Nuclear Heat (Firework Girls #4) by J. L. White Read Free Book Online Page B

Somehow he was... holding me kind of, and the back of my neck had goosebumps where his fingers were touching me. I had goosebumps all over, I think. He had a strange look on his face. I have no idea what that look meant and don’t really want to analyze it, to be honest. I still remember how he smelled, though. Like Jack, but more. Probably because he’d been sweating from tearing down that wall. Probably it was just that. I mean, guy sweat smells sexy. That’s no shocker.
    I exhale sharply and get off the couch. I’m being an idiot. That has nothing to do with anything. That moment with Jack was just... a thing. Nothing.
    But feeling like I did last night after what should have been a pick up for the books, well... that’s not nothing. It’s not like me at all.
    I head into the kitchen, looking for something to snack on. I open the pantry, but just kind of stare at everything. I really need to go shopping. I’m totally out of the good snacks. The only thing in here that’s passable is fucking graham crackers.
    I consider talking to Jack about this weird unsettled feeling I have. He’s supposedly coming over sometime today to fix the drywall, so maybe I can talk to him about it then? When he’s not being a big dork, he can give me pretty good advice. If he ever shows up. It’s kind of late in the afternoon to start a project like this. Maybe we’ll just blow the whole thing off today.
    My phone vibrates in my pocket and I hear Jack’s ringtone. Speak of the devil. “Hey. Are you on your way?” I shut the pantry and start heading for the living room.
    “Not exactly.” His voice has a strange quality to it. Echoey, but something else.
    “You sound like you’re going through a tunnel. Where are you?”
    “On a plane headed to Spain.”
    O- kaay.
    “Ha ha,” I say. I’m still trying to figure out what I hear in his voice.
    “No, seriously. We land in about three hours.”
    I stop and the gears in my brain start working overtime. This can’t be right. He’s supposed to be on his way over here. “We?”
    “Emily and I. It was kind of an impromptu thing, you know.” His voice definitely does not sound normal. “We wanted to go and so we’re going.”
    “To Spain?” No, he has to be joking. Surely. God, he’s such a dork sometimes. “Look if you can’t do it today, it’s not a big deal. Just say so.”
    I hear giggling in the background. “Just a minute, honey,” he says. To her, Emily. Not me. Then he laughs. Still not to me, to her. Now I can identify what I’ve been hearing in his voice: excitement. He’s practically giddy.
    What in the hell?
    “You’re seriously on your way to fucking Spain. Just like that?”
    “Sometimes you just have to take a leap, right?” he answers. What the fuck is that supposed to mean?
    Now, thanks to Jack, my aforementioned unsettled feeling has just morphed into a vague sense of dread. Probably because he’s acting like an idiot and is, as a bonus, up in the air in one of those death traps they call an airplane instead of safe on the ground where he belongs. And what the hell’s he doing flying off to fucking Spain? Who does that?
    I’m hovering in the middle of the living room, but I find I need to sit. Foregoing the couch, I sink to the edge of the coffee table. “When do you get back?”
    There’s a pause where there should have been an answer. The wheels in my head are working again.
    “Jack?”
    “Um. I’m not sure. It’ll be awhile.”
    What? What the hell? I try to wrap my head around what he’s saying. There’s more giggling in the background. He gives her a soft laugh. It’s a deep throaty laugh that makes me frown. I don’t know why. “Sorry, Sam, I have to go. But I sent over a guy. His name’s Ron and he owes me a favor. He’ll take care of your drywall for you. Won’t cost you a thing.”
    “But—”
    “Bye, Sam.”
    The phone goes silent.
    I bring it around and stare at it. Jack’s name is still on the caller ID but the