September Rain Bk 2, Savor The Days Series by A.R. Rivera Read Free Book Online

lyrics were beautiful. I think that’s what made me
love Analog Controller so much—their music, in and of itself, was
fantastic, but the melody and content of the lyrics took it all to
another level. It was like the most delicious frosting on the
world’s greatest cake. Decadent and sexy. Addictive. Yeah, that was
Jake.
    I can admit now that I was a little
obsessive about it, but at the time I didn’t see it that way. Hero
worship can make you see reason in the crazy.

5
    — Angel
    When I woke up, I was the only person
in the room. Avery was gone. I found a note she left on my pillow,
saying she’d walked the eight blocks back to the club to get her
moms car. After peeking through the bathroom door that had been
left slightly ajar, I determined Jake was in the shower. Andrew and
Max were out somewhere, too.
    I was wondering if I had time for my
own shower when the motel phone rang. I hesitated, but then
answered, in case it was important. It was Avery. She said some
jerk-wad had slashed two tires on her moms’ car. She was already
with the tow-truck driver on her way to get them replaced and said
I needed to take a bus back because I’d get home faster.
    The foster family I was staying with
had been out of town that weekend. Their natural daughter and I
were told to stay put. The daughter took off with her boyfriend and
I took the lack of supervision as a sign that I was meant to see
Analog Controller. But the only way I was getting away with
sneaking off was if I got back before my guardians did.
    Since Avery was stuck at the tire shop
for the next few hours, I planned to take a Greyhound back to
Eager, the slightly larger neighboring township that had a transit
system. From there, I’d walk the last couple of miles into
Carlisle. But when Jake got out of the shower and I explained my
plan, he was not having it.
    His coppery brown hair was hanging
damp over his forehead when I followed him out to the corridor for
a smoke. His hair shimmered in the new daylight, casting hues like
fallen leaves. I examined each color; the sparkle of reds and
browns with just the slightest tinge of golden blond. It was just
then that I realized I had never seen him in the daytime. He was so
much more beautiful in the natural light.
    “You want me to drop you off at a bus
station? That’s stupid. We’re going to the same place.” He pulled
my ear lobe with his index finger and thumb, taking my attention
away from his hair. “Besides aren’t you too young to travel alone,
Minor?”
    He grinned darkly at my shocked
expression, throwing up his hand. I gasped when I saw my student
ID—the one that was supposed to be tucked safely inside my
wallet—between his sneaky fingers. “You’re a junior. So that makes
you, what—sixteen, seventeen?”
    I snatched it away from him with a
righteous offense I didn’t deserve. “You were snooping? And I just
turned seventeen.”
    Jake’s dark smirk grew. “Yes. I’m a
snoop. And you are a liar.”
    I sighed, hating the turn our
conversation had taken. “Why? And I will be seventeen next month.
Honest.”
    Jake shook his head. “Because I’m
nosey and I don’t like being lied to.”
    “Well, I don’t like people going
through my stuff.” I felt my chest constrict and closed my eyes. I
never should have said it was my birthday, I knew that, but he had
no right going through my things. “If you want to know something
about me, maybe you should ask.”
    “I did.” He stepped closer, unfolding
his hands to set on my shoulders. As he looked into my eyes, his
beautiful bluish-hazel confections with flecks of gold in the
center reflected the color he was wearing. Black. “Promise not to
lie to me anymore and I’ll let it go. And maybe even ask you
out.”
    I scoffed. “You want to ask me
out?”
    “Maybe. Maybe this kind of thing
doesn’t happen to me every day.”
    “And you’re asking me out?”
I needed clarification. He had me in knots. He was mad. And he
wanted . . .