MIDNIGHT DIVINE (The Helio Trilogy Book 1) Read Online Free

just
lock myself in my room.
    I unlock the door to our
house and trail to the kitchen for a bottle of water while Alice grabs her
backpack and keys from her room down the hall from mine. “Alright. I’ll be
back,” she calls from the foyer. I can see the concentration in her face as she
closes the front door behind her. She's already thinking about the research
paper she has to write for her Psychology class. When Alice has anything to do
for her classes, she takes it serious with a higher degree than most. Her
motto—there's a time and a place for everything.
    Alice would be gone for a
few hours, so I blare some death metal on my iPod and use the opportunity to do
some laundry and clean up around the house. When I'm finished, I smoke another
bowl and attempt to write some music. I started smoking pot and drinking after
my wreck at the beginning of my junior year. It isn’t an activity I
participated in heavily at first, but the freedom of college led to more and
more. Being high lets me see things from outside of myself. My reality becomes
a fiction movie I can take apart and decipher. It helps me see
things from a different perspective so I can change what I want, even if it's
fleeting. Not to mention, it keeps me from the paranoia of 'the darkness'
becoming a reality around every corner.
    After a few hours, my
efforts are deemed unproductive in writing a new ballad. I can’t stop thinking
about Jack. His smile. His piercing green eyes. Stop it, Ivy! No, no, no,
no, I coach myself, but it doesn’t work. I have an epiphany, pick up my
guitar, and start strumming an upbeat, punk rock rhythm. I have to get the song
off my chest so it'll cease its repetition in my head, and I lose myself as I
belt out the lyrics of “ Hit the Road, Jack ” .
    KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK
    Startled mid-chorus, I
jump. “Yeah?” I yell through the door, embarrassed at my tirade.
    A deep voice answers on the
other side, “Hey, Sunshine. Alice wants to know if you’re hungry. We’re going
out for pizza.”
    Oh, crap! Did he hear me? I
didn’t hear anyone pull up or come in! I answer the door after hiding my bong. “Hey,” I huff as my heart
pounds. In passing, I consider if he can hear it.
    Jack’s body fills my
doorframe, forming a blockade. His hands rest on either side of the frame as a
self-satisfied grin graces his perfect, chiseled face. It's beautiful and
irritating. “Thinking about me, Sunshine?”
    I can’t seem to stop! “It’s a cover song,” I roll my eyes. “And, yeah, I
could eat,” I shrug my shoulders, avoiding his interrogation. He takes a step
back, his amusement apparent. I lead us to the living room where Alice has her purse over her shoulder and
an arm hooked through Eric’s. “Where are we going?” I prompt as I grabbed my
keys.
    “Just the pizza place off
Normal Park,” she replies.
    “I’m taking my car. Do you
want to ride with me?” Jack sounds hopeful with his question, and Eric looks at
me with expectation. I know that look. He’s telling me he wants to be alone
with Alice, so I resign, “Sure.” I hide my apprehension about riding with Jack
and follow Alice through the door.
    Eric steers Alice to his
car while Jack waits for me on the porch to lock the door. Approaching his
Skyline, I'm eager to hear the purr of its engine again. Before I reached the
passenger door, Jack reaches around me to open it, “Here. Allow me.” His breath
caresses my neck, sending chills up my spine and causing my skin to tingle with
excitement.
    I don’t know how to feel
about his chivalry toward me. No doubt part of his playbook. I don’t
remember the last time a guy opened a door for me. It's unexpected and kind
of sweet. I stammer, “Th-thanks.”
    The leather interior of his
car is black with admiral blue accents matching the body, and the new car scent
versus the stench of a trashed bachelor pad is no t what I expected. Maybe
he just had it detailed, I assume. As he starts the car, butterflies swarm
my