Read Online Touching Smoke by Airicka Phoenix - Free Book Online Page A

slammed shut behind Mom. There were so many things I wanted to ask him, but I had no idea where to begin, and I was running out of time.
    “I’ll find you,” he murmured as if feeling my panic. “I’ll never be far behind.”
    It almost sounded like a threat, and I knew I should have been afraid, but I wasn’t. There was something almost reassuring about his promise.
    “Fallon!”
    With a last glance at him, I slipped into my seat, tucking the paper bag by my feet and reaching for the door handle. It made a deafening bang when I closed it.
    Isaiah was still sitting there when we pulled out of the parking lot and shot down the road.
    “Who is he?” I asked as Mom broke every speed limit getting away from the man on the motorcycle. “And what were you guys talking about?”
    “It’s complicated.”
    “Complicated?” I repeated, the word coming out high-pitched and ringing with disbelief. “How complicated could it be?”
    “Very!” she retorted, slanting me a quick, sharp glance.
    “Well, if it has to do with me and Dad… I have the right to know!”
    “It’s really not as easy as that, Fallon.”
    “Just tell me!”
    Silence was my only answer. Miles-and-miles of open road rushed past us without a single word spoken. The only sound emanating around us was the crunch of asphalt beneath the tires, the wind whipping against the windshield and the occasional squeak of leather when I shifted in my seat. Otherwise, it was a very tense drive to wherever we were going.
    We didn’t stop driving that night. Mom must have been in a real hurry to get as far away from Isaiah and everything that had happened as possible because by the time she pulled into the parking lot of a motel, we were in Thunder Bay, Ontario — one whole province away.
    “We’ll leave first thing in the morning,” she said once we were inside with our things.
    “Tell me what’s going on,” I said in return.
    She shook her head, ambling almost zombie-like to the bed and stripping the sheets. “It’s late. I’ve had a long drive.”
    I wasn’t about to let it go that easily. “It wouldn’t have been so long if you had talked to me! Why won’t you just tell me—?”
     “Because you’re not ready!” she exclaimed, balling the sheets and blankets and pitching them across the room. They hit the matchbox-sized TV and flopped to the floor.
    “Not ready?” I stormed up to her. “How can you know that when you haven’t even tried?”
    “I know that because… I just do!”
    My laugh came out cold. “You can’t pull that. It’s not fair and you know it. This is my life and you have no right to keep things from me!”
    “I’m your mother and I can keep anything I want from you if it means keeping you safe!”
    “Well, maybe I don’t want to be safe anymore!”
    “Well, that’s too bad because I will always keep you safe! I will always be there to make sure you’re protected!”
    I threw my hands up in the air in frustration. “I don’t want to be protected! I want the truth and if you won’t give me that then…” I knew I didn’t have to finish for her to understand I would go to Isaiah for answers if I had to.
    “You can’t trust him, Fallon,” she whispered, desperation bright in her eyes. “You don’t understand.”
    “No, I don’t know him, but at least he’s willing to be honest with me.”
    The hurt on her face was painful to witness, but it was the only way to get through to her. “I have always been honest with you,” she whispered, the words soft and ringing with sadness.
    “Except when you hide things from me,” I pointed out.
    She sighed, rubbing her hands over her face. “It’s not that easy, baby girl. There are so many things you don’t understand and I don’t know how to make you understand without you hating me.”
    The anger seemed to fade inside me; I could almost feel it washing away. “I could never hate you, Mom. You’re my best friend.”
    Tears glistened in her eyes as she