Dark Perception: The Corde Noire Series Read Online Free Page A

first thing this morning,
I almost came back to your apartment to see if you were all
right.”
    Melinda fought back the urge to groan.
“You’ve got to stop being so protective of me, Jack. I’m fine.” She
opened a side pocket on her backpack and searched for her
keys.
    “ Maddie, you live alone in
that little apartment, and you keep dating these losers who are
never around when—”
    “ Jeez, Jack, when you shoot
someone down, you do it with both barrels.”
    Jack’s shoulders sagged. “I’m not
shooting you down, I’m trying to tell you that you can’t go on
living like this.”
    She wrenched the keys from her
backpack. “Living like what? I’ve got several odd jobs, live in a
small apartment, and struggle to pay the bills … just like
you.”
    “ But I’m a man, Maddie.
It’s expected for me to live this kind of life, but you …” He
pointed to her. “You’re what, almost twenty-six? How long do you
plan on living this way?”
    Melinda’s cheeks burned. “Oh, because
I’m a woman who is ‘almost twenty-six,’ you think I need someone
else to take care of me. Is that it?”
    “ That’s not what I meant
and you know it, Maddie.”
    She stomped her foot on the pavement.
“Stop calling me Maddie. I don’t know why you gave me that stupid
nickname anyway.”
    Jack waved at her red cheeks. “This is
why I call you Maddie. My mad Maddie! You fly off the handle every
time I talk to you. I swear, I don’t think we’ve had one
conversation that didn’t end in an argument from the first day we
met.”
    “ So it’s all my
fault?”
    Teeming with frustration, Jack tossed
his head back and gaped at the balcony floorboards above him. “God,
I can’t win with you.”
    “ You always like to push my
buttons, don’t you, Jack?” Her voice was peppered with anger.
“Every time we get together you’re always needling me about how you
want me to become a better musician, be a composer, be a better
psychic, and now even how I live is being scrutinized by
you.”
    “ I’m not scrutinizing you,
Maddie … Melinda. I just want you to be you.”
    “ You’re always telling me
that … ‘just be you, Maddie,’ or ‘this isn’t you, Maddie,’” she
said, imitating his deep voice.
    Jack scowled, his hazel eyes on fire.
“Is it a crime that I want you to be who you are? Do you know how
great you are? How wonderful on the inside and the outside you …”
He froze and lowered his eyes to the sidewalk.
    Melinda shifted her
backpack on her shoulder. Here it comes.
Here comes the awkward part.
    “ You know your friendship
means a lot to me, Jack,” she insisted, hoping to end their
disagreement.
    “ Friendship?” His eyes
flashed with fury. “I want more than friendship with you, Maddie.
And don’t shut me out like you’ve done a hundred times before
whenever I bring up the possibility of us. I want to know why you
won’t give us a chance.”
    Melinda’s body surged with dread.
“Don’t do this, Jack.”
    “ Do what? Beg you to give
me a chance? Ask you to go out with me instead of one of your
deranged psychopaths?” Jack shook his head and turned away from
her. “It’s getting harder and harder to watch you from the
sidelines,” he whispered.
    Melinda went to touch his shoulder,
and then she stopped. Pulling her hand back, she held her head
high, stiffening her resolve to not let him in.
    “ You’re a good friend,
Jack, a very good friend. I’ve told you before I don’t want to
jeopardize that.”
    He faced her, squaring his shoulders.
“But you will chase a man you know will only hurt you in the end.
Why must you always set out to break your heart and mine every time
you give yourself to another? You know how I feel, but I can’t hang
around and watch you destroy yourself with that cold-blooded
bastard.”
    “ What are you talking
about?”
    Jack cocked his head thoughtfully to
the side. “You don’t think I couldn’t pick up what you felt when
you saw Nathan Cole today? Come