Finding Valor Read Online Free

glow pulsing out of my chest? If she did, she would have mentioned it already. Josh didn’t want to freak Kassie out any more than he already had by getting into the whole magic thing. So he raised his right arm and flexed. “Like, how I’ve bulked up.”
    “You came back from Arkansas like that.” Kassie smirked and elbowed his ribs. “You left a boy and came home a man.”
    “You think I lost my “V” card?”
    Kassie frowned. “You really don’t remember?”
    Josh shook his head. Of all the things to forget, why did it have to be that ?
    Kassie rested a hand on her baby bump. “What are you going to do?”
    “I don’t know.” Josh propped his elbows on his knees and leaned forward. “I guess I should have gone with Diego.”
    Kassie moved her hand to Josh’s shoulder. “You don’t know him very well.”
    “I don’t know him at all .”
    “Why don’t you call Hunter?”
    “The stripper I shared an apartment with in Vegas?”
    Kassie’s eyes widened. “Hunter’s a stripper?”  
    “According to Diego. He also claimed that Hunter gave Channie and me a sack full of money before we left Vegas…he thinks I left it in my car.” Even with the keys poking his thigh, Josh found it hard to believe that Dad had finally caved and given him a car. “Do I have a car?”
    “Yeah. Uncle Ezra gave it to you after Channie broke up with you.”
    “Channie broke up with me?” Josh’s voice cracked.
    “Yeah, but it was before you guys got married.” Kassie grabbed Josh’s hand and hopped off the picnic table. “Come on.”
    Josh stood up. “Where are we going?”
    “To get your money.”
    Josh locked Dad’s bike in the rack by the baseball diamond and followed Kassie to her car. She chattered nonstop as she drove, filling in some of the gaps in Diego’s story. Most of those gaps concerned Kassie and her relationship with Hunter.  
    She glanced at Josh and caught him staring at the wedding photo on his phone. “I can’t believe you haven’t already made that your screensaver.”
    “Might as well make it my wallpaper, too.” Josh’s heart warmed as he made the switch. “I can’t believe I’m really married. How did that affect my racing career?”
    Kassie cringed and sucked in a quick breath. “Yeah, about that…”
    ~***~
    Josh couldn’t breathe. His entire body was a ticking time bomb. “Pull over.”
    “Josh…”
    “Now!”
    Kassie pulled off the road and unlocked the doors. “Are you sick?”
    Josh bolted out of the car without answering. If he opened his mouth, he’d scream. He wanted to hit something. He wanted to kill something. An old oak tree drew his attention. Without realizing what he was doing, or why, Josh pointed at the tree. A fluorescent bolt of red light shot out of his hand. The tree exploded.
    Josh stared at his tingling, but uninjured, palm then shifted his gaze to Kassie.  
    Her eyes, and mouth, were matching circles of astonishment.  
    Josh rubbed his palms on his thighs. “You saw that?”
    “It’s kind of hard to miss an exploding tree.” She swiveled her head and scanned the sky. “There’s not a single cloud, anywhere. And no thunder. Did you hear any thunder?”
    “Um…no.”
    “I didn’t see any lightning either. Did you?”
    “No.” Nothing but a red bolt of energy shooting out of his bare hand that, apparently, no one but he could see.  
    Josh walked over to the blackened hole in the ground, all that remained of the old tree. He glanced at his still tingling palm then fisted his hand. What would have happened if he hadn’t gotten out of the car in time? Would he have hurt Kassie? Or her baby? The thought tied his stomach into knots.
    Kassie tugged on Josh’s hand. “Let’s go see if we can find that sack of money.”
    Neither of them spoke until they got to the nearly empty parking lot at Monarch High. Kassie parked next to a cherry red Rav4 and cut the engine. She circled his car like a shark, peeking in the windows. “I can’t see