Odd Melody (Odd Series Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

collected on every visible surface. We were going to get hit hard.
    The sky above darkened from the predicted storm, which would probably thrill my daughter if it caused an early release from school. I looked at my cell phone, relieved to see I still had a full charge, just in case.
    Nothing else, no businesses or anything, remained around Peaches. Tannery Hill, the road that it was on, used to be all factories, but they stood abandoned now, signs of a dying economy. I had the uncomfortable thought that if I screamed, no one would hear me. My stomach flipped and my palms sweated a bit in worry. I rubbed my hands against my legs and forced myself to get moving.
    Go, Janie. Way to be optimistic .
    I hustled to the front door. The knob turned easily under my hand so I went in. The last time I had been there, a man inside checked ID's. No one waited to stop me so I went through the next door, too.
    Someone had turned on the lights, but I didn’t see Chance. He had been there, though. He had pushed aside all of the tables and chairs and put down red mats. The better to hide the blood stains.  
    God, what was with me and my negativity?
    Without warning, the room tilted and spun in crazy circles around me. I staggered, looking for a barstool to sit before I fell. I perched against the bar, as he had most of the chairs stacked on the tables either against the wall or on the T-shaped stage that the strippers danced on. He came out from a door behind the stage.
    “Hey.” He didn’t look at me, seeming intent upon some task.
    But I sure looked at him. He wore a white, button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up and half the buttons undone. It draped negligently out of dark denim jeans that hung loosely around his legs. Chance usually dressed casually. Vance, on the other hand, did not. Vance looked like a British rock star, while Chance would seem mundane if I didn’t know better. I mentally chastised myself for comparing the two men and swallowed hard past the nausea caused by the dizziness.
    “Hey.” I managed to get the word out despite the woozy sensation. I forced myself to stand up and walk to him, concentrating on each step so that I didn’t wobble like a drunk. Rule number one with the big, bad, monsters—show no weakness.  
    Chance still didn’t spare me a glance. Instead, he flipped the few remaining chairs onto the stage. “We’ll start out pretty simple. Defense, mostly. I figure, you won't be starting any fights in the near future, just fending them off.” He talked while he worked, all sleek and catlike in his movements, and never once glanced back, taking it for granted that if he talked, I listened.
    I nodded, but even that made him seem to glow. I tried to focus, to force back whatever sickness overwhelmed me. He was really the last person that I wanted this to happen around. Chance had flip-flopped sides on me once already in our short acquaintance—one minute he helped me, the next he screwed everything up.
    Unfortunately, Chance was nothing if not perceptive. When he looked at me finally, the damned cord flared to life. “You didn't feed.” His jewel bright eyes moved over me, and I could almost feel the heat of their touch on my overly sensitive skin. When he again met my gaze after his thorough perusal, my breath hitched in my throat.
    “Um.” My brain seemed wadded in cotton.
    “Okay, we agreed that I’m to help you learn to control yourself while feeding so you don't kill people at random. Also, during our lesson, the game rules go on pause, correct?”
    “Um.” My eyes focused on his glowing skin, and I couldn’t organize my thoughts enough to make sense of what he had said. With him, a catch lurked in there somewhere, but I wasn’t able to figure out where.
    “Yes, or no, Janie?” He spoke as if talking to a not-very-bright child.
    “Yes.”
    “Okay.” He breathed out a long sigh.
    I studied the bit of his chest revealed by the shirt. It drew me like a magnet, and I struggled not