Breathless Read Online Free PDF Page B

sleep would come fast, but I couldn’t stop replaying the fight in my head. My shoulders heaved; sobs escaped my trembling lips. I hadn’t realized how cold the room suddenly felt, and I tucked the quilt tight under my chin. It wasn’t long before I felt my eyelids started to droop. I was thankful, and soon, gave in to the heavy weight pulling them down.
     
    Though I slept soundly, my slumber was anything but peaceful. After nights of dreamless sleep, the abstract visions that had clouded my mind for weeks returned more vivid than ever. Still, I couldn’t put my finger on the exact details when I awoke the next morning. There was just one thing I knew for sure. He was there. In the shadows…watching. I could see the glow of his pale skin and feel the heat of his bright eyes. He had always been there, in the background of my dream. I wondered what it all meant. How could he have been at the center of my dream all this time when we had never met before this week?
     
    I was in a rush to get out of the house this morning; I didn’t want to face my mom. Clearly, she had the same thought. She was nowhere to be seen, but there was a note on the table next to the box of cereal.
     
    Lia,
     
    Tell Addie or her driver or whomever is coming to get you after work that you won’t need a ride home. I will be there precisely at noon to pick you up.
     
    Mom
     
    “ Ugh,” I muttered under my breath. She was taking this grounding thing seriously. I’d hoped it would blow over, but that was wishful thinking. I’d never actually seen my mom that mad before. Then again, I’d never let her down like that before either.
     
    I hurried through the motions of my morning routine, trying not to wake my mother. The last thing I wanted to do was stare her in the face. She’d had every right to be upset with me. I just wish she had taken into consideration all my good points. Where was my scale of justice? Shouldn’t I get off with a warning?
     
    It hadn’t always been this way. My mom and I used to get along great. She and I would spend every waking moment together. Shopping, hiking, spa days, and study sessions were all part of our regular routine, until she started seeing Brad.
     
    It was about three years after my dad died, and my mom’s friend Allison decided it was time for her to get back into the dating game. My mom seemed happy enough to go along with Allison’s plan, but I wasn’t at all happy about it. Allison’s husband was a partner in a law firm at a fancy practice in the city. They set my mom up with one of the other lawyers. At first, Brad really did seem like a good guy. He always brought me a gift, some sort of trinket usually. And, he treated my mom pretty good. Still, I gave them a hard time. I would pretend to be sick so the sitter would have to call my mom home from a dinner date. Once, I threw a horrible temper tantrum and smashed an antique vase from my great grandmother. I still felt badly about that some days.
     
    After a while, Brad started to show his true colors. I could tell that something wasn’t quite right, but my mom couldn’t see it. He started showing up unexpectedly at unusual times. It was only when he started acting really strange that my mom finally picked up on it. Once, when she and I were dress shopping for junior prom, he appeared in the bridal salon window. He didn’t come in; he just watched for a few minutes and then left. A week later, my mom was out for dinner with friends when he sat down at a table across from her. He watched her eat, waited for her to leave, and then followed her home. She tried to break up with him, but he wouldn’t leave her alone. Finally, she had to get a restraining order. Allison and her husband had been on vacation for three weeks, but when they returned, they had major news. It turned out Brad had been caught in a lie at the firm. He had been let go from his last job because they thought he was stealing from the company. He was using the same sneaky