Shadow of Perception Read Online Free Page A

care.  
    “For ten minutes. God, Eden. I swear I feel like I don’t know you anymore.”
    Here we go again.  
    And Celeste wondered why she wasn’t interested in talking. Their conversations always boiled down to what was wrong with her. “Probably because you never really did.”
    Celeste released a sarcastic half-laugh. “And you’re full of it. I know you. And I know that your need to control every aspect of your life is destroying you.”
    Eden shoved away from the table and shot out of the chair. “Get all that out of your crystal ball?” she asked just as John stepped back into the room.
    He looked at her first, then to Celeste. She hadn’t missed the accusation and contempt in his gaze, and she could care less. Let him—let Celeste—think what they wanted. Because neither of them, nor the rest of her family included, knew the entire truth.
      “Ian has someone on the way,” John said to Celeste. “He should be here any minute.”
    “Good,” Celeste said, and patted his arm. “Could you give us a sec?”
    He smiled at her sister, then sent her an “eat shit” glare. “I’ll grab our coats.”
    When he was in the next room, Celeste turned to her. “I don’t want to fight with you. The way you looked when we first got here...you scared the crap out of me. What was on that DVD Lloyd picked up for Ian?”
    Gruesome violence. Mutilation. Inhumanity.
    The memory of the images she’d witnessed on the DVD and the worry in her sister’s eyes took the fight out of her. She slumped back in the kitchen chair and shook her head. “I’m not exactly sure myself.”
    “Okay. Well, what if I touch the DVD or the jewel case it came in. You know, try to get a reading.”
    Eden rubbed her chin, then pressed her knuckles to her mouth to keep from saying what she knew would cause a swift end to their slight truce. Both her mom and Celeste claimed to have a psychic gift. At one time she’d believed in them and their powers, but that belief had gone the way of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. If the two of them had truly been able to predict the future then they could have warned her. They could have made sure a sixteen-year-old girl never had to understand true terror and pain so early in life...if at all.
    A knock at the door saved her from having to answer Celeste. Before she had a chance to stand and check the door’s peephole, John moved from the living room. “Our replacement is here,” he said over his shoulder to Celeste.
    Replacement? God, was she exchanging one set of babysitters for another?
    “Think about what I suggested,” Celeste said, as she stood. “I know how you feel about my abilities, but if I can help—”
    Eden rose, too, taking the coffee mugs with her. “Thanks. I’ll call you.”
    “I won’t hold my breath.”
    With a deep sigh, she dumped the mugs in the sink, then faced her sister. The hurt and anger in Celeste’s eyes tugged at her again. “Look, you know how I feel about your psychic stuff. But, I will call you. And Will. Maybe we can meet for lunch...”
    A familiar, masculine voice from the foyer made her pause. She moved passed the kitchen island and peered around the corner, then froze.
    “Hey, Eden,” Hudson Patterson said as he shrugged out of his leather coat and pierced her with his steely blue gaze. “I see you got yourself into another mess.”
    The room shrank and her sole focus remained on the one man who had stirred more emotions in her than all the other men before and after him combined. Two years ago, he’d lit a fire inside her, and within months, he’d smothered the flames with his arrogance and bullheaded attitude.
    Based on the condescending remark he’d just made, she doubted his opinion of her had changed. His appearance had, though. Harder, darker, more dangerous. His brown, wavy hair now reached his shoulders and he needed a shave. Even without the worn, black leather jacket, which now hung on the coat rack, he looked