Dusk Read Free Page A

call. From Solomon Dusk.” She twisted her fingers
together. “Today.”
    Her mom frowned. “What did he want? You haven’t heard from him
since he dropped you off here, after the attack, right?”
    “Exactly. This is the first I’ve heard from him since.” Lucy
lifted a shoulder. “He said he just wanted to see if I was okay. I don’t know
why he would call me.”
    Her father’s eyebrows went up. “When a man calls a woman just to
see if she’s okay… Well. We all know what that’s about,” he declared.
    Lucy made a face. “No. No way is a Sentry going to call me up for
that, Dad. Sentries don’t date. Like, at all.”
    He smiled. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Lucy. You didn’t see
the look on his face when he brought you to us.”
    “And your best friend managed to hook one,” her mother reminded
her. “Greyson is a nice man.”
    Lucy stared at her parents. Greyson? Nice? “Um, no. That’s
impossible. Solomon did not ask me out, oh my God.”
    “You’re calling him by his first name?” Her mom rubbed her nose
suggestively.
    Lucy’s face went hot. “He asked me to.”
    “He likes you,” her dad said. “There are worse men in the world,
by far. I think you should call him back. It wouldn’t hurt to hook up with him.”
    Lucy almost choked, but then her phone rang, saving her from the
horror of her dad talking about her dating life. With a Sentry, dear God. She pulled out her cell and glanced at the display. “It’s Eva. I gotta get
this,” she mumbled to her parents. She stood up, almost knocking the kitchen
chair over, then fled for her bedroom. She swore she could hear her parents
laughing behind her.
    “Holy crap, you saved me,” she said, holding the device to her
ear. “My dad just said the words ‘ hook
up’ to me. This is all your fault, Eva. You’re the one who talked me
into moving back here!”
    “Your parents are not my fault, Lucy,” Eva said, her voice sounding
tinny through the phone. “And also, you’re welcome. That’s what besties are
for.”
    Lucy rubbed the bridge of her nose. “They’re making me crazy. I
need to get out of here. They’re actually trying to give me dating advice.”
    “Great! You can come to dinner Friday night. I’m making steak,”
Eva chirped, way too cheerful, in Lucy’s opinion.
    “Um, okay? That’s random. It’s only Tuesday.” Lucy felt the
beginnings of a headache creep up her neck. “And by get out of here, I meant I
need to move out of my parents’ house. This is torture.”
    “You have the nicest parents on Earth, Lucy,” Eva said, sounding
more serious. “Count your blessings.”
    Lucy sighed. She hadn’t meant to pluck her friend’s neuroses. “I
know, I know. I didn’t mean it that way, Eva. You know that. I know your
childhood sucked.” Eva’s dad had killed himself when she was in high school and
her mom had gone through a slew of loser boyfriends until she’d married the
last one.
    And John Parkinson was the worst of the bunch, Lucy reminded herself. He’d hacked
into the Sentries’ Stronghold tech base several months ago and was directly
responsible for luring the alien Spiders to Earth. Lucy’s childhood, in
comparison, was idyllic.
    “I know, I’m sorry too. I guess I’m still kind of sensitive about
it,” Eva said.
    “Life sucks…” Lucy said, trailing off.
    “…and then you die,” Eva finished, laughing.
    Lucy grinned. “Yeah, except for you, now, right? I mean, you’re
going to be around for a long time.” The moment the words left her mouth, she
knew she’d screwed up. “Oh hell, Eva, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I
was joking,” she rushed to say, mortified with herself. “I don’t know what’s
wrong with me today.”
    “No, don’t apologize.” Eva sounded sad. “You’re right, of course.
And it’s selfish, since I’ll probably get to see amazing things in my lifetime,
but I’m really hung up on the fact that I’m going to outlive you. You’re