The BlackBurne Legacy (The Bloodlines Legacy Series Book 1) by Apryl Baker Read Free Book Online Page A

awesome.”
    Emma’s expression of horror has me choking on laughter. She’s never gone anywhere with a hair out of place. Taking Jason shopping in his sleepwear is not something she’s prepared to do.
    “Awesome you may be, Jason Reed, but you are not driving me around dressed like that.” She wags her finger at us. “Get yourselves home and put on something decent. I should be ready to go in about an hour.”
    She shoos us out, and we grab our journals on the way. The thick leather feels warm against my bare skin, and for just a second, I swear it felt like it breathed against my chest, where I have it clutched. Yanking it away, I stare at it, confused. Jason shoots me a curious glance while he lays his in the back seat. He doesn’t toss it, but carefully puts it down.
    Despite our feelings about our mother, neither of us is willing to mistreat the only thing we’ve gotten from her in over twelve years. We may hate her, but we love her too. We just don’t talk about it, and a gift from her is precious. We don’t say it out loud, but we accept it.
    “I think I’ll give Emma a heart attack and wear this shopping.” Jason puts the car in reverse and backs out.
    “You have a death wish, don’t you?”
    He chuckles. “Got to keep her on her toes.”
    “She’ll beat you bloody,” I tell him, my fingers caressing the leather of the book. “Jase?”
    “Yeah?”
    Do I ask him? I don’t want him thinking I’m slipping back into my brand of crazy. “These books…did you…did you feel anything weird when you touched yours?”
    “Weird how?”
    “I dunno.” My eyes rest on my name emblazoned across the book. “It felt a little like it…breathed?”
    “That’s the leather. It expands in different temperatures. I bet it’s been in storage for so long, the leather just reacted to the cooler temperature of the AC.”
    “But you did feel something?” I press.
    “Yeah, but like I said, it’s just a chemical reaction. A book doesn’t breathe.”
    “I know that,” I murmur. “It’s just weird, is all.”
    “Don’t sweat it, Alex. It’s just a book.”
    I turn my attention back to the scenery and let my fingers knead the soft leather. Jason’s right. It’s just a book.
     
    ***
     
    Shopping is exhausting. I mean not just tiring, but feet aching, head splitting, I need a massage to recover exhausting. Especially with Tornado Emma pulling up the rear. Oh my God…that woman can shop. She dragged us from one furniture shop to another until she was satisfied we had everything we’d need to live comfortably.
    After that, Jason begged to be fed, and we ate at Subway, Emma declaring he needed to learn to eat healthy. He’d grumbled something about a double bacon cheeseburger. He’d looked so petulant and put out, I’m still grinning.
    We drove to Beckley for the good stores. Jacob’s Fork is equipped with the essentials and a few tourist shops, but if you want something like Kohl’s or Best Buy, you drive two hours to Beckley. The mall yielded a new wardrobe for me and a winter coat for Jason. I am also the proud new owner of an iPhone, an Apple MacBook Pro, and a new iPad. Emma wanted everything to sync up properly. It was free, too. Emma wouldn’t let me pay for a thing.
    She also decided I needed a haircut, much to my horror. I spent a half an hour trying to explain why I didn’t want a haircut, but instead, I find myself staring at my reflection in the stylist’s big mirror, his own expression comforting.
    I take deep, steadying breaths. In and out. In and out.
    Change is not something I do well with.
    “I don’t know about this.” I eye the scissors in the stylist’s hands with trepidation, my apprehension rising.
    “Trust me.”
    “But to cut my hair that short?”
    “I promise, it will be perfect,” Stefan, the stylist, tries to soothe me. “Your hair will be cut to here, just below your shoulders, and allow all that natural curl to come out of hiding. All of this hair, it hides