The West Wind by Morgan Douglas Read Free Book Online Page A

barely know her, but there’s something about
her that makes me want to take her dancing in the rain.”
    Pride, ache, and sadness all flew across his dad’s face at once.
Zach put an arm around his son’s shoulder. “Well, then I would definitely like
to meet the girl you dropped someday.”
    “I hope you get to.”
    “Need any advice on how to win the girl?” Zach asked his son.
    “Nah,” Xander said with a smile. “I learned from the best.”

Hellespont
     
    Hero looked nervously toward Hellespont’s entrance for the
fifteenth time in as many minutes. There was no band tonight, just a DJ playing
a list a little too loudly from his laptop. Hero’s hands smoothed out the bell
of her black vintage dress impatiently. A thick red halter strap ran from
behind her neck down the sides of the empire bodice and around the back. A
matching belt was sewn into the high waist. She had danced several times since
the Coven, as she’d secretly started calling her friends, arrived, but had been
too distracted to really enjoy herself. Every time she could get away with it
without insulting her current partner, she craned her neck to see if Xander was
somewhere in the crowd.
     
    “Who are you looking for?” Jaimie asked her. Hero hadn’t
told her about the conversation she had had with Xander. She wasn’t sure why,
but she wanted to keep it to herself.
    “Probably hoping her Adonis will show up so he can drop her
again,” Jeremy supplied, somehow making ‘Adonis’ sound like an insult.
    “His name is Xander,” Hero said a little too quickly.
    Jaimie looked shocked, “You are looking for him, aren’t you? Did
you forget that he called you a slut?”
    “He apologized for that. That’s not what he said, anyway. That
wasn’t what he meant.”
    “Have you been sneaking around behind my back?” Jaimie asked,
pretending to be a  jealous lover. When Hero didn’t answer she took Hero’s
silence as proof. “Oh my god, you little tramp.”
    “Come off it, Jaimie. We talked for a minute the other day, that’s
all.”
    “A minute? What, at the coffee shop?”
    “No, after.”
    “And you didn’t tell me? You bitch! Bathroom, now.”
    “Not now, Jaimie.”
    “Now, Hero, or you’re never getting these clothes back.” Jaimie
was once again dressed in an outfit from Hero’s closet. Tonight she was made up
to look like Rosie, a famous vintage ad of a woman in a red bandana and blue,
button-up shirt flexing her muscles with the words, “We can do it,” across the
top.
    Hero rolled her eyes, exasperated. “Fine.” She stood up and
followed Jaimie into the women’s restroom, looking over her shoulder every few
feet. Just as the door swung shut behind her, she saw him step into the room
and saw Jessica Crowley fling herself onto him.
     
    ----
     
    Xander walked into Hellespont, money already in his hand when the
bouncer started to ask. He told him to keep the change, as an apology for his
entrance last week. The bouncer, who turned out to be named Mike, became much
friendlier after that. He asked Xander a few questions about what Carolyn was
like. They chatted for a while, but Xander made his excuses as soon as he could
do so politely. He moved into the club, craning his neck in search of Hero.
     
    He hadn’t been looking long when out of nowhere a warm, soft form
melded to his and nearly knocked him off his feet. It was Jessica, in a tight
red dress that left little room for the imagination. He hoped she was wearing
bloomers, but thought it unlikely. She didn’t seem like the kind of girl who
cared for that kind of etiquette. The dress wasn’t particularly ideal for swing
dancing either, nor the four-inch tall matching stilettos. He hugged her back
and put her back on her own feet quickly.
    “Xander, come dance with me,” she begged.
    “I just got here, give me a minute.”
    “Oh come on,” she wheedled. “How can you say no to me when I look
like this?”
    He didn’t tell her that as sexy as she