NOCTE (Nocte Trilogy #1) by Courtney Cole Read Free Book Online Page A

   “Excuse me while I go show him
around.”
    I don’t bother to ask her who
the hell this guy is, or why she chose to invite him into our life by renting
out the apartment that both she and I wanted for ourselves .
I don’t have to ask.   I can see it
written all over her face.  
    She’s glowing as she looks at
him, an expression I’ve never seen on her face.   She’s interested in him. Very interested.  
    Apprehension builds in my belly
as I watch my father shake his hand, as they walk side by side down to the
carriage house.  
    The guy looks decent enough, but
there’s something about him. Something unsettling, separate from the way my
sister is staring at him in rapt fascination.     
    GetRidOfHimGetRidOfHimGetRidOfHim.
    I ignore the voices, and watch
the carriage house door close behind them.  
    A heaviness settles around me, something
dark and oppressing, because even though I want to save my sister from me, I
don’t know if I’m ready.  
    I smile at her.   “Ready to go?”
    She pauses, glancing back
outside, hesitant now as she stares at the closed door of the Carriage House.  
    “Um… let’s have a raincheck,
ok?”
    I suck in a breath, startled
that she would ditch me for this guy.   I should’ve known from the new look on her face.   The look of
intoxication. But having it actually slap me in
the face for the first time is still shocking.  
    She
has an interest outside of me.   Something that
came between us, even though the moment is small… even though it’s just a
stupid drive to the beach.  
    Even though I want to be
unselfish, I don’t know if I can handle it.
    We were outsiders our whole childhoods
and all the way through high school.   And while it sucked, it was also a hidden blessing, because since I was
all Calla had, she focused solely on me.   We’ve always been everything to each other.  
    Bile rises up in my throat as I
watch her descend the porch steps and walk across the lawns, her chin stuck
out, and her hands buried in her hair as she arranges it over her shoulder.
    I need her. I need things to
stay the same.   But I can’t risk
her.   I can’t suck her down.   I can’t let my craziness swallow her
then spit her out.   But I need
her.  
    My thoughts are contradicting
and confusing and swirl around in my brain until I can barely focus.   I stagger to the window seat and stare
down, my forehead pressed against the glass as I try to catch my breath.
    Serva
me, servabo te .
    Save
me, and I’ll save you.  
    As I remember the dark-haired
guy’s confident stride, I have a feeling that he’s someone I won’t be able to
save her from.  
    But the die has been cast.  
    I see that now.  

 

7
    SEPTUM

 
    Calla

 
 
    He came.  
    I think I’m in shock as I linger near the
house, trying to seem like I’m casually sitting at the little table on the side
porch, like I’m not waiting with
bated breath for them to re-emerge.    
    I can’t believe he’s here.  
    It’s been days since he took dad’s phone
number, and I waited every day, but he didn’t call. I thought he wasn’t going
to, that I’d imagined the chemistry, the connection.   Maybe even that I’d imagined him.  
    But he re-appeared in my dreams, again
and again. Smiling at me, staring at me, being
with me . My subconscious is definitely trying to urge me toward him, maybe even
toward living again. I don’t know.  
    All I know is that he’s here, out of the
blue today, with his dark eyes and British accent and on a motorcycle, no less.  
    Kismet
prevails.
    My lungs feel fluttery, along with my
heart, my stomach and my ovaries.   All of it feels quivery, like a shaking ridiculous mess. It feels like
it’s meant to happen, that I keep bumping into him, and dreaming about him, and
now he’s here in my life.  
    It almost takes my breath away.
    This feeling only grows more pronounced
when the Carriage House door finally opens and my father and Dare step back out.   They