The Halo Effect (Cupid Chronicles) Read Online Free Page B

stare up through wide, shocked eyes at the man who had jumped off his now side-lying motorcycle. The engine was still running with an idle drone.
    Braelyn rushed up as the man lifted Tristan to his feet and they exchanged a few mumbled words.
    “You nearly killed him!” she screamed as terror threatened to skin her alive. She ripped her son from his grip and scanned him for injury. “Are you all right, baby?” She hated that fear was making her voice tremble.
    Tristan didn’t say a word. His shell-shocked gaze never left the man towering above them. Finally, he looked at her. She could see the mortification now written all over his face as her fear abated. He was fine. More than fine. He was his normal, teenage, don’t-touch-me self. He leaned over and picked up his backpack before loping off to the house with a shaky gait.
    She looked down at the ground, then over to the neighbor’s bike. Obviously he’d seen Tristan in time to avoid hitting him. She’d embarrassed herself. Again.
    He sauntered over and picked up the motorcycle like it weighed nothing and straddled it.
    She approached him, her legs still a bit wobbly. “I’m . . .”
    He eyed her with those black eyes. She swallowed and tried again. “I’m . . .”
    He waved her off. “Sorry. I didn’t see the kid.”
    She nodded as he gave what might’ve been a half- half smile, making her heart go a little wobbly.
    She couldn’t speak. Mortification had left her speechless.
    He didn’t seem to care. “I’ve gotta go.” He gunned the engine and drove away before she could finish another thought.
    She stood there mesmerized as he zipped down the street like a man on a mission. Then she took a moment to compose herself before walking home.
    Tristan eyed her warily as she stepped onto the porch. He must’ve been waiting to see what his punishment was after today. Embarrassed or not, he knew better than to lock himself in his room before she’d spoken to him about his behavior.
    “Hey.” In other words: Am I in trouble?
    She took in his split lip and the bruises around his eye. She brushed the hair back from his forehead. For once, he didn’t shy away from her touch. Man, with his dark hair and deep, soulful eyes, he resembled his father more and more every day and it was like a pinprick to the heart every time she acknowledged it.
    “Hey.”
    He continued to study her face, waiting to see what else she’d say. “So . . .?”
    “So, we’ll talk about it later. Come with me to the nursing home tonight? It’s bingo night,” she said to lighten the mood.
    She volunteered every week, sometimes more, at Angelic Shores assisting the activities director because she had an affinity for the elderly. But more than that, it helped her feel close to her grandmother again, the only person who had ever really understood her. And working there eased the ache of her passing just a little. She tried to coax her son to participate once in a while to expose him to the importance of volunteerism.
    He rolled his eyes. “Do I have to?”
    She tilted her head. “Well, considering someone’s been suspended for three days and has nothing better to do with his time, I don’t see why not.”
    He sighed heavily. “Fine. But I’m not doing bingo. Mrs. Roth always pinches my cheeks. I’m gonna hang out with the men if I go.”
    “Okay. Go get cleaned up.” She watched him slink to his room. “Change your shirt!” she called after him.
    She went to her bedroom to clean up as well and thought about the crazy path her life had taken to end up here—to a ramshackle house needing much more than the plumber she could barely afford, her son needing the father who no longer wanted him, and—most importantly—the primal instinct to care for her own in the face of threats. Nobody, especially no man , was going to threaten her livelihood, her self-worth or her body. But, above all other things, she vowed that never again would anyone threaten her son. She’d die