Read Online Unstoppable: Truth is Unstoppable (Truth and Love Series) by Bethany Hensel - Free Book Online Page A

realize what the hay is for. Like some rodent’s cage , it's my bedding and my bathroom . The thought makes me jerk up and wipe at my face more and more and more and harder and harder and harder until my skin cracks and my face bleeds and I tear myself to pieces .

 
     
    DEREK
     
    Internet curfew is three in the morning. And when I can no longer look up every article and post, comment, and mention on The Corps I can find (which, unfortunately, isn’t a lot), I pull up a blank word document and start typing. I begin with the moment I finished my test to the moment I hugged Dad goodnight just a few hours ago. And then I read it, over and over, as if I magically wrote down something I hadn’t known before. I read it over and over, until I finally fall asleep at the keys.

 
     
    VICTORIA
     
    Daybreak. Heartbreak.
    Jace comes in with a woman with brown hair. He nods at me, then leaves. The woman extends a black dress to me. It's the brightest, boldest color in this tear-stained room.
    And she says: Get dressed .
    And she tells me: We need to be in the car by ten .
    And she tells me: The funeral starts at eleven .
    And the heat and the smells and the dirt all go away.
    Nothing matters after that.

 
     
    DEREK
     
    Funerals have, for the most part, remained the same in the last thirty years. The biggest difference now is that everyone is cremated. It was deemed too hazardous to the world for a coffin and all its metals and brass to be buried. Government agreed. So now it's cremation.
    The funeral is at William’s house. I’ve never been there before. I plug the address into Dad's GPS and we all ride over together. Mom gets incredibly car sick, so she lies in back with a damp cloth over her eyes. I sit in the passenger seat, only half-listening to Dad as he talks about baseball. Apparently the Pirates are in their eighteenth straight winning season.
    No, as we pass miles and miles of trees and green, I can only think of one thing.
    Victoria.
     
    <><><>
     
    “Here by yourself?”
    She’s gorgeous. The eyes, the lips, the nose, the hair. The sum of the parts is breathtaking, to be sure, but each part is its own thing of beauty. I’m still trying to formulate a reply when she sits down on the couch beside me. Just like that, the party around us fades away, the music and laughter and talking all seems to hush. It’s like a camera zoomed in on us, and everything else is darkness.
    “My name’s Victoria.”
    I nod. She raises an eyebrow and that’s when I suddenly, mortifyingly realize she’s waiting for me to answer back.
    “Derek. Derek Archer.”
    “Well, Derek Derek Archer, are you here by yourself?”
    I lick my dry lips, my mind racing to find the coolest answer to the simplest yes or no question. It’s suddenly imperative that I impress this girl. It’s all I want to do, and I have a feeling, it will be all I’ll ever want to do.
    “No,” I finally say. “I’m here with a friend…who’s, uh, around…somewhere.” I chuckle, though it sounds more like a wheezy, dying sigh. I clear my throat. “How about you? Are you here by yourself?”
    “My friends left me for a beer run. I’m here by my lonesome, which is why I came up to you.”
    “Oh?” Smooth.
    “Yeah. To be honest, I saw you the minute you walked in."
    "Oh?" Jesus. Kill me.
    "Mmm-hmm. I took one look at you and knew I wanted your attention.”
    "Oh—uh," I clear my throat. "Why’s that?”
    Her grin is small, but her expression is pure confidence. “Because I knew it would delight me.”
    I feel like I’m suddenly freefalling, like the couch beneath me just disappeared. It’s baffling and bewildering and exhilarating as hell.
    “You’re very direct,” I say.
    “I go after what I want.”
    “Do you always get it?”
    “No one’s turned me down yet.”
    “You know,” I say, taking in the loveliness, the focus, the pure fierceness of her features, “a part of me thinks no one ever will.”
    “I feel the same way.” And she