Read Online TORCH by Yvonne Collins, Sandy Rideout - Free Book Online Page B

mutual. I just turned the heat on in the Jeep to offset the cold front Kai’s creating.
    When we get to his beat up Cavalier, Kai opens the trunk and pulls out a stack of clothes. I keep the headlights on, but try not to watch as he towels himself down. Then he walks around to the dark side of the car to get dressed, coming back a minute later wearing jeans, another white T-shirt and dry sneakers. Pulling on a jacket, he slides behind the wheel of his car and signals me to follow.
    Leaning out the window, he calls, “Cut your lights in about a quarter of a mile. Unless you want to stop and say hi to your dad.”
     

     
    Kai drives about 10 miles outside of Rosewood before finally signaling and turning into the parking lot of a truck stop called Arnie’s. He parks around the side, and I pull in beside him and get out.
    “Not too close,” he says. His forehead is beading up with water, and he swipes at it with his sleeve.
    Clutching my coat hoodie a little closer, I follow him into Arnie’s and take a seat in the darkened corner Kai points out. He goes to the counter to order, and then joins me. After sliding a cup of coffee across the table to me, he opens a can of soda and pours it into a tall glass of ice cubes.
    “Got enough ice there?” I ask.
    “Hopefully enough to get through this,” he says. Taking an ice cube from the glass, he sets it on the table and pushes it toward me with his fingertips. By the time it reaches my hand, it’s just a tiny chip in a pool of water.
    Clutching my coffee, I stare at the little puddle and shiver. “I don’t get it.”
    “That’s why we’re here.” I look up at him and he shoves a menu into my hand. “Look at that, instead.”
    “What are you?” I ask, risking another glance and finding him patting his face with serviettes.
    “I thought your first question would be about what you are.”
    I take a sip of black coffee and find it’s already lukewarm. “What do you mean?”
    “To save myself the embarrassment of floating out of here,” he says, “I’ll make this fast:  you’re a Torch.”
    “A Torch?” I flick my eyes up at him for a second. “Meaning?”
    “Meaning you start fires,” he says, meeting my eyes briefly. “And I put fires out.”
    I stare at the menu, seeing nothing as my mind races. Finally I say, “I’ve never deliberately started a fire.”
    “How about what happened with Bianca? Her cigarette lighting? Her purse burning?”
    “I don’t know how that happened.”
    “It happened,” he says, “because you got pissed off at Eastville’s biggest bitch. Don’t pretend you weren’t behind those fires: I saw you smile."
    I pause, knowing that if I acknowledge this, I have to accept that the Phoenix I used to be is gone, and that this strange new world of fire and water is real. “If I did, it wasn’t intentional. It just... happened.”
    “Like I said, it happened because you were furious.”
    “I was mad,” I admit.
    “And when you’re mad, you spark.”
    I can’t take all this in, so I focus on the easier part. “She said my dad’s a drunk.”
    “I heard,” he says. “She also said he’s a suspect in the recent arsons. That part is true.”
    “It’s not him,” I say, pushing my chair away from the table.
    Kai puts his elbows on the table. “I think it is. And I think he’s trying to kill my dad.”
    I stare directly at him. “Excuse me? My dad wouldn’t kill anyone.”
    Kai pulls his elbows off the table quickly and water starts running down his face. “How well do you know your father?” he asks.
    “I know my father. He’s won all kinds of awards for saving lives.”
    “But he never told you that you’re a Torch?”
    “He doesn’t know that I—” I stop short of saying the words aloud. “At least, I don’t think he does.”
    “So he left you to figure out something completely life-altering on your own.”
    Apparently so, but blood is still thicker than water. “That doesn’t mean he’s a