Reap (The Harvest Saga Book 1) Read Online Free

marry Paige Winters in just a few weeks, after the harvest was complete and the orchards picked bare. His fingertips trace the in-tact skin between my shoulder blades and I tensed under his touch.
    He’d kissed my head and temple and hugged me more times than I can count, but this was somehow different. This was more intimate. His touch was delicate, gentle compared to his normal strength and anything but playful. “Ky?”
    He didn’t answer. His fingers explored my back, careful not to stray too close to the wounds that streaked across my skin. “Kyan?”
    “Shut up, Abby. Just let me... Just shut up.” He’d never talked to me like this. His voice was raspy and he’d never, ever told me to shut up before. So I did. I wasn’t sure why. He shouldn’t have been touching my skin. Shouldn’t have been caressing the good parts left of me, but sitting with me in the dark, he was doing exactly that and I was allowing it.
    Paige would be furious if she saw us now. She’d always had a jealous streak, had always hated any girl who dated or flirted with Ky. Lately, she told anyone and everyone who will listen that Kyan was hers and that she hated me with a passion. She wasn’t lying. She hated me.  Rather, she hated my relationship with Ky. He was my best friend. I wasn’t interested in him as anything more or anything else. I’d told her that. He’d told her that a million times. But, she refused to listen, adamant that I wanted him for myself, adamant that he wanted me.
    I honestly didn’t have those types of feelings for Kyan. I never have had them. Ever. And up until now, I’d always thought he felt the same. But feeling his fingers exploring my skin made even me question that sentiment. And it scared me to death.
    I lie there in the dark, his caresses awakening my senses like nothing else ever has. Sure, I’d kissed a guy before, but nothing more than that. And, truthfully, it wasn’t anything to write home about. Seth Avery had cornered me behind a tool shed and planted a sloppy wet kiss on my lips. I pushed him away and ran off to tell Lulu as fast as my gangly legs and knobby knees would carry me. I wasn’t sure if that really counted as a kiss, now that I thought about it. I was eleven. And, it was forced upon me. I certainly didn’t want Seth Avery’s lips on mine. The thought still made me cringe.
    Ky removed his fingers from my back. He stood and began pacing the floor. “Bastard!” he barked. I flinched at his tone. “Somebody needs to teach him a lesson. I swear...”
    “Ky. Calm down. It’s not gonna be you. You need to go home. You’re tired and getting worked up over nothing.”
    “Over nothing? Abby, he sliced your back wide open. This isn’t nothing. I’ve seen grown men walk away with shallower stripes than this. You’ve been flayed. He meant to torture you. Can’t you see that?”
    “Yes. But, I asked for it. He wanted to teach me a lesson. He wanted to hurt me and he did. But, in the end, I knew what I was getting myself into. It was my decision.”
    Ky stopped and stomped over to me, kneeling in front of my face, still pressed into my pillow. He gently pushed some hair behind my ear. “He has no right beating around on kids or women. He damn near peeled your flesh from your bones. Do you even get it? Do you understand how bad you’re ripped open?”
    “I understand. But, you need to lay low. We need you for the harvest and Paige needs you to be there for her now. Soon she’ll be your wife. You’ll be her husband. Don’t do anything stupid to mess any of that up right now. Not for me.”
    He clenched his jaw and then spoke quietly. “I don’t want to marry her.” Ky had never admitted it. I knew it was true. But, the words hadn’t passed his lips until now. His warm brown eyes searched my face. I knew he didn’t want to, but his parents and hers had made the arrangement and there was no stopping it now. He had no say in the matter. His opinion wasn’t taken into