Unbreakable Rules (Too Many Rules Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

meet you," she said as she stuck her hand out. Something was wrong. My alarms were on the verge of going off. She'd pointed it to the other side of Ryan. It wasn't that dark in here. I looked at her and for the first time realized her eyes were different. They weren't focused and seem to stare off into the distance.
    She was blind. Why hadn't Ryan warned me?
    A warm wash of shame passed through me. What was I supposed to do? "Um, Hi," I answered.
    Amanda immediately shifted to place her hand in front of me. I grasped it. As we shook, I glanced at Ryan, giving him my stink eye for not warning me. He didn't react. I swear the man was as observant as a telephone pole.
     

Chapter Four
Ryan
    Keep it cool, Ryan, I kept muttering to myself, being sure she didn't hear. My heart hadn't beat normally since she'd answered the door at her grandmother's. Every time she looked away, I wiped my hands on my pants trying to get my palms dry. Something that was turning out to be impossible.
    Now, while shaking Amada's hand, she shot me a look like she was pissed or something. What'd I do, now? See, this is why I avoided people. They were all screwed up.
    "I'll be right back," I told them before heading to the back yard.
    I had to get out of there for a moment. Get my head back on straight. Besides, there was something I wanted to check. I'd seen it over at Mrs. Thompson's, but I wanted to confirm it.
    I slid the glass back door open and stepped onto the deck. My stomach turned over. The valley was dark. The town of Port Wilson was darker than black asphalt. Something had taken out both the town and our neighborhood three or four miles apart. This wasn't some drunk hitting a transformer.
    I shuffled to the side of the deck and looked around the corner up to the top of Mount Spelling. I should have seen three tall towers with red blinking aircraft warning lights. Nothing. It was as if the night had swallowed them up. I shuddered thinking about being up in a plane on a night like this.
    Glancing back to the town I was able to relax a little. Two small white lights were slowly making their way through where I knew the town stood. Those headlights along with my working phone let me know that it hadn't been some Nuclear EMP bomb that had taken out all the electronics.
    I laughed at myself. That was the nerd in me, immediately jumping to the worst case scenario. No, this was just the power grid and all the emergency generators that the world had counted on to keep things going.
    No way should they have all gone out at the same time. It didn't make sense. My stomach clenched and a slow chill ran down my back.
    "What is it?" Hailey asked as she stepped out onto the deck. She held my flashlight. I had a feeling I couldn't have gotten it away from her if I tried.
    "The town's out also," I said.
    Her eyebrows narrowed as she looked out over the valley. I studied her while she studied the blackness. The faint glow from the flashlight cast her in a magical, soft embrace that emphasized each and every outstanding feature. Her pert little nose, high cheekbones, and soft cascading hair pulled at my insides. I wanted to touch, to caress.
    Man, I had it bad. Whose idea was it to invite her over? Yours, you pathetic idiot.
    "I think Seattle is out also," Hailey said, her eyes scrunching up as she peered into the darkness.
    "Why?"
    "There's usually a slight yellow glow to the west, especially when we have low clouds like this. I don't see anything."
    She was right, my breath hitched. If Seattle was without power, then there was no telling when it would come back on. My fingers itched to get back to work. I couldn't afford to be late, too much depended on me finishing this job. I might have to skip school tomorrow so I could finish. Hell, if there was no power the school would be shut down. Neat, a snow day without snow.
    We stood next to each other looking into the night. Civilization seemed to have disappeared. That thin line that separated us from nature had