Magnetic Shift Read Online Free

laptop.
    I picked it up, my hand trembling. I’d never had a cell phone before, nor had I ever had the need for one, but I’d wanted one so bad. My eyes itched. I took a conscious breath and set the phone back on the table. “Dean, I—”
    Dean’s finger shot up and stopped me. “Oh, and I almost forgot …” he reached into his back pocket. “This should be enough to get you started.” He held out a folded envelope. I shot him a glance and then looked down at his hand. He pushed the envelope toward me. I took it, opened it, and pulled out a stack of twenty-dollar bills. A web of emotions spun in my throat and fed the curse, now pulsating hard in my temples. I dropped the bills on the table as if they’d bitten me and balled my hands together in my lap.
    Get a grip, Lex. You’re stronger than this.
    “Is something wrong?” Dean asked, looking puzzled.
    “Why are you doing this?”
    Dean slipped his hands in his pockets. “Did you actually think me cruel enough not to pay you?”
    Okay. Now I really didn’t understand. “That was the deal, wasn’t it?”
    “With Roy, yes. But with you, it doesn’t have to be.” I looked down at the money.
    “Unfortunately, I’ll have to pay you in cash—under the table, so to speak. Two hundred per week sound good?”
    “Two hundred per—” My throat stopped functioning and pressure built in the back of my eyes. I’d never been paid for working at the Salvage Yard, nor had I ever gotten an allowance. Roy would show up now and then with a hand-me-down bag of clothes he’d picked up from God knows where, and if my luck aligned with the planets just right, he’d bring home a movie rental as a treat, but that was the extent of his kindness and fulfillment of stepfatherly duties. The only time Roy ever put money in my hand was for me to run his errands at the supermarket next door.
    The Blackberry clipped to Dean’s belt chirped. In a quick one-handed sweep, he unclipped it, thumbed the keys, and read the screen. “Ah, hell.” He rubbed the back of his neck, clipping the phone back at his waist. “I hate to do this to you, but I have to go. The CEO of Guardian Auto Insurance decided to swing by unannounced. I need to clear my schedule and go schmooze the man if we want to keep him on as our main sponsor for the full season. Are you okay here?”
    I batted my lids to dry the moisture building along my lashes and nodded. I was on the verge of crumbling—which was totally unlike me—and I didn’t like it one bit.
    The side door burst open, and Colton ran inside. “Dean, Mr. Langdon’s—”
    “I know. Jimmy just texted me,” Dean told him.
    My stomach fluttered when Colton’s eyes shifted to me and didn’t look away. I tried my best to look sane and not disturbed by the forces churning inside my head. I thought I’d imagined it before, but now I knew for sure that Colton had a strong effecton me, one that warmed my insides but also kept me teetering on the edge of going magnetically insane. It didn’t help that Dean’s gift giving had thrown my emotions all out of whack. I didn’t know if I could control it much longer.
    Dean glanced at his watch. “Link’s practice is in forty-five minutes. Lexi, if you want you can meet me at the hauler later to get a feel for what we do around here.”
    I broke eye contact with Colton and looked back at the items in front of me. My energy was draining fast, and the pressure kept building. I couldn’t remember the last time my head pounded and throbbed this bad. “I’d like to stay here and unpack … if that’s okay.”
    “Alright …” Concern crept across Dean’s face, dueling with his obvious sense of obligation, but he concealed it with a smile. “I’ll see you later, then.” He hesitated, and then turned to Colton. “Come on, kid. We can’t make the man wait.”
    Colton followed Dean out and threw me a smile and a wink before closing the door behind him.
    That did it.
    My head exploded with pain. I