Embers & Ice (Rouge) Read Online Free Page A

crashing to the
floor.
    Joshua
had no time to suck in even a breath before Jennifer was on her feet again and
stumbling towards the door to freedom.
    “No!”
He gasped, rolled over on his stomach and shot his hand up.
    A
jet of ice burst from his palm and suddenly Jennifer’s feet were frozen to the
floor, as if she’d stepped in fast-drying cement with one foot in front of the
other. She wobbled for a moment, then became still.
    Ignoring
the throbbing ache in his hip, Joshua ducked around Jennifer where he could
close the door and lock it behind him. Then, he turned to face the woman who
stood with her arms folded, her lips pursed tightly together and her chest
heaving up and down.
    Joshua
would have felt sorry for the woman and even a little guilty for locking her up
for almost two months, had he not been so shocked – not for the first time – by
how closely Jennifer Smart resembled Liz. It wasn’t her looks, per say, but
more her stubborn and feisty nature. She glared in the same fiery way Liz used
to. Her eyes were narrowed to slits and a string of hair was stuck to her lip
in a way that made Joshua desperately need to flick it away. What’s worse, she
wouldn’t say a thing.
    For
some reason, Joshua preferred the yelling.
    “I
know you’re still angry,” he said very slowly with both hands raised in calm
surrender. “But if you let me, I will explain everything.”
    Jennifer
didn’t flinch. “You want me-” she hissed through her teeth, “-to stand here and let you explain why I’m locked in some laboratory after you kidnapped me
and did something really disgusting to my body? You’ve got to be joking.”
    “Uh,
see, I’m actually not joking,” he replied. “I owe it to you, and I made
you dinner-” He did a double take at the splattered mess that was his quiche
and salad, and then bit his lip. “Well, that was your dinner but I can
make you another one. Anyway, my point is that I would not have done what I did
if there wasn’t a very logical reason behind it.”
    “Logical?”
she spat. “This is not logical, this isn’t even-” Jennifer froze with her mouth
half open, and then her walnut-brown eyes widened. “Wait. Oh my God.”
    “What?”
    “You’re
Joshua Harrison, aren’t you?” Her smile widened, but there was no humor in her
expression. “Hunter told me you were weird, but she never said you were
freaking psychotic.”
    Joshua
opened his mouth and snapped it shut again.
    “Yeah,”
she nodded, her tone poisonous. “I know all about you .”
    “Wh-”
he breathed, feeling suddenly faint. He didn’t like being caught off guard,
much less by a woman. “What did she… what did she tell you exactly?”
    “How
long have I been here? How are all my burns suddenly completely healed? What
have you done to me?!” she shouted, her voice finally reaching that
high-pitched tone Joshua hated. It’s like nails on a chalkboard.
    Joshua
pinched the bridge of his nose and brushed past her, swooping to the floor and
gathering the ruined meals back into their bowls. “I’m going to make more food.
Do you… do you want anything in particular?”
    Jennifer
was about to snap back at him – he could see the sarcastic comment forming on
her lips – but instead, she crossed her arms again and nodded. “I’d like
something hot and a really big cup of coffee. Make it a bucket.”
    “Fine.”
    “Joshua?”
    With
his fingers hovering over the keypad, Joshua halted but didn’t turn.
    “You
didn’t… did you do something to me, to my genetics? Because I feel… different.”
    He
turned quickly, his heart leaping. “Different how?”
    “Uh…
I guess I just feel… clean. It feels like all the bad stuff has been flushed
from my body. I wonder if I’m okay.”
    Joshua
looked at her thoughtfully. “I can’t tell you that. If you have everything
intact, like your memory and your personality, then you’re going to be fine.”
    “That’s
reassuring.”
    “I’m
sorry,” he sighed.