Read Burn (Brothers of Ink and Steel #2) for Free Online Page A

continues to drive home his point. “Use it or lose it.”
    “I don’t have anything that the other artists can’t handle.” I could use a night out with a pretty face.
    “Hell, I’m in,” Talon says as we walk out of the locker room.
    We take the stairs to the back door. “Whose car are we taking?” Ryder asks. “I only have my bike.”
    Talon laughs. “It’s the frigging arctic out there, man! How the hell do you ride that thing in the middle of February?”
    I try not to visibly shiver as we step out into the below zero temps, but it’s a useless effort. I love the changing seasons, but sometimes I think we must be fucking morons, living up in Minnesota where it’s freezing half the year. If we weren’t all so dedicated to Cade—and each other—we probably would have escaped a long time ago.
    “We can take mine,” I offer, reaching into my jacket pocket. “Fuck me!”
    “What’s wrong?”
    “I left my car keys in Cade’s office. Be right back.” I turn and jog back through the door.
    I plow up the steel grid stairs two at a time, and then take long strides through the hallway. Cade will be with the kids on the mats doing hand-to-hand combat class, so I just let myself in.
    Every muscle in my body seizes and locks.
    My boots hold me, frozen against the carpeted floor. I feel my jaw unhinge as my blood stops its flow through my veins. Maybe I died and this is what it feels like? Maybe it’s an out of body experience? Maybe I’m still in bed dreaming, and that fucking song is still playing?
    I close my eyes and shake my head to rid myself of the hallucination. But when I open them again, nothing has changed. In my peripheral I watch Cade’s eyes drop to his shoes before he takes a step back.
    “Quinn?” It comes out hoarse and strangled.
    This can’t be right.
    But it’s her! It’s Quinn!!
    She wears an elegant, brown cloth coat that hugs her hips, black knee-high riding-style boots with low heels and matching black leather gloves. Her hair is so long; the golden curls flow to the middle of her back. She’s no longer a pretty teenage girl of sixteen.
    She’s a woman. A seizingly beautiful woman.
    Could she really be twenty-six years old? Somehow she had stayed frozen in my memory the way she was when she left.
    Her sky blue eyes lock with mine.
    “Liam …”
    At the sound of her voice, the dagger that’s been plunged through my heart twists …
    Again.

 
    Chapter Three
     
    September, 2004
    Quinn
     
    I wake up to Monica’s mother, Linda, yelling and kicking me in the ribs. I roll off the floor mat and get to my feet, trying to make sense of her accusations through my sleep-rattled mind.
    “I don’t do drugs. I’ve never done drugs!” I say. And I never had.
    After my mom kicked me out—again—about a month ago, I started staying at my friend Monica’s house. She and I go to the same high school.
    Her mom and stepfather own a large Victorian house that’s been divided into several apartments, which they rent out. Monica’s oldest sister Marissa attends the nearby college and lives in the upstairs apartment by herself. Monica hates her stepfather and often stays at Marissa’s to get away from him.
    This was one of those nights.
    But tonight went south really fast. Marissa had a bunch of her college friends over for a party—mainly guys—and even though Monica and I are only fifteen years old, a few of them kept hitting on us the drunker they got.
    Monica and I decided after a couple beers to escape into Marissa’s room when the hitting-on turned to hand-grabs and it was obvious Marissa wasn’t going to say anything to stop the douchebags. So we camped out on her bedroom floor. We had school in the morning anyway.
    Which led to this moment …
     
    Linda slapping my face and kicking me in my ribcage was one hell of a way to wake up.
    Now she grabs a fistful of my long hair and drags me into the main room. She shoves my face against the coffee table.
    I see small, clear