Aligned: Volume 2 Read Online Free Page A

silently. One bit of torture is finally over, but there are still plenty of hours in the day to experience the rest. I turn back when I see black eyes staring at me in the mirror, reminding me of the eyes I keep seeing in my dreams. I turn from the mirror to find the man, but he is gone. I want to ask Laura about it. She could tell me if the dreams I have are true or not, but every time I’ve ever brought anything up, she shoots me down. She will only ever tell me about Ethan’s past. She doesn’t seem to care if I have forgotten everything else and never go back to the past. She just wants me to remember him as the god he was. I resolve to forget about the dreams and just live my life for now. And today, my focus is on surviving the salon.  

CHAPTER FOUR
Landon

    Could be the stars sparkling in outer space

    I sit on the white leather couches in the lobby, occasionally glancing out the windows to watch the ocean. Mostly, I just sit and wait for her to come through the doors. I know she isn’t in her condo. I spent enough time knocking on her door to know. I think I pissed off all of her neighbors with the noise I was making. Two weeks is all I could go. I’m all out of self-control, and I’m not above begging today just to spend some time with her.  
    I hear the door to the lobby open, and I sit up straighter trying to get a glimpse of the woman walking through the door. The woman walking through the door is beautiful, blonde, but not Alex. More like Caroline than Alex. Caroline and I had a good time last night. Too good of a time if you base our night on what the tabloids are publishing today. I didn’t feel anything for her, though. Caroline didn’t turn me on the way she used to. I didn’t feel the excitement, the adrenaline, the rush I would expect from going out with a woman. Right now, the only woman I have a chance of experiencing that with again doesn’t want to see me and doesn’t want to talk to me. So I’ll sit and wait. Wait. I hate that word. I’m not a patient man, but I find myself wasting half a day away just sitting and waiting for her.  
    I hear the door to the lobby open again, and I don’t even bother to look up. It won’t be her. I fidget with my phone trying to look busy, and after a reasonable amount of time has passed, I look up at the passerby. Alex. She’s walking toward me, a sly grin on her face. She’s walking , without crutches, or a cane, or anything. She walks with her prosthetic leg as if she has been doing it all of her life. Amazing. I hold back my own smile as she walks toward me, trying to look indifferent so she can’t see how she affects me, but I can’t keep the smolder out of my eyes or my heartbeat from speeding up.  
    She stops walking when she realizes what she is doing, that she isn’t supposed to be walking toward me. We aren’t friends anymore; we aren’t anything. I get up from my seat and move the few feet to her, not letting her escape into the elevator without talking to me. Maybe if I just hear her voice it will be enough for me to get through the next few weeks without her.  
    “Hello, Alex. You look amazing,” I say. I pull her into a gentle embrace, breathing in her scent of raspberries and fresh flowers as I do. The only girly thing about her. Otherwise, she looks like a tomboy in her running shorts, tank, and tennis shoes. I don’t think she’s bothered with makeup, and she’s pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She fits perfectly into my chest, though, when I embrace her. She just fits. When I reluctantly let her go, I see the flicker of disappointment flash across her face before she plasters a fake smile in its place.  
    “You look good too, Landon,” she says, taking in my full appearance. Her eyes linger over my chest before making their way up to my face. She moistens her lips with her tongue and my mouth goes dry imagining her tongue on my lips. I clear my throat to try to remain normal, but that’s impossible when I’m