The Light of Day Read Online Free Page B

girl.
                  I scrub my hands over my face and give a wry laugh as I try to calm my speeding heart.  “Christ, you’re right, I’m sorry.”  Reaching out, I help steady her while she rubs at the arches of her feet.  “New shoes?”
                  “More like torture devices. Crap, I knew letting Barbie pick out the dresses and shoes would bite me in the ass, but like I’m going to waste time looking at fabrics and colors when I’m in the middle of my senior project.  Now, I’m trying to break in shoes that I’m almost positive were used as torture devices on my ancestors when their feet were still bound.”
                  “The price you pay for not caring.”
                  She glares at me as she finishes re-fastening the strap around her ankle (a slim, gorgeous ankle that as a man I appreciate seeing in the shoe.  Not that I’d tell her that.  I like my face the way it is, thanks).  “The same could be said about you.  Now, I’m guessing this little fit has something to do with whatever mating dance you’ve got going on with Barbie.”  I tuck my hands safely in my pockets and rock back on my heels.  She nods.  “That’s what I thought.  I don’t know how I feel about that yet as I like both you and her, but I’m not sure you’re best for each other at this stage in your lives. So we’ll move past it and come back later when we have time.   For now, let’s go back in there and take this goddamn photo so we can come back here and get a drink.  When we’re done, I’ll show you how to sneak out the side and we can sit on the green and look at the lights.”
                  “You hitting on me, Torres?”
                  “You can’t be that lucky, Handsome Jake.  Besides, I know damaged goods when I see them, and you’re definitely damaged.  And it’s not just your elbow I’m talking about.”
                  I wince.  “You don’t pull punches, do you?”
                  “What’s the point? You’re still hitting someone in the face, you’re just ultimately telling them they’re too much of a pussy to handle the whole thing.  Talk about insulting.”
                  “Well, when you put it like that.”
                  She smiles and looks at me.  “You ready for this?”
                  I nod and hold out my arm again, waiting for her to loop hers through it before we head back to where everyone else is being arranged in front of and around certain sides of the entryway, the course, the atrium.  I wait on the sidelines until I’m called, and then I go and do my duty of posing and laughing, of smiling my ass off and pretending that the cool tempered brunette in the edible dress isn’t on my mind.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Six
    Cora
    I was nineteen when I met Rafe.  Nineteen and hell bent on acting like I owned the fucking world.  Trying to tell me I was young and naïve was a waste of someone’s breath.  I was struggling through fashion design school though I wouldn’t admit it, and I was desperately lonely.
                  I’d never made friends easily, and though I’d always blamed it on the fact that I didn’t like girls, the real reason was I didn’t understand how to be around them.  Girls were public enemy number one.  I’d learned that at the knee of my own mother, though it had taken me a long time to admit that’s who influenced me.
                  Girls were complicated where boys were easy.  Girls needed honesty and attention and loyalty.  And they weren’t afraid to tell you to fuck off and get over yourself when you were acting like an asshole.  I didn’t want someone telling me I was wrong, so I shut Mia out as much as possible, which was easy since we lived in different cities, and I kept to myself, only partaking in relationships with someone who saw