Forbidden, Tempted Series (Book 1) by Selene Charles Read Free Book Online

all the memories. The roaring of the crowds, the clapping of hands, and the silent hush when she’d performed her trickiest stunt, a backward handspring.
    Though she didn’t think she was quite ready for that.
    Flint moved, becoming one with the memory of the girl who used to be her.
    Alive, and proud, she picked up her pace. Up here she wasn’t a clumsy girl with the hots for a creep who didn’t even know her name. She was Flint DeLuca.
    A seriously bad-a walker, who though a year out of the game, still had it.
    In the middle of giving herself some major props, she heard a distinctive murmur of voices. Deep and resonating with a scratchy burr.
    Flint stilled, gaze frantically dropping to the ground just as the shadows moved into the light, highlighting the dark features of a boy she couldn’t seem to forget.
    But the momentary lapse in concentration cost her.
    Flint fell.

Chapter 4
    C ain slammed Abel’s trailer open. The constant anger inside him buzzed like a disturbed hornet’s nest. “You can’t talk to her anymore.”
    He crossed his arms, filling the doorway with his massive frame. He was still unused to the girth of this new body. Two years ago, he’d looked just like Abel.
    Abel glared at him. “Flint?” He stressed the name as if daring Cain to deny it. “She’s my friend. And why did you have to act like such a bastard at lunch today? What happened to you, man?” Abel sneered, flicking his pencil down on his bed and making a beeline for the kitchen.
    Cain shut the door behind him.
    “You used to be cool. Now you always whine and moan about everything.”
    “No, I don’t.” Cain gnashed his teeth, fighting to remember that this was his brother. A brother he loved.
    A brother who didn’t understand. Didn’t know the truth. But Cain did. Cain knew a lot of things. Like the fact that Flint DeLuca shouldn’t be here.
    “You need to stay away from her.” He tried to warn Abel again.
    “Why?” Abel yanked on the kitchen door, sending a bottle of ketchup whizzing through the air to land with a dull thud in the tiny sink. “She likes me, and I like her.”
    An image of Flint filled Cain’s head. She’d been staring at him all through class, her molten brown eyes studying his face, almost feeling like a warm caress against his skin. Her scent of flowers punched him in the gut, tightening things and driving him insane. He’d ignored her, kept his eyes pasted to the chalkboard, refusing to give in to the sick craving to look back, the agonizing need to stare and imprint her fine-boned face in his memory.
    He’d succeeded until the end of class.
    Cain had stood in front of her, unleashing the full force of his gaze onto her flesh, knowing she felt the look on a visceral level, deep in her soul. She’d had freckles on her nose, a bow-shaped mouth, and a heart-shaped face.
    Something in the center of his chest had knocked painfully against his ribs. He’d call it a heart, but he wasn’t sure he had one of those anymore.
    Cain pushed it back. Abel needed to stay away. There were things in this world that he couldn’t understand, violent things. Evil. Things that on the surface appeared alluring and tempting, but peel the layer back and what beat within was something insidious and macabre.
    He was too innocent to know better.
    All these things flooded his tongue, but what he said was, “She doesn’t like you.” And he hated the way his words growled.
    Abel snorted, dumping a pile of mustard on his sandwich of ham and cheese. “Well, I doubt she likes you, if that’s what you’re implying. In fact, I’m pretty sure she called you a jerk-wad and another name that sounded like bastard hass. But I might be a little sketchy on that last word.” He grinned.
    Fire gutted his veins, making his skin rush with a wave of heat as his muscles throbbed and grew. Cain stalked his brother, slamming his open palm on the counter, dumping the sandwich to the floor.
    “See, that . That’s the crap I’m