Between Darkness and Daylight by Gracie C. Mckeever Read Free Book Online Page A

much.
    She’d seen the predatory way he’d given her the once-over—with grudging admiration, chewing up her assets and spitting them out as if they weren't worth his time, as if she were a fluffy snoot who didn't deserve the time of day from a hard-working, serious man like him. Nova wanted to tell him they were on the same side but knew she needed to take her time.
    Then she’d almost blown it when she’d mentioned the smoking. How could she tell him she’d seen him smoking in her mind—what he was wearing, how and where he was standing—when he’d put out his last cigarette?
    Now she understood why the boy had seemed so familiar to her, why she’d had such a visceral reaction to him. He was from her visions, too, a part of her thoughts and soul, though not as intimately as his uncle was.
    But one element was missing. Where is the woman from my visions?
    Who is the woman?
    Nova grabbed her car keys and handbag on the way out of the house, looking forward to what promised to be a very interesting day.

    Between Darkness and Daylight
    39

    * * * *

    Ransom pulled the covers over his head as Zane burst into the room for the third time that morning, flicking on the light this go-round to emphasize that he wanted his nephew to get up, pronto.
    "Rise and shine, slugger. Three strikes, you're out."
    Ran turned his back to the door, grumbled something into his pillow.
    "Get up." Zane crossed the room and pulled off the covers. Ran curled into the fetal position and stuck his folded hands between his thighs, as if to keep them warm. Zane almost laughed as he sat down beside him.
    "Ran, gotta go."
    "Why? It's a freakin' Saturday."
    "Watch your mouth." Zane brushed away a long lock of hair that had fallen over one of Ran’s eyes. His heart sped at how much the boy looked like Sage, more and more every day. "Besides, what does the day of the week have to do with the price of tea in China?"
    "What?" Ran turned over to squint at him with that confused, grownups-are-weird look he’d perfected over the last couple of years.
    "Never you mind. Just get up. We're already running late."
    "I don't wanna go."
    "You should have thought of that before your little escapade."
    Ransom jerked to a sitting position and pinned him with an accusatory look that made Zane's heart sink and his brain go oh-oh-what-now..
    "I don't see why I have to ruin my weekend just cuz you wanna push up on a sister!"
    "What?"
    "You heard me. I saw the way you were looking at her. Just trying to impress and score some points is all."
    "Whether I am or not is none of your damn business, mister. Now get up." He knew he shouldn't have come out and cursed like that, regretted it as soon as the words flew out of his mouth. He’d lowered himself right down to the kid's juvenile level, but hadn't been able to help it. The enormous amount of time he spent with fresh, jive-talking teens day in and day out now showed in appalling ways.
    "You're not my father."

    40
    Gracie C. McKeever
    "You know what, Ransom? I'm the only father you've got."
    Ransom jumped out of the bed and stalked towards the door, catching Zane completely off-guard as he fled from the room.
    Zane got up and went after him. When he caught up halfway between the large loft's living room area and the front door, he grabbed an arm and turned the kid around to face him. "Where the heck do you come off, Ran, and where do you think you're going?"
    "To find my father."
    Zane sighed at the threat. The kid had delivered it often in the past, especially when he’d first moved in, boldly declaring his intention to run away and find his dad. Once he’d gotten halfway to Hoboken, the last known residence of the ignoble Trevor Cross. Just went to show how resourceful a kid could be when pissed off with the guardian in his life.
    "You think he’d put up with half the crap I put up with from you?"
    "I put up with crap, too."
    "Fine, so we both put up with crap. Live with it."
    "I don't want to live with