Consume (The Devoured Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

not sure I could be anymore blissful than I am right now."
     
    "Is that something you foreigners say? Love?"
     
    "You foreigners?" he scoffed and laughed. "I've been reduced to a foreigner now?"
     
    "You know what I mean."
     
    "Yes, people overseas say 'love' when they talk to people sometimes. It's a nickname or endearment. But for me, it means something else entirely when I say it to you." He looked at me pointedly. He was asking me silently if I was ready to have the 'I love you' conversation.
     
    I wasn't sure if I was ready to have that conversation or not, but I remembered Ariel waiting for me. "Ariel," I said.
     
    He frowned. "Um…oh, yeah." He cleared his throat. "That girl is causing me problems lately."
     
    "I'm, uh… Thank you for last night. It was a really sweet gesture."
     
    He leaned in and whispered against my mouth, "You're welcome, love."
     
    And then I was on my bed. I opened my eyes to find a freaking-out version of Ariel. She was yelling and then pushing buttons on her phone. I sat up and she screamed like she'd seen a ghost. Then Mrs. Ruth burst through the door yelling for Pastor. She stopped and stared at us.
     
    "What in…the world," she said harshly.
     
    "Sorry," Ariel was saying and hung the phone up and grimaced. "I…she wouldn't…I thought that she was…she wouldn't wake up!"
     
    "I'm awake," I said and smiled. "What's going on?" I tried to play off.
     
    "I've been trying to get you up for like five minutes!" she yelled. "I shook you, I said your name. You were barely breathing!"
     
    "Sleep breathing," I justified. "It slows down when you sleep."
     
    "I slapped you in the face! I thought you died!"
     
    I felt it then, like it was waiting for an explanation to make an appearance. It stung and I groaned as I grabbed my angry cheek. "What the…Ariel!"
     
    "I thought you were in a coma! I called 911!"
     
    "Well, I'm ok," I reasoned and looked at Mrs. Ruth. "I'm ok."
     
    "Are you sure?" she asked and eyed me.
     
    "Yep." I winced at my cheek and glowered at Ariel. "Except my cheek frigging hurts. Thanks, friend."
     
    "You're welcome!" she huffed. "You were about to get mouth to mouth as well. That would have been awesome to wake up to."
     
    I burst out laughing at the scene she created with her words. She followed me and Mrs. Ruth shook her head. I'm sure there was even an eye roll as she turned away.
     
    Once our laughing stopped, she looked at me closely. "I really thought something was wrong with you."
     
    "Sorry. I'm a sound sleeper."
     
    "Apparently. Sorry I slapped you, but it was in the interest of saving lives."
     
    "Forgiven," I said and tried not to wince more. "You shower first."
     
    "Alrighty."
     
    She bounced away with a spring in her step and shut the door. I heard her humming behind the door as she turned on the water. My door opened and Mrs. Ruth came in with a cold Pepsi Max can in hand. "Here, honey."
     
    "Thanks." I started to pop the top, but she stopped me.
     
    "Put that on your cheek first, then you can drink it."
     
    "Ooh, yeah," I grumbled. "Thanks."
     
    After she was gone, it was then that I realized, as I pressed the cold can to my pounding cheek, that I was fully rested. We were right. Sleep in the reverie was just as good as the real thing. I smiled.
     
    When Ariel got out of the bathroom, she had a towel wrapped around her midsection and one around her head. She looked so…normal, for lack of a better word. Without the dark makeup and the piercing and the shaved head, she looked like everyone else.
     
    "I have a favor," she said and chewed on her thumbnail.
     
    "Sure. What's up?"
     
    "Um…" She went to her book bag and pulled out her wallet. "It might be vain to keep this on me, but the day I got the salon to cut off all of my hair, I took a picture." She handed it to me. She was standing in front of the mirror, the reflection of the person taking the picture staring back at her from the side. Ariel looked like someone who was