Read Online The Angel (The Original Sinners) by Tiffany Reisz - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Tiffany Reisz
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“That
was pointless.”
“Well, it wasn’t a step backward so we’ll consider it a step
forward. Besides, I’m only playing chess with you to keep you awake longer,” she
admitted. “I’m terrible at this game and you know it.”
“I do indeed.” Søren moved his queen. Checkmate.
“Fine. You win,” Nora conceded. “I’d kick your ass if we were
playing Battleship though. That’s my game.”
“Battleship?”
Nora smiled. Søren had had such an unusual childhood that
things she took for granted—silly board games, Saturday morning cartoons—Søren
had no experience with. At age five he’d been sent to England to attend school.
An unpleasant incident with a fellow student forced him back to America at age
ten. A far more unpleasant incident at his home ended with him being shipped off
to a Jesuit boarding school in rural Maine when he was only eleven. But it was
there among the priests and monks that Søren found not only his salvation, but
his calling. That and he met a certain young half-blood Frenchman who would
change the course of his life forever.
“Battleship. It’s this stupid game Wes and I played when we
were procrastinating from doing our work.”
“You so rarely speak of Wesley, Eleanor. And yet so many
memories you have of him make you smile. Why don’t you talk about him more?”
Why didn’t she talk about him more? Nora shook her head and
stared at the chessboard. Looking back she still wasn’t sure why she’d asked
Wesley to move in with her, other than he’d intimated that he might have to move
back home to Kentucky as Yorke was a prohibitively expensive liberal-arts
college. But as soon as Wesley was in her home, she’d begun to wonder how she’d
ever lived without him. Before Wesley, she’d practically lived at Kingsley’s
Manhattan town house. She worked in the city so much that several days would
pass before she’d return to her home in Connecticut. Once Wesley was there,
however, she’d find herself racing back to her house after a job, throwing on
normal clothes and curling up on the couch with him.
Nora would never forget the day she got tired of writing in her
office and had taken her laptop to the kitchen just for a change of scenery.
Wesley joined her in the kitchen and sat opposite her at the table. He opened
his laptop and started working on a paper due in his European History class that
week. Nora remembered casting furtive glances over the top of her computer at
him. He had brown eyes with little flecks of gold in them and dark blond hair
that fell over his forehead. Only eighteen then, he was utterly adorable, and
sometimes she had to practically sit on her hands to keep from reaching out and
grabbing him when he walked past her. They were just roommates, just friends,
she always had to remind herself. And Wesley was a good Christian kid and a
virgin. One night with her wouldn’t just take his virginity, it would steal his
innocence too. But that day all she felt for him was affection. Affection and
amusement.
“Wes, I’m going to say it,” she said, glancing at their
back-to-back open laptops.
“Don’t say it, Nora,” Wesley said as he kept typing.
“I have to say it.”
“Do. Not. Say. It,” Wesley ordered, trying and failing to sound
intimidating. His sexy hybrid Kentucky-Georgia accent made her toes curl but it
did not lend itself to intimidation. “If you say it, I’m leaving.”
“Wesley…”
“Nora…”
Nora took a deep breath, pretended to type something and
whispered, “Wes?”
“What?”
“You sunk my Battleship!”
At that Wesley stood up and left the kitchen. Nora dissolved
into giggles as Wesley threw on his coat, grabbed his car keys and walked out of
the house. She was still laughing half an hour later when Wesley returned
carrying a just-purchased Battleship game with him. Nora closed their computers
and they set up the game on the kitchen table. She beat him soundly, two to one.
After that, every time one or
was pointless.”
“Well, it wasn’t a step backward so we’ll consider it a step
forward. Besides, I’m only playing chess with you to keep you awake longer,” she
admitted. “I’m terrible at this game and you know it.”
“I do indeed.” Søren moved his queen. Checkmate.
“Fine. You win,” Nora conceded. “I’d kick your ass if we were
playing Battleship though. That’s my game.”
“Battleship?”
Nora smiled. Søren had had such an unusual childhood that
things she took for granted—silly board games, Saturday morning cartoons—Søren
had no experience with. At age five he’d been sent to England to attend school.
An unpleasant incident with a fellow student forced him back to America at age
ten. A far more unpleasant incident at his home ended with him being shipped off
to a Jesuit boarding school in rural Maine when he was only eleven. But it was
there among the priests and monks that Søren found not only his salvation, but
his calling. That and he met a certain young half-blood Frenchman who would
change the course of his life forever.
“Battleship. It’s this stupid game Wes and I played when we
were procrastinating from doing our work.”
“You so rarely speak of Wesley, Eleanor. And yet so many
memories you have of him make you smile. Why don’t you talk about him more?”
Why didn’t she talk about him more? Nora shook her head and
stared at the chessboard. Looking back she still wasn’t sure why she’d asked
Wesley to move in with her, other than he’d intimated that he might have to move
back home to Kentucky as Yorke was a prohibitively expensive liberal-arts
college. But as soon as Wesley was in her home, she’d begun to wonder how she’d
ever lived without him. Before Wesley, she’d practically lived at Kingsley’s
Manhattan town house. She worked in the city so much that several days would
pass before she’d return to her home in Connecticut. Once Wesley was there,
however, she’d find herself racing back to her house after a job, throwing on
normal clothes and curling up on the couch with him.
Nora would never forget the day she got tired of writing in her
office and had taken her laptop to the kitchen just for a change of scenery.
Wesley joined her in the kitchen and sat opposite her at the table. He opened
his laptop and started working on a paper due in his European History class that
week. Nora remembered casting furtive glances over the top of her computer at
him. He had brown eyes with little flecks of gold in them and dark blond hair
that fell over his forehead. Only eighteen then, he was utterly adorable, and
sometimes she had to practically sit on her hands to keep from reaching out and
grabbing him when he walked past her. They were just roommates, just friends,
she always had to remind herself. And Wesley was a good Christian kid and a
virgin. One night with her wouldn’t just take his virginity, it would steal his
innocence too. But that day all she felt for him was affection. Affection and
amusement.
“Wes, I’m going to say it,” she said, glancing at their
back-to-back open laptops.
“Don’t say it, Nora,” Wesley said as he kept typing.
“I have to say it.”
“Do. Not. Say. It,” Wesley ordered, trying and failing to sound
intimidating. His sexy hybrid Kentucky-Georgia accent made her toes curl but it
did not lend itself to intimidation. “If you say it, I’m leaving.”
“Wesley…”
“Nora…”
Nora took a deep breath, pretended to type something and
whispered, “Wes?”
“What?”
“You sunk my Battleship!”
At that Wesley stood up and left the kitchen. Nora dissolved
into giggles as Wesley threw on his coat, grabbed his car keys and walked out of
the house. She was still laughing half an hour later when Wesley returned
carrying a just-purchased Battleship game with him. Nora closed their computers
and they set up the game on the kitchen table. She beat him soundly, two to one.
After that, every time one or
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