Finding Never Read Online Free PDF Page A

wonder if I should stop dying mine, and drop my hand
to my side.
    “ What
are you doing here?” she asks me as she shoots a glance over at
Ty. Her eyes travel his body, rate him, find something they like and
flick back to my face. “Beth said you called, but I … I
didn't really believe it.”
    “ I'm
on winter break,” I tell her, as if that explains everything. Oh yeah, after five
years I'm just home for break. Like that's gonna fly. I
don't know what else to say and neither does Jade.
    “ Um,
let me get my car,” she says, glancing over her shoulder at a
beat-up old Toyota. “And I'll meet you on the porch?” I
nod and step out of the way, wanting so much to talk to her but not
knowing how. Jade glances over at Ty once more and smiles a
coquettish smile that tells me that I'm in trouble. My whole family
will want him, but not because he's Ty, not because he's a piece of
tortured fucking art, but because he's mine. Oh,
fuck, I think as I
look at Ty, at the man who knows so much about me yet knows nothing
at all. I shouldn't
have brought you, but I'm glad I did. I'm glad you chased me down
and took my face between your beautiful hands.
    “ Are
you okay?” he whispers as Jade starts the car and inches it
past us like we're made of glass. I nod, but I step into his arms
again, let him hold me. He doesn't seem to have any problem doing
that. I wonder how many freebies I'll get before he starts getting
annoyed.
    “ I
am now,” I tell him honestly. “But I have a feeling this
trip is going to kill me.”

7
    Ty
picks up our bags and follows close behind me as we walk down the
rest of the driveway and pause on the porch. Jade is standing there
jingling her keys and biting her lip.
    “ Mom
isn't home,” she says and I cringe involuntarily. Jade sees
this and stops shaking her keys around. Silence descends. “India's
here, I think. Probably Lettie and Lorri. You haven't met Darla or
Maple.” My throat closes up, and I have to take several
soothing breaths to open it back up. Ty's hand in mine doesn't hurt
either.
    “ Who?”
    “ Darla
is … ” Jade doesn't know how to phrase this which is a
bad sign. “Darla is my little sister. Um, our little sister,
I guess. She's only three, but … ” Jade glances over
her shoulder. I can hear the TV blasting and India's perfect voice
shouting. She sounds good even when she yells. She could've been
something with that voice. Her songs could work their way into your
heart and take over you and you'd never even know it. “Um,
Maple is Beth's daughter.” I swallow hard.
    “ Beth
has a daughter?” Jade nods, but she doesn't speak. She's
staring over my head at the glitter of lights in the distance, a
small, sparkling reminder of the town I left behind. “A
husband?” Jade shakes her head no. Of course not. Why did I even
ask? I look over at Ty. He's playing with his lip ring, spinning it
back and forth, sticking his tongue through the hole. My blood
heats, and I have to look away. I'm in a stressful situation, and
I'm thinking about sex. Figures. Or maybe it's just Ty. Maybe it's
just him. I hope so. I touch my fingers to my chip earring and try
to figure out how to ask my next question because I have to
ask it. If I don't, and I see him, I'm done for. “Is –
”
    “ No.”
Jade's response is sharp and rude. Her eyes darken and she turns
around, reaches for the screen door and pulls it open with a creak.
“He left a long time ago.” Her voice softens and I see
that her anger is not for me but for her biological dad, my mother's
fiancee turned second husband, my daddy's killer. “Come in.
I'm sure Lettie and Lorri will be happy to see you.” She
doesn't mention India.
    Ty
and I ascend the steps, and I realize that if he wasn't by my side
that I'd have bolted as soon as I'd seen Jade, run right back to the
bus station and gone home. I would've crawled between the covers in
my dorm room and cried myself to sleep, waiting until I could go out
and find a new guy