Becoming by Raine Thomas Read Free Book Online

thought she could have been a model.
    Cornelius made a buzzing sound with his lips.
“Please, cuz. Don’t gross me out here.”
    Alicia jerked her head and sucked air through
her teeth. Well-used to the byplay between the cousins, who loved
each other dearly for all their arguing, Amber remained wisely
silent.
    “I wanted to know if I could get y’all lovely
ladies something to drink,” he said.
    Alicia grinned cheekily. “I’d love one,
thanks.”
    “I shoulda known you’d say that. Amber?”
    “Uh, sure.”
    “Watered down fruit punch or watered down
Coke?”
    “ Diet Coke,” Alicia said. “Girl’s
gotta watch her figure.”
    Fighting back a chuckle, Amber shook her
head. “I’ll have the punch, thanks.”
    When he turned with a small salute to go get
their beverages, Alicia adjusted her sunglasses and then groaned.
“Lovely. Michelle Moron just arrived. Can’t wait to see who she
decides to target today. It’s never a party until she makes an
idiot of herself.”
    Shifting so she could follow Alicia’s gaze,
Amber spotted Michelle as she made her way through the yard. She
was trailed by her best friend, Cynthia Ridley. Both of them had
heads turning in their tiny bathing suits.
    “Seems Michelle couldn’t nab a date even with
being willing to sleep with anything that walks,” Alicia said.
“Guess by that suit she’s wearing, she hopes to change her luck
today.”
    Amber snorted.
    “Does a Kleenex held together with dental
floss even constitute a bathing suit?”
    That made Amber laugh. Then she realized that
Michelle and Cynthia were headed in their direction. Knowing that
she was going to be the “target” that Alicia mentioned, Amber
squared her shoulders.
    “Uh, Alicia, I’ve got to excuse myself for a
minute. Be right back.”
    Alicia started to speak, but Amber quickly
got up from her chair and started walking in the direction of the
volleyball game. She didn’t want Alicia involved in this nonsense.
And since the tremors in her hands were progressing into her arms,
she knew she needed to get to Gabriel. There was no way this was
just stress.
    “Running to your brother , Hopkins?”
Michelle called out then, causing several conversations to cease
and people to turn and stare. “Might as well. You’ve got him so
cowed he’ll do anything for you.”
    Amber stopped walking. Slowly, she turned to
face Michelle.
    “Well, she is having sex with him,”
Cynthia said loudly as they got closer.
    “That’s what Gabe told me,” Michelle
confirmed as they stopped near Amber. She smirked. “He said he
likes that they’re under the same roof so he can have her
whenev—”
    She stopped abruptly when Amber’s hand shot
out and paused mere millimeters from her face. The sound Michelle
made was a bit like a duck getting its neck stretched. She jerked
back so hard in surprise that her sunglasses flew off her head.
Cynthia watched this all with her eyebrows several inches higher
than usual and her lips in a round O.
    Holding the strike pose as firmly as she
could in light of the vibrations coursing through her, Amber said,
“Don’t ever talk about Gabriel that way again. Ever .”
    The surge grew stronger as her anger and
stress escalated, and Amber knew she was in trouble. She felt the
snaps of energy starting in her chest, pulsing with the strong
beats of her heart. As her panic grew, the crackle of energy
grew…an unstoppable spiral that she knew would result in something
disastrous.
    She had to get out of there. Had to. But she
couldn’t move.
    And then Gabriel was at her side. He didn’t
acknowledge Michelle, but instead reached up and lowered her
sunglasses enough to look at her eyes.
    “Okay—we’re out of here,” he said, pushing
her sunglasses back up.
    Cynthia stumbled back two full steps. “What
the hell is up with her eyes?”
    Alicia and Cornelius approached as Gabriel
took Amber’s arm and started for the back gate. Alicia asked with
concern, “Is Amber