Cipher (The Cipher Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

party with the jerk who left me last night?”
    “Summer, I’m so sorry about last night. I should’ve never left like that, and I swear it’ll never happen again.” He brought out his sad puppy-dog look and threw a hand over his heart. “It’s just that I care about you so much , and I get upset when you don’t feel the same way.”
    Summer glared at him. “ That’s the only way you know of to show you care?”
    “You know that’s not what I mean.” Cody reached out and took her hand. “But still, it’s no excuse. I was a jerk. A total asshole. I’m so sorry, and it won’t happen again.” Her first instinct was to pull away. But then his thumb brushed the back of her knuckles—it was always hard to think when he did that. He looked sincere, too, not like when he was only half paying attention, talking to her while playing his videogames. And she knew she wasn’t always the easiest person to get along with. There were dark days when she’d been mean to him for no reason.
    “Please forgive me, baby,” he whispered. “I’ll give you all the time you need. No more pressure, I promise.” He used his grip on her hand to pull her into a hug. All the good memories of their relationship, the ones she’d been reliving all day came back to her. Surely they outweighed last night’s fight? And being in his strong arms again, the smell of his familiar woodsy cologne with just a hint of spice, calmed her. Made her feel wanted. Needed. Loved.
    She put her hand on the side of his face and his blue eyes practically glowed in the dim light. “Okay,” she said. “Let me just change my clothes and we’ll go.” She raised her voice and called out, “Dad, we’re going to the beach.”
    The noise coming from the television muted, and she knew Dad had paused whatever he and Tiffany were watching. “Is your phone charged?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “Don’t forget your mace.”
    “Yeah, those seagulls are aggressive.”
    “Funny, Summer. Hey, Cody…?”
    Cody stood straighter at the mention of his name. “Yes?”
    “You take care of my little girl,” Dad said. “She better not look like she’s been crying when she comes home tonight, like she did last night. We have a two-strike rule in my house.”
    Cody’s eyes widened and he mouthed, “Did you tell your dad?”
    Summer shook her head and kept her voice low. “I didn’t say anything.” Dad had asked if she was okay when she checked in last night. She’d told him that she was just tired, then headed straight to bed. She thought she’d done a good job of acting like everything was okay. Somehow, he’d seen through it.
    “I need to hear that you understand,” Dad’s voice boomed into the room.
    “I understand, sir,” Cody said.
    Summer hurried upstairs to change, leaving Cody there to stew. Nothing wrong with making him squirm for a few minutes after what he’d put her through.
    ***
    Even though Cody promised he wouldn’t leave her stranded again, Summer insisted on driving. Dad had gone over all the safety features when he’d first given her the Civic. He’d gone on and on about the high crash ratings and said something about a body shell designed to withstand an impact. Summer was just glad to have a car, only caring that it got her where she wanted to go, looked nice, and had a good stereo.
    As they headed to the beach, Cody talked about football practice and the game this next weekend, like nothing had changed. He kept leaning over and placing kisses on her cheek, too, telling her that she was pretty. Even though she’d told him that she forgave him—and she did—it was like a dark cloud was hanging over their relationship now. Even though she wanted to get over yesterday’s fight, she wasn’t sure she could just forget about it this time.
    You know better than anyone that people make mistakes. She hoped that forgiving other people for their mistakes would help scrub away her past—she needed to know that a person could be forgiven, no