Read Summer for Free Online

doesn’t know you zapped Darina’s mind?’ The younger guy wouldn’t let it drop. He even took a step down from the porch as if he planned to come and help me. Then Hunter turned one of his icy looks on him and he stopped, mid-stride.
    Meanwhile I stood in the middle of this nightmare with a hole in my head where my memory used to be.
    Hunter stepped down into the yard instead. My stomach lurched. I wanted to back away but my feet wouldn’t move. ‘What do you think, Darina – should I letyou stay zapped and send you home?’ he taunted. ‘Maybe that would be a good idea. You wouldn’t remember anything, I promise.’
    I was staring right into his face, at the grey eyes shaded by the prominent forehead, the long hair swept back, the sculpted chin and harsh line of the mouth. At that moment I knew there was no arguing with him – I was totally in his power. And somehow he was the cause of what had just happened – my blackout, my hurting head, my total confusion.
    ‘Your mind would be a blank,’ he promised. ‘You would be back with your family, going to school, grieving for Phoenix and learning to let go. You would put one foot in front of another like the other bereaved residents of Ellerton.’
    No! I wanted to yell at him, but nothing came out. I’ll never let Phoenix go!
    ‘Believe me, you will.’ Hunter’s eyes dug deep into me and seemed to read my unspoken thoughts. ‘Your connection with him will weaken. You’ll continue to miss him – every day at first, then every other day, every week, until you learn to move forward and live again.’
    ‘That’s not how it works,’ I said bitterly. ‘You don’t understand. I’ll always love Phoenix.’
    Hunter planned every move. He stretched his lips in adisbelieving smile and chose that moment to let Phoenix walk through the door on to the porch. A split-second later he let my knowledge of the Beautiful Dead flood back into my head.
    I fell to the ground again but this time Hunter permitted Phoenix to be there to catch me. The moment of our reunion had arrived – I was in his arms, but it wasn’t how I’d imagined it; we were just puppets with the overlord pulling our strings.
    Phoenix kept me from falling. He held me close and I clung to him until my head began to clear. He picked me up and carried me into the house, up the stairs to the bedroom where he laid me on the bed.
    ‘You’re going to be OK,’ he promised, bending over me so that his lips were against my cheek. ‘Hunter relented.’
    I could see him in the lamplight and raised my hand to touch his smooth, cold skin. ‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered.
    Phoenix sat on the edge of the bed. ‘For what?’ He took my hand away from his cheek and kissed my fingers.
    ‘For angering Hunter. For messing things up.’
    ‘Hey, Hunter upsets real easy. You didn’t mean to do it.’
    ‘Don’t be nice to me! Tell me I’m an idiot for pushing his buttons.’
    He smiled warily. ‘You’re an idiot, but you’re my idiot.’
    ‘You make me want to cry.’ I lay with my head on the pillow, my face turned away. ‘I thought I’d be so happy – here, with you again!’
    ‘Don’t cry,’ he pleaded, lying down beside me. ‘You’re here. I’m here.’
    ‘Where have you been, Phoenix? Why did you stay away? I know, don’t tell me – Hunter is the one who makes the decisions. You don’t get to choose.’
    Phoenix tilted my head towards him. ‘That’s the deal,’ he agreed. ‘We have to accept it.’
    ‘It doesn’t stop me wishing that it could be the way it was before,’ I whispered. With his body next to mine, his clear eyes looking at me, taking in every detail of my face, his fingers brushing my lips while I talked, I felt so close, like we’d never been apart. ‘Remember how we did things back then, with no one to stand in our way?’
    ‘I remember every second we spent together. It’s stored up here.’ He tapped his forehead then pressed the centre of his temples. ‘You know