Channeler's Choice by Heather McCorkle Read Free Book Online

especially when she heard him chastising her for insulting his friends.
    “ She seemed . . . honest,” Fane commented.
    Caitlin looped her arm through Fane’s as they started down the sidewalk again. “I think the word you’re looking for is reptilian,” she said.
    Eren laughed and high-fived Caitlin. They chatted as they walked but Eren couldn’t help stealing a glance in Aiden’s direction. While she trusted Aiden, she definitely didn’t trust Bridget. The idea of him living under the same roof with her was disturbing to say the least.

 
    “ Channelers marry for life. A channeler’s life is
    a long one, therefore the choice is vital.”
    ~from Life In A Society
     
    Chapter 5
     
     
    Aiden did his best to smile and be polite through dinner, but it wasn’t easy. Except for Bridget, the Murphy’s never really talked to him much, and he wished she wouldn’t. They treated him as though he was a border in a bed and breakfast and he didn’t mind. He had no intentions of making friends with them or getting close to them. He didn’t want another family. Eren and her family were more than enough.
    In the past, Bridget had been flirtatious and forward and Aiden had made it clear he wasn’t interested. The fact that she wasn’t giving up was tremendously annoying. Today she crossed a line.
    Without bothering to offer a reason, Aiden excused himself from the table after a quick compliment on the delicious meal. Mr. Murphy was too quick to dismiss him. Aiden knew he made them uncomfortable, but thought the man could at least try to hide it. Like almost everyone else in town, the Murphy’s were freaked out by the fact that he’d been raised by serial killers. He and Mr. Murphy had almost come to blows the first and only time the man mentioned it.
    After putting his dishes in the dishwasher, he hurried to his room in the attic.
    This attic was nothing like the plush quarters Eren lived in, but he didn’t mind. For one, it wasn’t finished. Both the walls and ceiling were open beams and lumber. There was room for a bed and dresser and not much more, but it was easily twice the size of his old ‘room.’ When he lived with the Moldovans, his room had been a space under the stairs; this was huge in comparison. The best part was the big window that overlooked the expansive yard.
    Floorboards creaked beneath light footsteps on the carpet in the hall below. His pen froze over the page as he waited for the footsteps to move on, but they didn’t. Instead, he heard the groan of someone stepping onto the first rung of the ladder. As they continued up the steps he tried to concentrate harder on the page before him, hoping if he pretended to be busy she would just leave.
    He did not want to talk to Bridget. Everything that needed to be said had been said on the way home. She’d run off crying after their discussion. The girl made him nervous and he didn’t want to be near her. As absurd as it sounded, he felt like she was a threat to his and Eren’s relationship. Not that he’d ever be tempted by anyone, let alone someone so dense and easy. And he wasn’t afraid of Eren getting jealous either. His fear was based on a bad feeling he got from the girl’s energy.
    When she approached the foot of his bed, he noticed her skirt was hiked up from the climb and she didn’t bother to pull it back down. She walked around to the side of the bed and he glared over at her. The dirty look didn’t so much as wilt the smile on her too-red lips. The old springs in the mattress creaked as she knelt on the bed and crawled closer to him, pretending to look at his homework. He was pretty sure it was no accident that she was practically falling out of her shirt. He swiftly looked back at his homework.
    “ What are you working on?” she asked.
    “ I was working on my English assignment.”
    “ Want some help?” she asked, ignoring his surly attitude.
    She leaned so close she was literally breathing down his neck. He flipped his