Deadly Shades (Shades Series) Read Online Free Page A

didn’t argue. She knew he wanted her stop him, but she wasn’t going to. Not now, and probably never. Fear kept her lips firmly shut. She knew something was wrong with her. She’d never gone to a psychologist. She didn’t need a diagnosis. But maybe if she’d let him stay, talk it out, and try to work things out... 
    She closed her eyes briefly, momentarily bereft of the possibility of never witnessing his quirky sense of humor, seeing his sexy half-smile or feeling his arms around her.
    When he walked to the front door, she didn’t get up, didn’t look his way. The click of the door shutting sounded far too final. Kennedy fought back the pressure constricting her throat, the burn against the back of her eyes.
    It was better this way.
    Broken.
    Alone.
    Quiet permeated the apartment. No television, no ticking clock. She couldn’t even hear the hum of the refrigerator. The silence was deafening, hitting her from all sides.
    Kennedy jumped to her feet. She needed to get out. Do something. Jogging. Yes. Probably the only thing that would help calm the restlessness boiling inside her.
    She hurried into the bedroom, didn’t look at the messed up bed, the top covers no doubt trailing along the side of the bed to touch the carpet. She tried not to think of Luke stretched out and naked in that very bed with that half-smile of his and those lethal bedroom eyes.
    After pulling off her over-sized shirt, she tossed it in the hamper, grabbed a pair of black workout shorts and a sleeveless workout shirt. With her feet in a pair of runners, headphones attached to her phone, she hurried back into the kitchen and grabbed a water bottle. On the way out, she eyed the sunglasses on the ottoman and decided to bring them along. What the heck. So she might be a little addicted to the things. Sliding them over the bridge of her nose, she locked up behind her.
    She got in the car, took a deep breath and turned the car’s ignition with a quivering hand. As she guided the car from her parking space and drove through the apartment complex and to the main exit, she wrapped her hands tighter around the wheel to keep the shaking at bay. No matter how many times, she always struggled those first few minutes behind the wheel to get the trembling under control. Maybe one day that might change, but for now, she’d just have to deal with it.
    She kept to the speed limit on the freeway and side streets, made sure she came to a complete halt at all stop signs and signaled at every turn. Twenty minutes later, she pulled into the parking lot of Thunderbird Parkway, a hiking trail that threaded through a couple of foothills on the fringes of Phoenix. Several points across the trail a person could see the city’s downtown skyscrapers against the horizon. She parked in the middle of the lot. Three other cars were also in the parking area. Usually in the morning, the place was packed with hikers, taking in cool winter weather. No one ventured out here in the summer, unless they hit the trail before the sun broke over the horizon.
    The sun bounced off the hood. She adjusted her sunglasses. The idea of coming across other people and reading their auras was fascinating. So maybe her aura was gray. There could be viable reasons other than death.
    She was healthy. She worked out on a regular basis.
    Unless an accident waited for her....
    A car running a red light and t-boning her....
    She should have died four years ago. For some reason she was still walking among the living. But was she really living? Yes, she walked, talked, ate. Even so, she didn’t drink in everything life had to offer. She went from day to day, not caring about what happened to her. Death sounded like a blissful escape. In reality, she was a walking zombie. Or more like a jogging zombie. Maybe that might be the reason she was an ugly gray. Because she was only existing.
    Or worse... The unsettling thought wouldn’t go away. Maybe she lacked color because she’d cheated death and it was