Lightning Kissed by Lila Felix Read Free Book Online

incessant jokes, I
eyed the ocean before me. I loved the ocean. There was something
about the constant weightlessness that reminded me of flashing. It
was like bobbing up and down in that perpetual state of adrenaline
and calm.
    “Do you want me to go so you can swim
alone,” he asked facing the waves. He knew me too well.
    “No. I want to know what we’re going to do
about this.”
    His expression grew hard. “ We will do
nothing. I will do more research and eventually I will need to tell
the Synod.”
    Research meant finding the other keepers of
the histories—and maybe even speaking to some of the Prophets. Long
ago, before the Lucents had a Synod, there were Prophets. Their
words were gold and their wisdom infallible. But finally, some
Lucents began to think they had too much power and insisted on
having a council.
    My grandmother had been one of them—still
was.
    “Let’s go see Grammy first and then we
decide.”
    Still as a statue he stood, and then
bellowed out a hefty breath. “Since when is there a we, Colby?”
    I deserved that sting and all its
aftershocks. Nightly, daily, and sometimes hourly I had to remind
myself of why there wasn’t a we. And yet, here I was, calling us we
again.
    It felt like freedom.
    “There has always been and will always be a
we as long as we live, Theo.”
    I almost hoped he hadn’t heard my answer. If
he had, he provided no outward response. The waves became louder
and louder as they crashed closer to us both.
    “It’s too dangerous,” he began our banter.
It was useless on his part. I’d never lost an argument. He was too
soft. Always had been.
    “I love danger.”
    He turned to face me. “There are Resin on my
tail—always.”
    “Mine too. They like to look at my ass as I
flash away.”
    “You are so stubborn. You’re not going with
me!” He growled through a clenched jaw.
    I shrugged with my left shoulder, and my
left eyebrow followed suit. “That’s fine. I’ll just follow you. You
forget—I’m a seeker as well.”
    His jaw worked overtime and the vein on his
neck rolled blood through it in anger. That vein always popped out
when he was angry. It was the only way I knew. He’d never raised
his voice at me or even shown in tone or words any bit of
aggravation.
    Which was aggravating in itself.
    Show me some anger, man.
    The opposite was true of his expressions of
love. There had been times I had been brought to tears by his raw
honesty about how he felt about me. I’d never really been able to
return the same sentiment. It was hard for me to make that
emotional connection with anyone. I kept myself at a healthy
distance—healthy for me and everyone else. That mistake of getting
so close to my father wouldn’t be repeated again. He was taken from
me in an instant, and I couldn’t endure that pain again, ever.
    At the same time I couldn’t let anything
happen to Theo. It wasn’t an option.
    He turned around to face the mountain and
lifted his head to view the top. It wasn’t much of a mountain, but
then again, he wasn’t admiring the view. He was clearly thinking of
what to say next. He did that too much. Or maybe I didn’t do it
enough. Words and thoughts just blurted from my mouth at any time
and place.
    “All this time you’ve pushed me away, and
now that I’m in trouble and actually want you to stay away from me,
you want to come with me. Must you always be so damned stubborn?
Can’t you see?”
    His voice broke with his last question, and
at once I knew I’d taken it all too far. I got up from my seated
position. Theo’s hands were in his pockets, his head bowed in
exasperation. I looped my arms around his waist and splayed my
hands against his abdomen. His abs trembled underneath my palms,
but he didn’t move to embrace me.
    I’d definitely taken things too far in the
sarcasm department.
    I laid my cheek against the spot between his
shoulder blades. “Can’t you see?”
    Finally, his hands enveloped mine and
tangled our fingers