Free A Man of Honor (A Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (The Honor Trilogy) by J.P. Grider Page B

Honor’s smile is as bright as the sun shining behind her. “Hey. Uh. Yeah. What’s up?” Her presence at my home has me stumbling over my words.
    “I just…” She averts her eyes again, looking as nervous as I am.
    “Sorry, Honor. Come in.”
    “Is my bike okay here?” She points to her boardwalk-style bike leaning against my house.
    “Uh, yeah. It should be, but what are you doing riding a bike? Honor…I keep telling you…you need to rest.”
    She smiles again, and my heart does another flip. “It’s only like a mile. No biggie.”
    “Yeah. No biggie.” I sigh. “Come.” Holding the door for her to walk in, I close the door behind me – nervous as all hell that I have her alone in my apartment.
    “Soda or water?” I ask, pointing to the couch for her to sit.
    “Oh, water’s good. Thanks.”
    When I go in for her water, I slip the jugs under the sink and quickly wipe the counter to get rid of the spilled blood.
    Gulping the rest of my cola, I attempt to gather my composure – something I’m not used to losing.
    “So, princess,” I swallow, walking toward the sweet-smelling angel sitting on my couch. “What brings you here today?” Trying hard to hide my sudden uneasiness with being alone with Honor, I sit, throw my elbow onto the top of the couch, and turn my body to face her.
    “I, uh,” she hesitates.
    “Oh. I wanted to ask you,” I interrupt, kicking myself afterward. “Uh, no, never mind. I’m sorry. You first.”
    “No. No, that’s okay. What?”
    “About this afternoon. First, I’m sorry I took off like that, but Moore really pissed me off.”
    “Yeah, why?” She crumples her face, obviously not seeing in Moore what I see. Which is odd. Honor’s an empath. She should be able to read him well.
    “Honor. He’s…” I stop. My intent has always been to keep her from worrying. I can’t now tell her what I think I know about Moore. “Why…did you let him take your blood like that?”
    She tilts her head and shrugs. “I don’t know. I didn’t see anything wrong with it.”
    “Really?” I’m amazed. Honor is intelligent. She’s earnest and resolute. To take in Moore like the rest of the flighty girls in this town is so unlike her.
    “Really. He’s a good guy. I don’t understand what you and Ethan have against him.”
    “You don’t feel anything from him? What are his emotions, Honor? Do you sense something good about him? I’m curious.”
    As she is now facing me, sitting in mirror position to me, she leans her elbow on her thigh and tucks her curled hand under her chin. “I don’t know. I guess I feel curiosity coming from him. I sense something , but I’m not sure what. No pain or anything like that. No sadness. Just. I don’t know. I trust him.”
    I nod and gnaw at my inner cheek. “You trust him?” Shaking my head, I let out a “hmmm,” then utter, “I don’t get it, but…be careful, princess. I don’t trust him. I know I don’t have my powers,” I use my fingers to make air quotes around the word power, “anymore, but I still have my intuition. Don’t get too close to him, ‘kay?”
    “’ kay.” She smiles. “By the way, are you, like, going to a tanning salon or something? You’re, like, so tan. And your hair…it’s almost brown. You were, like, bleach blond. Did you dye it?”
    “Nope, and nope. I think it’s ‘cause I’m not an empath anymore.”
    “What?” She chuckles.
    “Yeah. Feeling everyone else’s emotions is draining. Maybe it drains all your color too. Who knows? I mean, look at how pale you are. You’re almost ghost white.” I laugh, making sure she knows I’m just teasing her, despite the fact that she really is void of any color.
    “Ha, ha,” she retorts, but laughs along with me.
    “So, why’d you ride your bike all the way here? I’m sure it wasn’t just for a pleasant visit. Ethan wouldn’t allow that.”
    “Well, Ethan doesn’t know.” She darts her eyes to the floor. “He went straight to his