Loved by Morgan Rice Read Free Book Online

hand in hers. Her skin was so soft.
    Was he dreaming? What was this girl doing here, in the middle of nowhere? How did she even get here? He didn’t hear a car pull up, or even hear anyone walking towards the barn. And he’d just got there. He didn’t understand.
    “I’m Sam,” he said.
    She smiled wide, revealing perfect, white teeth. Her smile was incredible. Sam felt his knees going weak, as she looked directly at him.
    “Sam, Samantha,” she said. “I like the sound of that.”
    He stared back, at a loss for words.
    “I saw you out here and figured you must be cold,” she said. “Want to come in?”
    Sam racked his brain, but couldn’t figure out what she meant.
    “In?”
    “The house,” she said, smiling wider, as if that were the most obvious thing in the world. “You know, it has walls and windows?”
    Sam tried to comprehend what she was saying. Invite him inside the house? The one that was for sale? Why would she invite him in?
    “I just bought it,” she said, as if responding to his thoughts. “I didn’t have a chance to take down the For Sale sign yet,” she added.
    Sam was shocked. “You bought that house? “
    She shrugged. “I had to live somewhere. I’m going to Oakville High. Have to finish my senior year.”
    Wow. So, that explained it.
    So, she was at Oakville. And a senior. Maybe he’d go back to school, too. Hell, yeah. If she was there, why not?
    “Yeah, sure, whatever,” he said, as casually as he could. “Why not? Love to check it out.”
    They turned and walked together, back towards the house. As they did, Sam walked passed his crumpled pack of cigarettes, reached down and picked them up. With Caitlin gone, who cared?
    “So, then, are you, like, new here?” Sam asked.
    He knew it was a stupid question. She’d already told him that she was. But he didn’t know what else to say. He was never good at conversation.
    She just smiled. “Something like that.”
    “Why here?” he added. “I mean, no offense, but this town sucks.”
    “Long story,” she said mysteriously.
    Something struck him.
    “So, like, wait a minute, did you, like, say that you bought the house? As in you ? Don’t you mean your parents?”
    “No, I mean me. As in me ,” she answered. “I bought it myself.”
    He still couldn’t understand. He didn’t want to sound like an idiot, but he had to figure this out.
    “So, like, the house is just for you? Like, your parents—”
    “My parents are dead,” she said. “I bought it myself. For me. I’m 18 now. I’m an adult. I can do whatever I want.”
    “Wow,” Sam said, genuinely impressed. “That’s so cool. A whole house to yourself. Wow. I mean, I’m sorry about your parents, but I…I just don’t know anyone like that, like, who owns a house at our age.”
    She faced him and smiled. “There a lot of surprises you’re going to find out about me.”
    She opened the door and watched as he walked right in, entering the house enthusiastically.
    He was so easily led.
    She licked her lips, feeling the dull hunger arising in her front teeth.
    This was going to be much easier than she’d thought.

 
     
    SIX
     
     
    Caleb and Caitlin stood beside the river, staring into each other’s eyes. She trembled as she worried if he were about to say goodbye.
    But then something caught his eye, and his line of vision suddenly shifted. He looked at her neckline, and seemed transfixed.
    He reached out, and she felt his fingers brush her throat. She felt metal. Her necklace. She had forgotten she was wearing it.
    He lifted it and stared.
    “What is this?” he asked softly.
    She reached up and put her hand over his. It was her cross, her small, silver cross.
    “Just an old cross,” she answered.
    But before she’d finished saying the words, she realized: it was old. It had been in her family for generations. She hadn’t remembered who gave it to her, or when, but she knew it was ancient. And that it had belonged to her father’s side. Yes. It