Darkness Undone Read Free

Eve.”
    The music made speeches impossible, but emotion crowded her, and she basked in her friends’ love. They accepted her despite the fact that she could never touch them without a barrier of protection. Not since the accident.
    The car crash that had killed her parents didn’t just leave her with scarred hands, but also a far bleaker legacy. She couldn’t touch another without being drawn into their minds, seeing their thoughts, and feeling their emotions. And it wasn’t without repercussions.
    A sudden influx of strong, emotional energy from another, and unbearable pain followed, so much so that she sometimes lost consciousness.
    Eve pushed the painful thoughts aside as Kataya had set a small bakery box on the table.
    “Okay,” she yelled above the music, tucking a few spirally red strands behind her ear. “Before we all get rip-roaring drunk, here…” She flipped open the cover to reveal a red velvet cupcake. The creamy icing on top simply read, ‘Happy Birthday.’
    Brenna stuck a pink candle in the center, lit it, and slid the box to Eve. She smiled, flashing twin dimples. “Because we love you and know you hate the fuss. So, make a wish, make thousands, and may they all come true!”
    Overwhelmed, Eve tugged at the small, gold, half-hoop earring she wore. She didn’t have any family, but this little group was hers.
    Eve glanced at her friends’ happy faces. Ten long years without physical contact and emptiness crowded her heart. Just once she yearned to hold them—to hold someone she loved.
    Inhaling roughly, because she might as well wish for the moon, Eve blew out the candle.
    They handed her a card and a small flat box covered in red foil and tied with a silver bow. They’d covered the card with well wishes and xoxo’s. Then she ripped open the package and found a gold bracelet with four charms nestled in white tissue.
    At a guess she knew exactly which charm came from whom. The daisy from Brenna, because Eve loved them, the ladder from Eric—probably for her success in her new venture, the clover leaf from Kat, for luck—she hoped, and the double heart? David.
    She really, really wished he hadn't given her that.
    “Thank you.” She slipped on the bracelet then drank her wine to ease the tightness in her throat.
    David nudged her arm, picked up the wine bottle. “Top up?”
    “No, not yet.”
    She’d met David several months ago through Eric. Even though she could touch David without a painful influx of thoughts and feelings flooding her, it wasn't all smooth sailing. Instead, his creatively charged mind usually pulled her into a maelstrom of colors that left her with a low-grade headache.
    If she decided to date David like he wanted, she’d have to tell him of her affliction. She could only hope he wouldn’t run off in the opposite direction.
    “Ready for your show?” she asked him.
    David blew out a heavy breath, picked up his wine and took a deep swallow. “Ask me after.”
    Eve laughed. She understood his qualms since her own debut loomed in front of her just over a week away. Her stomach knotted at the thought. If her sculptures didn’t take off, she may as well find her own cardboard box and call it home.
    Eve pushed the gloomy thought aside. She wanted to enjoy this evening and not think of what if . Sipping her drink, she took in the crowded nightclub. Her attention wandered to the VIP section on the second level, corded off from the common folks for the rich and famous and their wild partying.
    The hunk with the pale hair would be up there, she mused. Bet he wouldn’t be alone for long. Women must be drawn to him like bees to pollen.
    Ugh, when had she become this petty? And over a man? A stranger, for goodness sake!
    “Dance?” David yelled in her ear. His smile took on a fiendish appearance in the eerie purple strobe light. He crossed his eyes, exaggerating his odd look and nodded to the dance floor. Eve laughed, putting the stranger out of her mind.
    Perhaps Kat was