Phoenix by Eden Maguire Read Free Book Online Page A

more far-siders made curious by the growing rumours about Foxton Ridge – it was a sunny afternoon and they had nothing better to do.
    ‘Darina, we need to talk,’ Phoenix began.
    In my experience, that is never a good sentence. Guys usually follow with, ‘It’s been great dating you and I’d like for us to stay friends, but it’s time to move on.’ For a split-second I thought this was goodbye.
    ‘No,’ he said quickly, tenderly. ‘That’s not what I mean.’
    ‘What then? What’s to talk about?’
    ‘I want to explain to you what it’s like for me , coming back to the far side, seeing you – how hard that is.’
    ‘I’m so sorry,’ I breathed. I realized that all I ever thought of these past few weeks was how bad it was for me – missing Phoenix, fearing that he would never come back to Foxton.
    ‘Don’t be sorry.’ Drawing me close and tilting my face up towards his, his lips brushed mine. ‘All I want is for us to be together – you know that. It’s all I ever wanted. Every time I step over, away from the far side, I ache for you. I try to picture where you are every minute of the day – what you’re wearing, what you might be doing. I think of you and Zoey sitting together in class, of you and Hannah listening to Summer’s songs … you and Christian playing guitar.’
    ‘That’s pretty much how it is,’ I murmured, my lips against his cheek as I picked up another unspoken message behind his words. ‘You know you don’t need to worry about me with Christian or Lucas or any of the other guys.’
    ‘It’s not you I worry about. It’s them.’
    ‘Explain.’
    ‘OK, so right now Lucas has Jordan, but Christian doesn’t have a girlfriend. He’s a good guy. Maybe he looks at you and thinks, “It’s been tough for Darina. I could step in and be her rock.”’
    ‘Christian!’ We were talking Christian Oldman – the boxer, the car-fixer, the all-round guy’s guy.
    ‘It’s not impossible.’
    ‘Yes – it is!’ I smiled then kissed him again. ‘But thanks for being jealous!’
    Phoenix closed his eyes for a while and seemed to relax. ‘I do know what I’m asking. Not even asking – just hoping.’
    ‘I don’t want anyone except you,’ I promised. ‘You can stop thinking about it. Now, do you want us to discuss what Hunter asked me to do?’
    Phoenix opened his eyes then shrugged.
    ‘Hey, Mr Casual, do you want to know or not? I’ll tell you anyway. He said for me to drive back to town and talk to your mom.’
    He stared steadily into my eyes. ‘I already know.’
    ‘Yeah, of course.’ I keep forgetting – you get yourself a Beautiful Dead boyfriend and telepathy is part of the package. They’re better at it than the brain scanners in any high-tech hospital, so you keep no secrets, whether you want to or not. ‘So Hunter said, talk to Sharon, ask her ifthe cops gave her more details about the way you died.’
    Phoenix was still gazing at me, tracking every minuscule neural connection in my brain.
    ‘I know – you’re thinking that’s not as easy as it might sound, since I’m not top of your mom’s list of favourite people.’
    ‘There’s that to face,’ he agreed. ‘How come it’s turned out that way?’
    It was my turn to shrug. ‘It’s like she’s accusing me of something and I don’t exactly know what. She just doesn’t like me, period.’ I thought again of the times I’d tried to help Zak and been on the end of Sharon Rohr’s hard, ungrateful stare, of the dozen times she’d passed me by in the street.
    Phoenix leaned against the side of my car, standing on one hip and kicking at loose stones with the free foot. ‘You have to understand, Mom never had things easy. She was young – just nineteen – when she married my dad. He promised a lot of stuff that he never delivered. Then he messed around with someone else, walked away, left her with three young kids.’
    ‘I understand. I really do. But I think it’s more personal than that, more