Torn Read Online Free Page A

yet, at least make it around the corner!
    Before Katie could make it into the
elevator, she heard Branson’s voice behind her. “Katie!”
    She took a deep breath and turned to
face him. “Yeah?”
    “ I forgot to get your
number.” He pulled out his phone and typed as she called each
number. “Maybe we can get in a game of tennis this
weekend?”
    “ Yeah, that sounds fun.
Goodnight, Branson.”
    “ Goodnight,
Katie.”
    Katie smiled and stepped onto the
awaiting elevator. She waited for it to completely close and begin
its ascent before she smiled wildly and danced around the empty
gray box.
    When she entered her room, Maggie was
sitting on her bed with her arms crossed. She looked as if someone
had used up all of her shampoo and she was outraged.
    “ Where have you been?”
Maggie asked. Her blond curls bouncing across her shoulders as she
stood and tapped her foot. It reminded Katie of a parent waiting on
her teenager after missing curfew.
    “ I was out. Why do you
care and what are you doing home so early?”
    “ I’ve been calling your
cell phone all night. Why haven’t you answered?”
    “ Oh.” Katie pulled out her
phone and looked at it. Seven missed calls. “I had it on vibrate in
my coat pocket, sorry. Is everything okay?”
    Maggie’s shoulders slumped. “It’s over
between Ian and me.”
    Katie sat next to her friend as Maggie
told her the details of the night’s events. She wrapped an arm
around her shoulder, gave it a squeeze. “I’m sorry,
Mags.”
    “ I’m surprised at how good
I feel about it, actually. He was all wrong for me.” She grinned,
and her demeanor instantly changed. Katie never would understand
how she could change her feelings so quickly. One minute she was
sobbing, the next she was laughing and ready to move on to the next
thing. “So, where were you tonight?”
    Katie looked at her
quizzically. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk more about your evening?”
    “ Hell no!” Her forehead
crinkled, then relaxed. “It’s simple. Ian’s a slug, who can’t keep
his eyes from roaming over every tight skirt that passes by, and I
deserve better.”
    “ Of course, you deserve
better. Besides, you always said Ian was just for fun—you would
never marry him.”
    “ I did say that.” Maggie
sat back on the bed, leaning against the wall. “So . . . where did
you go, and with who?” She sat upright and narrowed her eyes.
“Please tell me you didn’t go to a party without me! What the hell,
Katie?”
    “ I didn’t go to a party!”
Katie lifted her arms in surrender. “You’re not going to believe
what I did and with whom.” Katie swooned, leaned back against the
bed, and began telling Maggie about her evening with
Branson.
    “ You’re freaking kidding
me?” Maggie shifted on the bed, her eyes wide with wonder. “What
did you do? Where did you go? What’d ya talk about? Tell me
everything!”
    “ Whoa! Slow down.” Katie
couldn’t have hidden the wide grin, suddenly cramping her cheeks,
if her life depended on it.“We talked for a couple of hours at the
coffee shop, and then tried to watch a movie in his
apartment.”
    “ What do you mean tried? ” Maggie’s face
lit up, eager to hear the details.
    “ Seriously, Maggie! You
don’t think I would give it up so easily do you?” Actually, she
knew she would have, if he’d made a move. He was deliciously
handsome, and it took every ounce of will power not to throw
herself at him. “We tried to watch the movie, but ended up talking
through most of it. A kiss on the cheek when he walked me to the
elevator was as far as things got.” Katie sighed, falling back onto
the bed. “I really like him, Mags. We have a great deal in common
and you saw him—he’s gorgeous.”
    Maggie laughed. “Are you going to see
him again?”
    “ I hope so.”

 
     
    Four
     
     
     
    Katie was deep into her studies when
her phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number and let it go to
voicemail, so she could finish