Jaden (St. Sebastians Quartet #1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

still hear her crying herself to sleep sometimes. The only bright spot is our parents feel better knowing she's with me. They're at least able to sleep at night. But Bria..."
    "Well bring her," Chris said. "Getting out and doing something social may do her good."
    Nico nodded. "Yeah. Maybe you're right. I keep telling her she needs to get out and meet people in town, but she doesn't want to."
    Chris looked at Kenda. "What about you, baby brother?"
    Kenda inhaled. "I'm outnumbered. What choice do I have?"
    Nico swallowed the last of his beer, got to his feet. "I better go let Bria know. She'll need at least two hours to get herself mentally prepared."
    In a few minutes, Kenda was alone on his deck again. He looked at his watch and saw he had just enough time to shower. After that he'd swing by the bookstore to see when they'd have the new Stephen King book in.
     

CHAPTER THREE
     
    Jaden poured herself a glass of wine and sipped it as she unpacked. Once all of her clothes were stowed she strolled the house, marveling at everything. She went outside and simply took it all in. The pool, the deck, the trail down to the water, and the sound of the ocean. It was perfect.
    It was getting late when she finally thought to check the refrigerator. Aunt Edna had left the previous Saturday. Friday was the soonest Jaden could get here. She'd probably need to go into town for groceries.
    Fifteen minutes later she was walking up Main, trying to figure out which fancy building housed the grocery store. The store fronts were beautifully designed, so everything in town fit perfectly together. But seriously, this place had been designed to within an inch of its life. Everything looked fancy and too high end to be a grocery store. Could she even afford to buy any food? She still had a paycheck coming, and there was a few hundred dollars in the bank from her last paycheck. But after that she'd be broke. She had to figure out a way to make money. Her aunt had left her an American Express card, but Jaden refused to use it. It was enough she was living rent free in her aunt's house for three months, she wouldn't spend her aunt's money on top of that.
    But if she never found the grocery store she'd never have to worry about spending money.
    "You look lost."
    She turned at the sound of the voice, nearly gasped in surprise. "I am a little, I guess," she managed to say. She purposefully tried to make her face look impassive, as though she wasn't looking at the most attractive man she'd ever seen in her life.
    She'd seen plenty of men like this before, but that had been in movies and on television. She'd figured for a man to look that good required a trick of make-up and lighting. But the man before her was no trick of the lights. He was tall and broad, with pale green eyes and the kind of lips she imagined she could spend all night kissing. She'd never seen a man with lips like that before. And what color was his hair? It was light brown with flecks of blond, or dirty blond with flecks of gold?
    "Where are you..." he paused as he was speaking and held up a finger at a group of men who had crossed the street and were waiting for him. "Where are you going?" he said, when he turned back to face her.
    "I just got into town today and the pantries are empty." She giggled, she smiled, a moment later she felt stupid. Why was she giggling? She wasn't twelve, for crying out loud.
    He was staring at her, his head tilted slightly to the side and his gaze so intent on her face that she found herself unable to meet his eyes.
    "Well, you're close," he said. "I'll show you."
    "Oh, you don't have to. I see you're busy." She pointed to the men on the other side of the street.
    He waved them off. "They're not going far." He turned toward the men and gave them a wave, then turned back to Jaden. "It's just a block this way."
    She'd expected small talk, the kind of mindless discussion people make when they don't know each other and are trying to kill time. But when he spoke