Read Online The Honor Trilogy: Books One, Two, and Three of the Honor Trilogy by J. P. Grider - Free Book Online Page A

outta here.” Brother to brother, they stare each other down.
    “How ‘bout it, Honor?” Storm still persists with talking to me, though his gaze hasn’t left Ethan’s. “ Ya wanna hang after school…with me?” The evil that escapes Storm’s lop-sided grin is apparent, but I can tell…it’s only skin deep. The boy is hurting inside. And I hurt for him.
    Ethan continues the stare-down. “She has plans with me.”
    Storm is first to break the stare. But only to look at me. “’zat true, Honor? You have plans with this loser after school?”
    “Yes.” I nod, but look only at Ethan. Afraid to feel anything else for Storm if I look at him.
    “Very well. Maybe another time, sweetheart.” He strides away all boss-like, but I see the real Storm beneath his deceptive arrogance.
    Ethan sits back down, straddling the bench so we’re facing each other again. “You can’t let him befriend you, Honor…you just can’t. He’s dangerous, and I don’t know his intentions right now.”
    Looking down, I bite my lip before I speak. “I get that…it’s just,” I hesitate, not sure of Ethan’s reaction to my feelings for Storm. “I don’t think he’s as dangerous as he lets on.”
    I regret it as soon as the words are out of my mouth. Ethan’s eyes shoot up in disbelief. “How can you say that, Honor…after what he did to my sister?”
    “I’m sorry, Ethan.” Rage begins to fill me unexpectedly. Until I realize it’s Ethan’s rage I’m feeling. “Please, Ethan. Stay calm…”
    “Stay calm? I tell you he murdered my baby sister and you tell me he’s not dangerous?”
    With the palm of my hand, I attempt to soothe Ethan by rubbing his arm up and down. To which I receive his jerking away from my touch. I still say what I need to say. “Listen, Ethan, I didn’t say he was good or anything. I just meant, I don’t think he means me any harm. I think he’s in pain,” I say quietly. “Emotional pain…and because of it, I, like, think he’s…” Because of my determination not to anger Ethan, I stop talking.
    “He’s what, Honor?”
    “I…like…just think…his heart is breaking, that’s all.”
    Ethan takes a step back, scorn displayed in the contemptuous way he holds his mouth. “You have feelings for him.” The throbbing vein in his neck causes an ice-cold chill to seep up my spine. I knew he wouldn’t understand.
    “No. No, Ethan. That’s not it at all,” I plead, trying to make him understand. “My feelings are not for him. They are his. I feel what he is feeling. That’s all.”
    “Then it’s only a matter of time,” he whispers, then turns and walks out of the cafeteria.
    So much for my first kiss. I guess it didn’t end too well. I drop to the bench, slide my legs under the table and hold my face in my palms…sobbing into my healing hands. Which, ironically, do nothing to heal my own pain.

Chapter Thirteen
     
    The clang of the period bell clashes with the cursing in my head. Mentally kicking myself for letting Ethan in on my feelings about Storm, I let the bell’s indication slip by me.
    “Honor?” Tamlin’s voice is as soft as her hand is on my shoulder. I’m embarrassed to look at her, aware that my face is a wet mess. “Honey, are you okay?”
    Nodding into my own palm of tears, Tamlin hands me a cloth to wipe my tears. I look at it when I take it from her and start cracking up in between sobs. It’s her gym shirt. “You’re crazy.” My half-hearted laugh makes her chuckle.
    Tamlin straddles the bench alongside me. “What is it, honey?”
    She wraps both her arms around me and hugs me. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, because not twenty minutes ago Ethan was hugging me on this same bench. Where we shared our first kiss. Now my best friend is hugging me, because I’m crying over him. “Oh, Tamlin,” I sob into her shoulder, “I messed things up horribly.”
    “Girls.” We glance up at the assistant principal. “You need to get to