UNSHAKABLE (Able Series Book 4) by Gigi Aceves Read Free Book Online

boiling blood rage like the fires in hell.
    Perhaps, my silence uses up all his stored patience, because he turns to face me without his trusted Oakley’s covering his eyes. If he thinks I’m going to cower and back down from his death glare, he’s got another thing coming.
    “What are you trying to prove, Sophia?”
    “Who says I’m trying to prove anything?” I shrug.
    He shakes his head as he tries his hardest to temper his emotions. “Then please explain to me why you’re killing yourself? You’ve been dancing twelve hours a day for the past month.”
    “I have a recital coming up. Dancing is my job, and I love doing it.” I know it’s childish to throw his words back at him, but if he can do it, give me up for his job, then I can surely do it, too.
    “I know why you’re doing this. I’m not dumb, Sophia. You can punish me, but don’t hurt yourself doing it. You want to have a go at it? You want to hit me? Do.It. I’d rather feel the sting of your anger than see you suffer from it because of me! It’s not fair that you’re doing this!”
    I lean into his face, my own anger teetering at the edge of explosion. “I can’t control your perception, Damien. I’m doing what I love, just as you do. Surely, you can understand, right? After all, you told me the same thing. So, why don’t you do your job and get Darcee. I’m tired of waiting.”
    “You’re just as spoiled, just as selfish as the day you hit Tami.”
    “And you’re just as bullheaded, just as arrogant! Funny how you always use the worst day of my life as a reference.” The bite in my words surprise him enough to shut him up. The awkward silence that surrounds us sparks a memory.
    As the cold December air pricks my skin, nothing can compare to the happiness surrounding me as Damien and I sit on the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial one night. We’re talking like two adults, calling a truce to the stressful situation created by our secret feelings toward each other.
    “What do you do on your days off?”
    “I run, talk to my mom and my sister, swing by the office. It’s all mundane stuff, Sophia. I lead a very boring life.” He chuckles as his eyes do another quick pass of our surroundings.
    “Do you have a girlfriend back home?”
    The moment those words leave my mouth, I want to slap myself. Why? Why ask him that?
    I turn to look at his face, his eyes cast across the Reflecting Pool. “No.” He shakes his head still avoiding my gaze. “I have no one.”
    “Do you like someone? I mean, you must . . . you know . . . no one really wants to be alone. I mean . . . I don’t want to be alone.” I look into the distance, embarrassed at my brazen question, but I could still see his lips tilting into a smile from the corner of my eyes.
    He stays quiet for a while, probably pondering what he could say. I wait, looking at the few people milling about, silently berating myself for asking that stupid question. The peace this place gives me is indescribable, and I’m thankful I get to sit here and enjoy it with him.
    “I have someone special, though I can’t say that I have her physically. She’s close, so close I can see the pulse ticking on her neck, the way she fidgets and plays with her fingers when she’s nervous, or the way she bites on her lip when she’s trying to think of what to say to me when she tells me off. I see her beautiful smile that lights up a room each day,” he says. A hint of laughter coats his voice. “She makes me laugh with her antics that she might think annoys me, but in reality it’s a nice reprieve in my rather square life. But, nothing more can ever happen because we’re two different people living in different worlds. And though it’s painful to accept, I’d rather be around her as her shield than be erased from her life all together.”
    I whisper, “She’s one lucky girl.” I swing my gaze to him, his eyes lock on mine and a bubble encloses us, making everyone around us disappear.
    “I’m the