The Torn, Book One of the Holding Kate Series by LaDonna Cole Read Free Book Online

a wrestler’s hold.
    We were standing on a flat rock about a yard in diameter, lifted on a thin pillar of pale stone. I had been to the Empire State Building with my mom one year. We rode the elevators to the top and walked around the observatory. The height of that dizzying drop made me literally ill, but it was nothing compared to where we stood.
    With no rails, no ropes, nothing to secure us, except each other, we gawked at the ridiculous drop. Miles below us were pink clouds painted by sunrise and beyond that, who knew? The wind was overwhelming and whipped around us, threatening to push us off the edge of the tiny stone we called foundation.
    “Corey!” I cried. “Dear, God!” My whole body rocked in tremors of fear and cold. Corey hugged me tighter. “What are we going to do?”
    He was silent for a moment, and then he spoke into my ear. “We are going to memorize everything we see, right? We are going to soak up everything we need to survive, okay?”
    His calm tone was a balm. Right. Yes. We are going to observe and absorb. “I guess that means I have to open my eyes,” I whimpered.
    He laughed. I felt his body chuckle as it was tightly pressed to mine.
    Tension seemed to flow out of me and slide down the rock pillar. I felt a sense of giddiness—maybe it was thin air or adrenaline, I don’t know—but a sense of belonging engulfed me. As I embraced Corey, it was as though arms bigger and stronger than his held me. A feeling of pure love seemed to seep into my being, as though our souls were somehow exposed, and we were stripped down to our basic selves, wide-open to a greater being, a benevolent and loving entity.
    Corey drew his head back and looked into my eyes. We simply stared at one another with round eyes and full hearts.
    “Are you feeling this?” Corey asked with a sense of wonder.
    I nodded and nearly purred with contentment and satisfaction. I looked up at Corey and his blue eyes mirrored the sheer joy and peace that I felt. His face broke into a wide smile and mine followed suit. We literally beamed at one another, bound together in a tight cord of sacred love.
    “Wow.”
    A rushing sound of ferocious wind twisted up the pillar. We leaned over to see the clouds swirling in tornado strength and rising up to meet us. The sound was like a train bearing down on us. We locked our arms around each other and braced for the impact.
    Wind blasted us off of the stone and we flew into the air, ripped apart by the sheer force of the raging bellows. Only Corey’s iron grip on my wrist kept us from being blown in opposite directions. We were carried higher and higher in the current. Corey walked up my arm and screamed in my ear as he bolted me to his chest.
    “Lock our belts together!” He shouted.
    I reached down and unbuckled his belt and slipped it through mine before buckling it back around his waist. He nodded and still we flew higher and higher.
    We began to relax a bit, realizing that we weren’t in any immediate danger of falling anyway since the wind seemed to be pushing us up. But that state did not last long. I guess it is true, what goes up—you know. We reached a peak, seemed to hover a split second, and then began to plunge toward who knew what.
    I left my insides up above me and screamed as we plunged toward what could only end badly for us. I looked at Corey who was bolted to my side and the scream dried in my throat.
    He was smiling! Seriously? Then I felt it too. A slight pressure seemed to cup us as if a great hand were controlling our fall. My mouth flew open and my eyes bulged.
    Corey laughed and I thought it was the nicest sound I had ever heard. That same feeling of completeness swelled inside of me. Pure love. I found myself smiling, too.
    We weren’t even falling anymore, not really, it was almost as if we were flying. Corey wrapped his right arm around my waist and yelled.
    “I want to try something. Follow my lead.”
    I nodded and watched to see what he was going to do. He