Homecoming by Autumn Dawn Read Free Book Online Page A

and paced. When she’d worked up enough nerve, she went back to demand to see Jasmine.
    Keilor was there, leaning against Jayems’ desk. His eyes were dilated, and he held a drink in his hand.
    She froze like a doe scenting fresh blood.
     
    “She’s in her room,” he said. He took another drink.
    Wiley raced to Jasmine’s room and burst in, expecting to find Jasmine half dead.
    Instead she was curled up on her tan and chocolate velvet couch, brooding.
    “Where’s your keeper?” Jas asked.
    Wilting with relief, Wiley waved her hand. “Gone. But how are you?” She knelt in front of the couch, concern clenching her stomach. “Did he hurt you?”
    “No.” Before Wiley could question her, she added, “How did he know? There shouldn’t have been enough time for them to figure anything out.”
    Guilt pricked her. Pretending she knew less than she did, Wiley moved to an armchair, tucking one long leg under her. “Lights,” she ordered and then, “Shutters.”
    Hoping to avoid more in depth questions, she said, “They figured it out right away. The Haunt brought me back here and Jayems told me that they knew.” She shivered, remembering what else he’d said. Her eyes swept down. “I was afraid of what Keilor would do when he found you.” She peeked through her lashes to see Jasmine busily avoiding her eyes. Her voice ached when she asked, “What did he do, Jas?” She was afraid of the answer, but she needed to know. If it was the worst, then she wanted to help make it better.
    Jasmine looked at her and up at the ceiling, then took a deep breath. “He tied me up to a tree and kissed me,” she confessed quickly, and blushed.
    “ What ?” Wiley hadn’t expected that. The way Keilor had looked … she knew Jasmine’s taste in men. Hadn’t they traded opinions for years? Keilor was just her type, and if all he’d done was kiss her friend …
    “How was it?”
    Jasmine bounded off the couch, putting an armchair between them as if to stop the flow of curiosity. “Wiley! How could you ask me that?”
    Wiley regarded her with the knowledge of years of friendship. “I know you’re attracted to him. I saw you eyeing his backside earlier.” When Jasmine flushed and mumbled, she went on knowingly, “And if he’d hurt you, or you’d hated it, you’d be upset in a different way. So come on,” she coaxed. “Spill the beans.”
    Jasmine kneaded the back of the chair and grumbled, “It was ... okay.”
    Wiley’s eyes brightened and she sat up, drawing her other leg under her. “Just okay?”
    “Bah.” Jasmine hunched her shoulders. “All right! Better than okay. More like …
    all the stars fell and lit up my sky,” she finished softly.
    “Wow,” Wiley breathed. Oh, Jasmine had it bad, and for her cousin, of all things.
    Gleeful anticipation distracted her for a moment, until she remembered that she didn’t want Jasmine falling for that particular cousin. They were supposed to be trying to escape.
    But if they didn’t, Keilor was in trouble.
    “But it’s not going to happen again,” Jasmine said forcefully. She walked around the chair and sat down. Drawing her knees to her chest, she hugged them protectively.
    “I’m not going to let that snake get within ten feet of me next time.”
    That was unlikely, though Wiley kept it to herself. She had a feeling that Keilor was going to be underfoot a lot, keeping an eye on them. After their aborted escape attempt, she’d lay money on it.
    She sighed with regret. “I guess we won’t be going home any time soon.”
     
    Jasmine grunted. “A gun,” she muttered, scrubbing her face. “That’s what I need the next time. A gun to shoot the son of a bitch before he gets his hands on me.”
    Wiley turned troubled eyes on her. It was happening, the thing she’d feared.
    Already her loyalties were being divided. She could kill Jayems! “I don’t want anyone to get hurt, Jas. Besides, he doesn’t seem like the kind of man to take it well if you