Hypnotized Read Online Free PDF Page A

his palm caressed my cheek.
    “You’re so cute. Breakfast it is.” He dropped his hand back to his side. I missed the feel of him.
    “Why don’t you meet me here…with your bike?”
    He smirked and pointed a finger at me. “You’re trouble. Let’s go. I believe you have someone you’re meeting for dinner.”
    I was trouble? Me? Wasn’t he the one everyone told me was trouble?
    * * *
    So far, dinner was going well with Evan. He’d yet to ask me why I’d acted so odd on the phone. He was busy talking about Pete this and Pete that. Apparently, I was the only one who thought the guy was scum. Part of me was worried about Evan and what road he might go down if he continued to hang out with the guy, but then the other part of me knew Evan and the way he was raised. Surely he had enough sense to make choices on his own.
    Evan was beginning to party a lot and loved to remind me that he was young and supposed to be. This was his time in life. He was free, and in a few years he’d have to grow up.
    “Have you set a date to move in?” he asked as he took a sip from his Coke.
    With the thought of possibly dating Gabe, I was ready to rent a U-Haul now. “I’m leaning toward soon.”
    “I can’t wait.”
    “Why? It’s not like we’ll be neighbors anymore. We won’t have windows facing each other to talk.”
    He wiped his mouth with the white napkin. “I miss you.”
    “I do believe you keep saying this is your time. Maybe you need to cut the cord from me,” I joked.
    “I don’t want to.” He stared hard at me.
    Should I be freaked out? No, this was Evan. He’d never shown any interest in me before. Maybe he just felt the need to have someone he’d known his whole life close. I could understand that.
    Taking a deep breath, I decided to see what he knew about Gabe before I got in too deep with him. “So why is that Gabe guy so bad?”
    “You want to talk about him?” He was irritated.
    “I might run into him again.” Like tomorrow morning when we had breakfast together.
    “Apparently, he likes innocent girls.”
    Had I heard him right? “He what?”
    Evan cleared his throat. “You know, girls who are still intact.”
    Was Evan talking about virgins? “How can he tell if a girl is ‘intact’ or not?”
    Evan shrugged. “Pete says he’s got an eye for them. Guess they were both interested in a girl at the same time or something. Gabe won. Supposedly, he likes to be the girl’s first, then leaves after making her feel like she’s his everything. He went out with Pete’s sister, Kelly, too.”
    “I don’t know…”
    “I’ve seen the way he looked at you. Stay away from him. You deserve to lose it to someone who loves you.” Evan set his fork down a little too hard.
    What was going on with him? “Can we talk about something else?”
    I never should’ve brought up Gabe, but it was hard. He was all I could think about, and I hadn’t even known him that long.

 
     

     
    “Where’d you go?” Mom asked as I collected my things up from the coffee shop after returning from Paisley’s.
    “Out. A friend’s moving in, so I went to see her new place with her.”
    “A girl, huh?” She raised an eyebrow.
    “I gotta get to work. We’ll catch up soon.” Or not.
    Sure, I hung out here a lot, but my parents weren’t here often. They let other people do all the work while they hopped beds with other people.
    Putting on my backpack, I walked out of the coffee shop without saying ‘bye. The scent of someone smoking assaulted me. Damn, I wanted a cigarette, but I’d quit, even though I had to constantly remind myself. It didn’t help much. I wanted to feel the smoke entering my lungs and let it out in slow, long breaths.
    Damn it. Climbing on my motorcycle, I fired it up, and rode toward work. It was just outside the downtown area of Athens, off a back road.
    As I sat in the traffic, waiting on the light, I realized I was right outside Paisley’s apartment. What was it about the blonde beauty