Beguiling (Tempting #2) by Alex Lucian Read Free Book Online Page A

exit. With a sigh, I grabbed the purse that she’d left hanging over the back of her chair and jogged to catch up with her. With the sound of catcalls from my friends in our wake, I finally reached Scarlet just before she pushed through the door and into the dark parking lot.
    We didn’t say anything in the car, especially since she had leaned her head back against the seat with her eyes closed. Just before I turned into our neighborhood, I had to stop at a red light. Looking over at Scarlet, eyes closed and a small smile on her face, I almost didn’t want to disturb her. But, I also didn’t want her puking anywhere near me. The water bottle she took with her every day to class was still in the center console, so I lifted it and set it on her lap. She sat up with a start, then looked down at the metal container.
    “Oh.”
    “Drink it, you’ll thank me in the morning.”
    She did so quietly, taking small sips until I pulled the car into her driveway. The house was completely dark, which didn’t surprise me too much. I figured her parents were the kind of people who marched upstairs to bed at nine every night, clad in flannel pajamas. When I’d pulled the keys from the ignition and stood up out of the car, she didn’t immediately follow me. I braced my hands on the roof of her car, tapping my fingers for a while before I finally ducked my head to look at her, assuming she’d closed her eyes again and gone to sleep. Also known as passing the fuck out.
    But she was awake, staring at the handle of the door like she didn’t know how to work it. With a sigh, I walked around the hood of her car, then pulled the door open for her, careful to make sure she didn’t spill out onto the driveway. But instead, she pulled herself up and stood in the opening like a queen or some shit, her red hair spilling over her shoulders and her dark eyes looking almost black given the late hour. And her lips…
    Nope. No . Not looking at her lips.
    Scarlet walked past me, so close that I felt her brush up against my back where I still held the door open like a jackass.
    “Aren’t you coming in?” she asked from behind me. I shut the door with a soft click and then turned to face her.
    With a nod toward the house, I smirked a little, knowing it would probably piss her off. “Why? Afraid of the dark?”
    “No.”
    I waited for her to elaborate, but she didn’t. She just stood there on the walkway leading to her front door, looking very much like the soberest drunk person I’d ever met. Then she swayed a little in place, so I walked toward her, making sure she wasn’t going to bite it on the pavement. She steadied herself, holding her hands out like there was something she could grab onto. Then she smiled again at me, and something stabbed me in the heart. But like, a little stab. Nothing to freak out about.
    “Come on, let’s get you inside.”
    “Let’s get us inside.”
    “Uh-huh, let’s do that,” I said gently, rifling through the set of keys that I still had, trying a couple before finding the one that unlocked the front door. The slight haze of alcohol that lingered in my head from earlier was screaming like a bitch that I probably shouldn’t go in with her. If Pastor Jennings found me bringing his shit-faced daughter inside, he’d probably drown my ass in holy water with a smile on his face.
    But the house was silent as a tomb when we walked in, not a single light on as far as I could tell.
    “Scarlet,” I whispered to her back as she beelined it to the kitchen and flicked on every light on her way. The hallway light was so damn bright, and so jarring after being in the darkened car and house that I squinted. With a worried glance up the stairs, I followed after her when she started slamming cupboard doors and giggling.
    “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I said when I turned into the kitchen. Scarlet was standing, standing on the kitchen counter, her tight ass in those dark jeans swaying like she was listening to music.