could remove his.

    * * *

    I dreamt of Ares that night. It terrified me, and when I awoke, I wondered how long it had been since I'd slept peacefully through the night. Light was pouring in through the grand window in my room, and I rolled over to see the clock telling me it was already eleven in the morning. Before I could even throw the blanket off of me, Cooper pounded on the door, not waiting for a response. He barged in seconds after and came to sit on the side of my bed.
    “So what did he tell you?” he asked, munching on some breakfast sandwich concoction.
    “Nothing exciting. He wants me to talk to Alan and see if he knows anyone with clearance in the CIA.”
    “For?”
    “The Rev. Something is up with his file, I guess. Sean's nervous that it could be possible for Keith to be linked to the crimes and what that could mean to our potential exposure,” I explained, crawling out of bed. I'd been so tired when I got home that I didn't bother changing, and was still wearing Peyta's oversized Michigan State sweats. “It seems like that's a long shot, but he's gotta keep things under wraps, so...”
    “So he'll do whatever needs doing to keep it that way,” he finished.
    “Exactly.”
    “Well,” he said, pushing off the bed, “I hope Alan