Free Beautiful Dead 02 - Arizona by Eden Maguire Page A

stand watch.'
    'That's harsh.' Knowing the jealous feelings Phoenix had about Lee, knowing that Hunter would see the dynamics al too clearly. 'He certainly figured out how to hurt us.'
    'We were tip there twenty-four seven.' Phoenix let go of me and stood back so he could see my face. 'I feel so bad, Darina. Lee's new to this, but he's able to read my thoughts pretty clearly. He saw what a crazy idiot I'd been.'
    I managed a smal grin. 'Did he beat you up over it?'
    'No, he was cool. He told me, if you'd been his girl, he'd have reacted the same way.'

    'So I don't need to worry about two Beautiful Dead guys fighting over
    me?'
    'Lee's cool,' Phoenix insisted. He slid his arm around my waist and sat me on the bed beside him. 'Have you any idea how low the temperature drops out there late at night?'
    'Now I'm crying for you!'
    'You should be.'
    We stopped talking and made up for al the ful -on kisses we'd missed out on lately. I fel into the moment, loving the pressure of his lips on mine, then on my cheeks and softly on my eyelids, deep in that floaty, unreal feeling you get ... when Phoenix slowly leaned back. 'You know something?'
    'No what?'
    'Those contractors at Government Bridge they're not even there any
    more. It turns out the surveyor's new report said there was no need to
    strengthen the bridge after al .'
    'Al those nights out in the cold!' I laughed. This time our kisses were light-hearted: smile - kiss - smile - pucker lips for another kiss. 'And I bet Hunter knew that would happen - he was the one who played around with the surveyor's mental state, remember.'
    Talking of mental states, I kept from puckering up long enough to tel Phoenix what I'd found out about Raven Taylor's il ness, plus how I'd been along to Mike's Motors, spotted Arizona's SUV and got booted out
    by Kyle Keppler. 'So much weird stuff,' I said with a shake of my head. 60
    'Arizona told me she didn't even know the name of the car repair place, but it turns out that's where her boyfriend works!'
    Phoenix stretched out his legs and lay back on the bed. 'You want to know something else?'

    I snuggled beside him, resting my arm across his chest. 'Do I? The
    truth is, I wouldn't care if we didn't talk too much right now.'
    He cupped his hand over my mouth and made me listen. 'It was earlier tonight - Hunter let me and Lee off the hook and said we could go back to the barn to rest up. That was OK by me. The first person I saw when I got back was Arizona. She was out in the meadow, standing under the
    moon and stars, not looking at anything, not listening, like she wasn't real y there. She heard me but she didn't turn to look.'
    'You think she was angry?' Maybe with me for failing to move forward.
    'Not angry,' Phoenix murmured. 'More sad.'
    'Sad?' I didn't connect the emotion with the Arizona I knew. 'Tears and al ?'
    He gave a low laugh. 'We don't do tears.'
    'Oh.' The Beautiful Dead didn't do heartbeats either. They were bloodless, cold and pale, and now I knew they couldn't weep either. 'Did you tune in and read what was going on inside her head?'
    He propped himself against my pil ow and shrugged. 'Arizona's powers are strong,' he admitted. 'But until tonight in the meadow I didn't know how way ahead of me she is. I mean, I tried to tune in but there was a force there stopping me.'
    'She blocked you so you couldn't do your telepathy thing?' I guessed
    this was total y against the rules and wondered what Hunter would say.
    'So then I reached out. I wanted to tel her it was OK, she wasn't in any danger, but she pushed me away and told me that yes she was in danger, and I should go ask Hunter about it.'

    'So you did?' The story was getting through to me. I thought of
    Arizona standing cold and alone in the meadow, of her pushing Phoenix away.
    'OK, this is the real y weird part. I found Hunter in the house, up in
    the bedroom, sitting with his head in his hands, ignoring me. I waited 61
    until he was ready to look up. He asked me, "Phoenix, did