Spellbound Read Online Free PDF Page B

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    Compassion crossed her face, and she reached across the table to touch my hand. “I know,” she said softly. “But I also know you really loved him. How do you feel about him now?”
    I still love him, I thought. I am filled with rage and hatred toward him. He said he loved me, he said I was beautiful, he said he wanted to make love to me. He hurt me more than I can say. I miss him, and I hate myself for being so weak.
    “I don’t know,” I finally said.
     
    As I was opening my car door in the parking lot, out of the corner of my eye I saw a guy come out of the video store next door to the coffee place. I glanced up, and my heart stopped beating. He was looking down at a piece of paper in his hand, but I didn’t need to see his face. I’d run my fingers through that raggedly shorn dark hair. . . . I’d kissed that wide, smooth chest. . . . I’d stared so many times at those long, powerful legs in their faded blue jeans. . . .
    Then he looked up, and I saw that it wasn’t Cal after all. It was a guy I’d never seen before, with pale blue eyes and bad skin. I stood there, stunned in the bright sunlight, while he gave me a funny look, then walked to his car and got in.
    It felt like a full minute before my heartbeat returned to normal. I climbed into Das Boot and drove home. But the whole way, I couldn’t help checking my rearview mirror to see if anyone was behind me.
     
    Later that day the phone rang. I raced to answer it, knowing it was Hunter.
    “Can I come over?” he asked when I picked up the receiver.
    When I’d gotten back from seeing Bree, Mom, Dad, and my sister were already home from church. I felt guilty about not having gone with them, so since then I had been trying to do good-daughter-type stuff around the house—shoveling the front walk, picking up my crap from the living room, unloading the dishwasher. Having Hunter over would kind of wreck my attempts at scoring points with my family.
    “Yes,” I said quickly. My heart kicked up a beat in response to his voice. “How will you get here?”
    Silence. I almost laughed as I realized he hadn’t thought about that.
    “I’ll borrow Sky’s car,” he said finally.
    “Do you want me to come get you?” I asked.
    “No. Are your parents there? Can we talk alone?”
    “Yes, my parents are here, and we can talk alone if you want to stand out on the front porch with my whole family inside wondering what we’re talking about.”
    He sounded irked. “Why can’t we just go to your room?”
    What planet did he come from? “I’m sorry, Your Highness, but I don’t live by myself,” I said. “I’m seventeen, not nineteen, and I live with my parents. And my parents don’t think it’s a good idea for boys to be in my room, because there’s a bed in there!” Then of course the image of Hunter on my bed made my cheeks burn, and I was sorry I had ever opened my big mouth. What was wrong with me?
    “Oh, right. Sorry—I forgot,” he said. “But I need to speak to you alone. Can you meet me at the little public park that’s by that big grocery store on Route 11?”
    I thought. “Yes. Ten minutes.”
    He hung up without saying good-bye.

    When I got there, Hunter was standing by Sky’s car, waiting for me. He opened Das Boot’s door and climbed into the front seat. He was in a tense, angry mood, and the funny thing was, I picked up on that just from waves of sensory stuff I got from him, not from the look on his face or his body language. It was as if he was projecting those feelings and I could just sense them. My witch powers were developing every day, and it was wonderful and a bit scary at the same time.
    I waited for him to speak, looking out the windshield, catching the faintest hint of his clean, fresh smell.
    “I talked to Bob Unser this morning,” he said. “There wasn’t any brake fluid in the car, but more than that, the actual brake lines had been severed, right by the fluid reservoir.”
    I turned to stare at him.