Rebel Heart Read Online Free PDF

regardless of how much it plagued him.
    Still. The heart wanted what the heart wanted.
    Stella would rationalize all these negatives with positives. She would tell herself, and Mel, and her father, and whoever else would ask, that Kade had made great strides to change. That he had dropped many of his toxic habits and behaviors—the same ones that had been so embedded in his life prior to her.
    But no one ever seemed entirely convinced.
    It didn’t matter though. On the first Tuesday of that summer, a month into Kade and Stella’s makeshift relationship and a week before a plane would bring four wounded Marines and one deceased one home to Falls Creek, Kade told Stella he was taking her on an adventure. He didn’t tell her where, but his instructions on what she should wear left very little to the imagination.
    At 8 A.M sharp that morning, Stella, clad in a plain black bikini and a pair of ratty shorts, sat on the wooden steps of her front porch and braided her hair into plaits as she listened for the sound of Kade’s Bonneville. Her heart swelled when she saw him approaching between the trees. She chewed on her bottom lip and exhaled a deep breath, pulling herself clumsily to her feet.
    Gravel and dirt flew around Kade as he pulled to a stop in front of Stella. She climbed onto the leather seat behind him and pulled up her legs, wrapping her slender arms around his muscular center.
    It wasn’t a particularly well-planned adventure, but Stella couldn’t blame him for it. In fact, she was grateful. Had it been planned ahead of time, it wouldn’t have been as exciting.
    The heavy rains that had come with the spring had caused the creek to turn into a messy, unswimmable torrent. Children splashed in the mud along the edges at the displeasure of their parents, daring each other to venture in further. Stella and Kade sat on the dock and dragged their bare feet over the surface of the murky water.
    A woman with dark skin and long curly hair called out to them from a few feet away.
    “Not to be creepy but you two are the cutest couple we’ve ever seen!”
    She nudged her husband, a hunched over bald man with a kind face. He looked away from his children who were playing near the water and nodded, smiling in agreement. Stella blushed and thanked them, leaning in closer to elbow Kade.
    “We are pretty cute together.”
    Kade laughed.
    Words seemed trivial. Pointless even.
    The sun warmed their faces as a calm settled over them. Stella reached up to push her sunglasses further up her nose but they fell into the water. Out of instinct, she pulled herself to her knees and reached out to grab them, but a heavy wind knocked her forward and sent her catapulting into the water. A loud shriek escaped her throat. Kade tried not to laugh as he helped her back onto the dock.
    “It’s not funny!”
    Stella pouted, squeezing muddy water from her hair. Her mascara began to run and she kicked herself for even wearing it at all.
    So much for being waterproof.
    “Here.”
    Kade reached out and pulled Stella’s muddy form against his own, wiping at the smears on her pink cheeks. She was completely embarrassed but she smiled at the gesture and began to relax against him.
    Tired of being bitten up by mosquitoes, Stella allowed Kade to pull her away from the water and down a winding trail through a patch of trees. He swatted at insects and spider webs, making sure to avoid poisonous plants, which Stella knew by name. Kade lit a smoke.
    “How do you know all of this?” he questioned.
    Stella shrugged.
    “I was a girl scout.”
    Kade snickered. Finally, they stumbled upon the place he was looking for—a dilapidated cabin in the center of the forest. He stepped towards it and took a set on the bottom step, stretching his legs and waving a hand behind himself.
    “It ain’t much, but its home.”
    “Was anyway.”
    Stella sat down beside him.
    “You used to live here?”
    Kade nodded. He explained that the cabin wasn’t really a cabin,