Juliet Immortal Read Online Free PDF Page A

and full lips that would make any woman jealous. If it weren’t for the imperfection of his nose—which veers slightly to the left, as if it’s been broken and reset poorly—he would be breathtaking.
    Would be?
    All right. He
is
breathtaking. I stare at him and can’t seem to look away, but it’s not because he’s beautiful. It’s something more, something in his eyes, a spark so familiar it’s almost as if … as if I
know
him.
    “You don’t have to be scared,” he says, and I shiver because I would
swear
I’ve heard him say the same thing before.
Swear it
, though I know it’s impossible. “You hear me?”
    “I hear you.” I swallow, pushing the strange feeling away. He’s familiar because he looks like the boys I grew upwith—olive skin, sparkling eyes, and lips sculptors would swoon over. This is just a nasty case of déjà vu. Nothing more. “I’m not scared. I wasn’t scared before.”
    “Then why were you running?”
    “I told you.” I lift one shoulder and let it drop. “It was a bad date.”
    “He smashed his hand
through a window
,” the boy says. “That’s not a bad date, that’s—”
    “Please, I’ll pay for the window, I just—”
    “I don’t care about the window!” he says, slamming his palm on the steering wheel. “I care about you!”
    “You don’t even
know
me!” My voice hits a sharp note that rings in the silence that follows.
    The boy’s jaw clenches, making a muscle there twitch. I fight the urge to still it with a finger to his cheek, ignoring the crazy feeling that I’ve done the same thing before, the certainty that I already know how scratchy-soft his skin will feel.
    This is ridiculous. I don’t have time to be distracted by this … 
boy
.
    “You’re right,” I say, determined to put an end to the conversation. “Dylan is crazy, and at
that
moment, he might have hurt me.”
And you
. “You helped me out. A lot.”
    He pulls to a stop at the last intersection in town, waiting for the red light to turn green, scowling at the empty road ahead.
    “I just don’t
need
to go to the hospital, and I don’t
want
to go to the police. It has nothing to do with being afraid of anybody. I just … don’t like police stations.”
    “Why? You got a criminal record or something?” he asks.
    I barely resist the urge to roll my eyes. “Yes. I’m a carjacker. Give me all your money and I’ll consider sparing your life.”
    A surprised burst of laughter fills the car. The boy smiles, revealing crooked teeth that match his nose, making a crooked kind of sense on his face. “Then this really isn’t your lucky night,
chica
. I just spent my last ten bucks on gas.” I’m aware of an ache in my jaw, but it takes a moment to realize it’s inspired by my own smile. “All I’ve got is a coupon for a car wash and half a bottle of Mountain Dew that’s been in the backseat a few days.”
    “Well,” I say, keeping my tone light. “I
am
thirsty.…”
    “I already drank out of the bottle. It has my germs.”
    “Wouldn’t want to catch those.” I smile again, hoping we’ve left the subject of the police behind as he pulls through the intersection. “Guess I’ll have to settle for a ride home.” I take a moment to visualize the exact location of Ariel’s house in my mind. “I live in Solvang, behind the Natural Foods. On El Camino.”
    “The road named after a road.”
    “You know where it is?”
    “Yeah. I know. And I’ll take you there, even though you know where
I
think you should go.”
    “I do. I … Thanks.”
    “You’re welcome.” He accelerates past a line of antebellum houses with lights burning on cozy porches, driving in a silence that gets more comfortable as we leave Los Olivos behind. “That store by your house has really good
pan
.”
    “Really?”
    “Yeah. I’ll bring you some next time I go,” he says. “I only moved in with my brother a few days ago, but my sister-in-law already sent me to that store twice. The