Sapphire Dragon (Awakened Dragons Book 2) by Terry Bolryder Read Free Book Online Page B

“Usually badass and cool with great powers.”
    “Hm,” he said. “Are they?”
    “Yeah,” she said. “Do you play any games? Wait, no, I forgot. You don’t even use your phone. Stupid question. So what do you do in your free time?”
    He bit his lip. It was full and slightly pink, and she wanted to be the one biting him. “I don’t do really anything right now.”
    “That’s a shame,” she said. “So many fun things to do. So before you moved, what did you do for a living?”
    He thought about it. “Security, I guess.”
    “How so?”
    “I was a bodyguard, maybe?”
    That made sense with his tall build. “Why did you stop?”
    “I was fired.”
    “Why?” she asked.
    He leaned closer to her in the booth and pulled her against him. “Don’t worry about it.”
    She pushed away. “No, I will worry about it. You’re so vague about everything you tell me. What about your family?”
    “Dead,” he said.
    “Right,” she said. “Of course. So you can’t tell me where you lived before or what you specifically did or anything about your family, other than they’re dead.”
    He ran a hand through his sun-streaked, dark-blond hair. “I can tell you anything else, though.”
    “Why did your friend put a dragon as an avatar?” she asked. “I assumed you were a gamer or something.”
    He shrugged his massive shoulders. “I don’t know. You’d have to ask her.”
    She sighed, leaning over her ice cream bowl. “Sometimes I feel like you’re so distant. And then you kiss me, and I feel so close. Like I know you. None of this makes any sense.”
    “You’re telling me,” he said.
    “Why?” she asked. “I’m an open book to you. Everything should make sense to you. You’re the one in control.”
    “What is your family like?” he asked.
    “Splintered,” she said. “My dad divorced my mom when I was young. He made a new family with another wife. My mom and I aren’t that close. She had to work a lot while I was growing up. I’m closer to my sister, but she lives overseas with her army husband. So I guess I’m pretty much alone.” She smiled sadly. “See? I’m an open book.”
    “Then why do you hide your pain?” he asked as blatant as the nose on her face.
    Her jaw dropped slightly in shock. Had she been that obvious? No one ever really noticed. “I… I guess I’m just used to it.”
    He folded his arms. “What happened?”
    “I’m not sure it’s any of your business,” she said. “But I was in an accident.”
    “A car accident?” he asked.
    She nodded.
    “So nothing like Bastien?”
    “No.” She confirmed. “I’m not dying, if that’s what you’re worrying about.”
    He frowned. “I just… can sense your pain. Usually people don’t hide it.”
    She raised an eyebrow. “How would you know if they were?”
    He shrugged, looking over at the group for a moment before turning back to her. “I just can sometimes.”
    “Sometimes, but not all the time,” she said.
    “I think that’s one of the things that draws me to you,” he said. “Your constant positivity. It’s such a mystery to someone like me, who can’t seem to let go of anything bad that happens.”
    “I guess I just choose to be happy. To see the good things in life,” she said.
    “How did it happen?” he asked.
    “I was hit by a drunk driver,” she said. “Ten years ago. It kind of… ended everything back then. But I found a new life. It wasn’t all bad.”
    His expression went dark. “So someone hurt you, probably nearly killed you, because they were stupid.”
    Was it her imagination or had the air gone colder by a few degrees? Possibly just the ice cream inside her, she guessed. “Luc, it was a long time ago.”
    “How do you just forget it?”
    “I don’t forget,” she said. “I just don’t let it ruin me.” She sighed.
    “I knew when it happened, I had two choices. To be incredibly unhappy and angry at the unfairness of it, or to be happy I still had my life.”
    “But it