Read Arise for Free Online

involuntary growl escaped my lips.
    Joshua shot me a worried look and tried to move farther away from her without falling completely off the bale. “Yeah, we’re all friends again. Aren’t we, O’Reilly? Why don’t you tell Kaylen how much you missed me?”
    O’Reilly was more than happy to take over the conversation. He leaned around Kaylen, grinning widely at her. “Yeah, dude. I missed him so much, I couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep … couldn’t shave.”
    “Bah-da-dum-dum-ching,” Joshua sang, crashing his hand in the air against an imaginary cymbal.
    Unfortunately for O’Reilly, Kaylen clearly wasn’t interested in the performance. She didn’t spare him so much as a glance. Instead, she pressed herself more firmly against Joshua’s side.
    “Well, I know I missed you,” she said. Then she lowered her voice for just Joshua—and, unintentionally, me—to hear. “Can I show you how much?”
    I felt an abrupt wave of heat from the bonfire, sharp and stinging against my back. The sensation was so strong I arched my neck against it. It quickly spread across my whole body until my cheeks flushed and I had to fan my face rapidly with one hand.
    When Joshua grabbed Kaylen’s hand—to take it off of him, I’m sure—the heat intensified. Without thinking, I stepped away from the fire and closer to the hay bale. Close enough to hear Kaylen whisper, “Kiss me, Josh.”
    My hands clenched, and I readied myself to shake the barn rafters, or maybe even cause an earthquake directly beneath Kaylen’s feet.
    Kaylen, however, beat me to the punch. Joshua had just placed her hand back in her own lap when she darted in like a snake and planted her lips on his. She tangled her fingers in his hair so quickly I almost didn’t see her move, and she pulled him close to her.
    Joshua made a small noise, in pleasure or protest I wasn’t sure. I didn’t have time to ask. At that incredibly inconvenient moment, the barn disappeared from sight.



Chapter
    FIVE

     
    F or the second time that day I found myself gazing up at the ruins of High Bridge.
    In the moonless dark it seemed creepier than it had this afternoon. More broken and hollow, like the skeleton of some giant, mythical creature. Above me the ribbons of caution tape fluttered in the wind. Otherwise the place was so quiet I could almost hear my nonexistent blood pumping from the surge of emotion I’d just experienced.
    I’d accidentally materialized here the moment I saw Joshua kissing Kaylen. Or Kaylen kissing Joshua. Whichever. I didn’t exactly care about the specifics right now.
    Gnawing furiously at my lip, I turned to stare at the darkened river. But instead of the water I could only see a wild blur of mental images.
    Her hand on his leg. His hand on hers. Their lips pressed together.
    Was I angry? Oh, yes. Angry, and jealous.
    But the longer I stared at the river, the more quickly I realized my jealousy didn’t resemble that of a normal living girl. Not by a long shot.
    After all, a living girl wouldn’t be jealous that her competitor could actually feel what she touched. A living girl wouldn’t be jealous that her competitor didn’t disappear when she kissed a boy. And a living girl wouldn’t worry that her boyfriend might—in fact, probably would have to—choose someone else because at least someone else could grow with him. Change with him.
    A millennium could pass and I wouldn’t change with Joshua. I would never change, never again.
    I felt my breath speed up, but I couldn’t seem to slow it. I couldn’t stop thinking these thoughts. Because, however much I disliked her, Kaylen was a normal, living girl. In fact, she probably wasn’t even that annoying once you got to know her. It’s not like she was intentionally going after someone else’s boyfriend, either. As far as she knew, Joshua was very available.
    And however much Joshua might deny Kaylen now, she or someone like her would eventually break through his defenses. How could she not?