Light Unshaken (Unveiled #2) Read Online Free PDF

make your head dizzy.”
    “Psh, you wish.”
    Laughter seeped out before I could stop it. I missed our teasing.
    “Thanks, by the way, for driving me.” I snuck a ten-dollar bill into the cup holder.
    A burst in acceleration sent the back of my head colliding with the headrest. A. J. eased his foot off the gas pedal, but an edge clung to his voice. “What’s that?”
    “Gas money.”
    “No way.” He yanked the bill from the cup holder and tossed it in my lap. “You can barely afford your rent.”
    “Portland isn’t exactly a drive around the block. I don’t want to take advantage of your generosity.” Couldn’t he at least glance in my direction to see my sincerity?
    “It’s no big deal. Don’t worry about it.” He wrenched the gearshift into the wrong slot, his voice gruffer than the confused engine.
    Two could play the stubborn game. I wadded the money into a ball and flicked it at his face. “I’m not taking it back.”
    Huffing under his breath, he swerved as he fumbled around the floorboard in search of the bill.
    The beginning of an impish smile crept up the side of his cheek a minute later. “I’ll tell you what. You beat me at basketball, and I’ll let you pay me for the gas.”
    “You’re really that sure of yourself, aren’t you?”
    A. J. slid his sunglasses down his nose and stared at me as if I’d asked a no-brainer. “I’ll even give you a ten point lead.”
    “Wow, I’m glad to see that head of yours hasn’t gotten any smaller this summer. It might’ve really thrown you off balance.”
    For one brief, candid moment, A. J. laughed with me, and things almost felt like they had always been.
    Almost.
    An unexplained sense of gravity returned to his voice. “Just consider the gas a donation to the center. What you’re doing there is really great.”
    I twisted my seatbelt. “Sometimes I wonder about that. I’m glad to help Trey out with the business part, but I feel like it’s not enough. Like I could be doing more for them.”
    “I doubt he sees it that way.”
    Picturing Trey’s contagious smile made it hard to disagree. “He has a special way of looking at most things.” One of the reasons I admired him so much. And the same reason he could drive me crazy.
    “He’s been talking about offering weekend classes to the community. Wants me to teach on finance. I’ve been piecing together some lesson plans from my coursework, but I’m really nervous. Tutoring the kids isn’t the same as teaching a real class, especially for people who have so much more life experience than me.”
    When I finally stopped to take a breath, I had trouble finding one. A. J. used to be so easy to talk to. It was hard to remember we weren’t as close now. I let go of my seatbelt and tucked my hands under my legs. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to unload on you.”
    He lifted the bill of his hat to scratch his forehead, tugged it back down, and exhaled. “Don’t underestimate yourself, Emma.” Without turning to face me, he placed the crumpled-up ten-dollar bill in my hand. “The center’s lucky to have you.”
    Same as they’d be lucky to have him if he’d consider the coaching job. I leaned into my door panel and stared at the exit signs passing my window. It wouldn’t be fair of me to ask him.
    An uncomfortable silence returned, but maybe that was the way it was supposed to be.
    He pulled up across from the building where I’d been interning all summer. “You want me to walk you to the door?” he asked without shifting his focus from the windshield.
    I followed his line of sight to a cluster of guys on the street corner. Shrugging off his concern, I climbed out of the car. “The door’s only like twenty feet away. Think I’ll be fine.”
    “Don’t be so gullible you forget where you are.”
    A city bus turned off a side street and chugged past us. I lifted my shirt over my nose. A trail of exhaust rustled the plastic bag wedged inside an overflowing trashcan a few stops ahead.
    So,