The Tainted (The Tainted Series Book 1) Read Free Page B

class again.”
    With one final wink that made Rebecca’s anger surge, Maverick turned and walked off down the hallway.
    “Who was that ?” Emily said as she walked up to Rebecca, her eyes glued on Maverick’s retreating form.
    “No one,” Rebecca answered quickly, and they began walking toward their second class.
    “Didn’t look like no one to me, in fact he looked like quite a big, attractive someone…” Emily suddenly fell silent--she’d finally seen her best friend’s face. Immediately, she started laughing, “You’re red. I mean you’re really red. You think he’s cute!”
    “No I don’t!” Rebecca shot back, but she made an effort to hide her face from her friend.
    “ Sure you don’t. Well I wouldn’t blame you if you did. I thought he was a big hunk of…”
    “Stop! Stop right there! I don’t want to hear anymore.” Rebecca pushed her fingers in her ears and looked up at the ceiling.
    Emily laughed again and pulled down on Rebecca’s closest arm, “OK, I’m done, I promise.”
    “Thank you.” They had reached their classroom door and Rebecca pushed down on the handle for them to enter, “That guy makes my skin crawl.”
    As soon as Rebecca had turned to enter, Emily gave an exaggerated roll of her eyes, but said nothing more to her friend.

Three
    Rebecca lay back on the dented hood of Emily’s Geo, basking in the warm afternoon sun as she waited for her friend. All in all, the day hadn’t gone too badly, besides the little incident in her first class. Luckily she’d made it through the rest of the day without having to see Maverick again. Now she felt entirely relaxed, soaking in all the sunshine she could before another long, cold, snowy winter arrived in the mountains.
    Without warning, her world suddenly grew dark, her glorious sunshine now blocked. Rebecca opened her eyes and looked up at the bright smiling face of the absolute last person she wanted to see.
    “You make quite a nice hood ornament,” Maverick laughed.
    “What are you doing here?” Rebecca raised herself to a seated position on the hood and frowned up at him. She refused to stand, however, as she really didn’t want to get that close to him again. Even now, she already hated how self-conscious she felt.
    “I was just leaving school and I saw you, so I thought I might come by and say hello…Hello.” Maverick smiled widely down at her, but Rebecca only raised a questioning eyebrow at him.
    “Why are you trying so hard to talk to me? What’s your deal?”
    “Can’t a guy be nice? I’m new in town so I figured I might as well try to get to know the locals.”
    “I’m not a local.”
    “You’re not? Don’t you live here?”
    “Yes, but I’m not from here.”
    “You’re a transplant then, like me. You move here with your family?” There was now something in Maverick’s expression that betrayed his lighthearted voice. It was a longing that Rebecca recognized all too well.
    “No, I was moved here by…” Rebecca stopped talking before she revealed anything else. She wasn’t sure how he’d gotten her to talk about her past. It had just started to come out. She never told anyone about where she came from. It had taken her nearly 6 months of hanging out with Emily before she’d finally felt comfortable enough to share even part of her history. For some reason, however, she’d wanted to tell Maverick. She’d almost felt as if she needed to.
    For a long moment, Rebecca silently stared at Maverick, who stood still, meeting her gaze. As she searched his eyes, the smile slowly faded from his face. There was something so familiar about them, almost as if she’d seen his eyes somewhere before.
    Maverick took a cautious step toward her, maintaining eye contact. His face tensed slightly, as if he were tempted to say something but afraid to do so. Rebecca could hear her heartbeat begin to echo up in her ears as her breaths grew slow and weighted. He was so close to her now, but surprisingly she felt