QUIVER (QUAKE Book 2) Read Online Free

can’t expect me to be happy about it.” She bites on the dark pink plumpness of her bottom lip and tucks the right side of her hair behind her ear. She stands beside my bed with her eyes lowered. I can sense she’s trying to decide if she should sit down or flee from my room before I have an opportunity to say something else hurtful. When she raises her eyes to meet mine, anger flashes in them for a moment before she sits in the recliner at my bedside. She slides a blue backpack from her shoulder and sets it in her lap. Her head drops down when she rifles through the main compartment and it gives me an opportunity to study the perfection of her face. Her eyebrows are darker than the golden hue of her hair and their graceful arches frame her large blue eyes. Her small, straight nose is overshadowed by the succulent shape of her lips. Those lips make me long to see what they’d feel like underneath mine. The need to sink my teeth into her plump lower lip has my cock twitching and I smile with relief that it’s still working.
          “Here, I brought you a book to read and some chocolate.” She holds up a new paperback thriller by one of my favorite authors, and a candy bar. “I know how much you love plain milk chocolate,” she says before she places them both down on the table near my bed.
          “Thank you.” I stare at her. She locks eyes with me and I get lost in blue depths surrounded by long, dark lashes. They’re unlike any I’ve seen before.
          “Your eyes are such a unique color. The only time I’ve seen that shade of blue was in my Crayola box when I was a kid.” I wonder if that’s what attracted me to her in the first place. “The color is cerulean blue and it was always my favorite one.”
          Those same eyes go wide at my words. It’s the nicest thing I’ve said to her since I woke up from my coma.
          “Any word on when you’re getting out of here?” She zips her bag closed and places it down on the floor, waiting for my answer.
          “They mentioned moving me to rehab tomorrow. Any place is better than being stuck here.” I stare up at the ceiling and think about what the next few months will be like for me. I know I have a lot of work ahead of me and I don’t think it’s fair to drag Janny through it. Especially when I don’t know if my memory will ever return. It seems cruel to give her any hope that we can be what we once were when it might never happen. She’s so young, just beginning her adult life and she has a bright future ahead of her. I won’t be the thing that holds her back. If I loved her, she must be someone really special and she deserves the best. I’m not what she needs. 
          “Listen, I know you want to be here for me, but I don’t want you to. I want you to move on with your life and focus on what you need to do.” I pause, trying to gather the words I know I need to say – words I know are going to tear through her like a bullet. She can hate me, but I’m doing this for her. “I know we were in love before all of this happened, but I don’t have romantic feelings toward you now. I think you’re a really sweet girl, and I know I’m physically attracted to you, but I need to focus on my recovery. I can’t be distracted with how much I’m disappointing you by not regaining my memory.”
          She’s perched on the edge of the seat, sitting so still, with her hands folded gracefully in her lap. Her calm body language belies the devastation showing on her face. Her lips are pressed together and the sheen of tears in her eyes tells the true story of how devastating this is for her. I feel like the biggest bastard in the world right now, but I know it’s the best thing for Janny in the long run. Someday she’ll look back and realize I was just a tiny part of her life. Five months out of eighty or ninety years won’t even be a blip on her radar. She’ll meet the man she’s meant to be with and