Phoenix by Eden Maguire Read Free Book Online Page B

aimed directly at me. Maybe it’s connected with Brandon giving me the car …’
    A pause for breath gave Phoenix time to pull metowards him and kiss me. ‘Listen,’ I went on, ‘Hunter’s right about this at least – if anyone knows more details, it’s your mom. Are you OK for me to try and talk to her?’
    ‘OK?’ He looked unsure.
    ‘What? Am I suddenly speaking a foreign language?’
    This time Phoenix didn’t smile. ‘Did you stop to think, it hurts Mom big time whenever she sees you? You remind her …’
    ‘Of you?’
    Phoenix nodded. ‘She knows I totally gave myself to you. She felt squeezed out of the picture.’
    ‘I didn’t aim to do that,’ I protested.
    ‘It doesn’t have to be planned. It’s just what happens – any mother wants to hold on to her son.’
    ‘I guess.’ Feeling that we’d headed down a cul de sac, I changed direction. ‘You know what I often dream?’ I asked.
    He grinned. ‘You mean, the one where I didn’t die and we’re still together on the far side? Or the one where you believe we can cheat this twelve-month deadline and carry on the way we are for ever?’
    ‘That one,’ I nodded and twined my arms around him. ‘Why not? We could run away – right now. Why don’t we?’
    ‘You mean – drive in your red car, head west until wereach the ocean, live on a beach in California where no one can ever find us?’ Phoenix put his arms around my waist and spoke softly into my ear, teasing and lulling me with the music of his voice.
    ‘I’m not kidding,’ I protested. ‘What’s to stop us from planning our escape?’
    He pulled back and grew serious. ‘The world isn’t big enough, Darina. We’re in the you-can-run-but-you-can’t-hide scenario. Twelve months is all I get, no matter what.’
    ‘We can’t even try?’ I murmured. In my dream, Phoenix and I always found a place where the overlord couldn’t find us, where Phoenix cheated death and we were free.
    He closed his eyes, drew a deep breath then opened them again. ‘Don’t tempt me. And don’t think I wouldn’t love to do it, because I would – more than anything, believe me.’
    Then, abruptly, he pointed along the ridge to where Dean was walking through the aspens towards us. ‘Our thirty minutes are up,’ he said.
     
    As I drove the interstate from Foxton to Ellerton, I rehearsed what I would say to Sharon Rohr. I want you to know that the new car was Brandon’s idea – I never asked him for it. It’s his way of keeping his promise to Phoenix that he would take care of me. And I hope you don’t think I ever wanted to come between you and Phoenix when he was … No, skip that. Plus, I’ve heard there are a few issues with Zak lately – maybe if I saw him, he would relate to me . Nope, too cheesy. In fact, whatever I came up with, there were serious flaws, knowing as I did that Sharon would most likely answer the door, take one took at me and close it in my face.
    Was there another way? Did I have to drive straight to her townhouse in the row squeezed between the cinema and the computer repair centre, or could I be more subtle – write her a note asking to meet up for coffee, or track down Zak and ask him to pass on a message?
    Only ten days to go, I reminded myself as I drove between the sheer granite cliffs to either side of the highway, coming out of the mountains, through Centennial on the outskirts of town. Deciding in the end that the direct approach was best, I headed for the parking lot behind the cinema. A big sci-fi action movie was showing and a long line curled right around the back of the building and along one side of the car park, on the waste land where they’d recently pulled down an old office block.
    ‘Darina!’ Zoey’s voice called from the middle of the line, followed by a cheery hey and a hi from Jordan and Hannah. ‘Come to the movie with us! We tried you on your cell phone. Where’ve you been?’
    ‘Hey. I’ve been busy.’ I smiled at Zoey – it was