Indelible by Lani Woodland Read Free Book Online Page A

applications.
    I stopped at a red light, turned my head, and allowed myself to enjoy the handsomeness that was Brent.
    He noticed my staring and asked, “What?”
    “As if you didn’t know. You’re not the type of guy that a girl gets tired of looking at.”
    “Oh. Well in that case, you’re welcome to look all you want,” he said and gestured to himself. “You’re allowed to touch, too.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
    I lowered my voice into its sexy-husky range. “I was hoping you’d say that.” With my flirtiest look on my face, I rubbed my hand slowly up his arm and then pinched him firmly on the shoulder.
    “Ow!” Brent rubbed his shoulder and grinned. “Not what I had in mind!”
    “It wasn’t?” I asked innocently.
    “Nope. To repay me for that undeserved pinch I get to choose the music.”
    “Sorry, but the driver gets to pick the station.”
    The light turned green and I put my foot on the gas pedal. “So, a few things you should know about my family,” I began, as we drove. “First off, my grandma can see ghosts.”
    “I had no idea,” he deadpanned, changing the radio away from my jazz station to his favorite.
    “I know that’s old information to you, but it’s usually my opening line. It’s always been the hardest part to explain to my boyfriends.” I swatted his hand away from the radio dial and changed it back. “Don’t mess with my radio.”
    “Boyfriends, huh?” Brent asked, sitting up taller in his seat. “How many are we talking about?”
    I shook my head and smiled, deciding to ignore the question, and drummed my fingers against the steering wheel. “Vovó is probably going to talk your ear off all night. She wants to know everything about what happened last year, and the thirty times I told my version of the story apparently weren’t enough for her.” I bit my lip thinking. “My mom will love you, but my dad … ” I cleared my throat, wondering how thoroughly I should prepare him for that experience. Too much knowledge could do more harm than good. I was so lost in thought, I missed the turn down my street. I flipped an illegal U-turn, almost causing an accident with the black sedan behind us.
    “Are you trying to kill us again?” Brent gripped his seat.
    “Ha, ha,” I said as I pulled up in front of my house. I parked the car and glanced over. “Are you ready?”
    “Of course.” Brent leaned back in the seat like he didn’t have a care in the world, but I didn’t miss the way he’d been chomping on his fingernails the whole way here. Ever since I’d known him, Brent had been a nail biter, except for the short period of time when Thomas had been in control of Brent’s body. Thomas didn’t share that habit, but he hadn’t been able to keep from cracking his knuckles. Every time Brent bit his nails it gave me a sliver of peace, proof it was still him, and not Thomas.
    I opened the door and drank in the sight of my old house with its tan stucco and gray siding. The windows were framed with blue shutters, and the porch encircled with a white railing. It felt much longer than a year since I had been here, staring out of my second story window, preparing to go to Pendrell. It all looked smaller than I remembered, but I knew it was the same; only I had changed.
    Brent straightened his shirt as he came to stand beside me. “I’ve never done the meet-the-parents thing before.”
    Given his extensive history of short-lived relationships, that didn’t surprise me. Before me, he had been a little afraid of commitment and had barely been on more than a handful of dates with any of his previous girlfriends—if you could actually call them girlfriends, which, personally, I preferred not to.
    “Don’t worry, they’ve never maimed any of the boys I’ve brought home. Yet.”
    “That makes me feel so much better.”
    I gave him a small grin and a shrug as I strolled up the front walk past the perfectly manicured lawn. I was about to put my key in the