Tempt (Ava Delaney #3) Read Online Free Page B

ownership issues with Carl, but my overblown
concern was part of the remnants of our previous bond. Still, I
didn’t want another lecture about boundaries. “Nothing, doesn’t
matter. Do you know a goblin called Folsom? Owns a
garage.”
    “ I’m not sure. All of those goblins look the same to
me.”
    I rolled
my eyes. “Nice, Peter. I better go.”
    “ Wait! Do you want a training session tomorrow?”
    I
thought about it. Maybe I could scare him off. “Okay, fine.
Where?”
    He
laughed. “My place, of course. Come over whenever you’re ready.
Daytime because we’re back out after Becca tomorrow night. It’s our
turn again, now they’re short on Guardian Circles.”
    “ Whatever,” I said, trying not to yawn. “See you then. Oh, by
the way. Daimhín paid me tonight.” I laughed at his stutters and
ended the call, feeling more alive than I had in a
while.
     

Chapter
Three
     
    The
following morning, I decided to call Carl when I knew he would be
at work in Eddie’s bookshop. It still rankled that he worked so
close to Eddie, but Peter kept telling me to let Carl make his own
mistakes. I was trying, as hard as it might be to watch. For the
first time, it dawned on me that Peter might feel the same way when
he watched me make mistakes.
    “ Hey, Ava.” Carl sounded chirpy on the phone, and I faltered,
wondering if maybe I was mistaken and Peter had been right after
all.
    “ I was just calling to see how you’re doing. Any
news?”
    “ Me? Nah, nothing. Working hard, living clean. All that good
stuff. But listen, I’ve been reading up on the whole Nephilim
thing. Maybe you should come over one morning and have a
look.”
    “ Yeah, maybe.” My heart sank. I had been hoping he’d forget
about it, but Carl sucked up knowledge like a sponge. Obviously, he
was going out of his way to learn as much about my world as he
could.
    Once he
learned I had a name, he had gone into overdrive reading about it.
It made me uncomfortable, for no real reason. I had always wanted
to know more about myself, and had been given the opportunity, but
suddenly my heart wasn’t in it anymore. Having to learn about
myself in a book felt weird.
    Carl and
I chatted for a few more minutes until he had to serve a customer,
and I had to get ready for my first training session with Peter.
The Council had stopped trying to find me trainers or sparring
partners. Apparently, the Nephilim-ish titles came with serious
respect, and although the Council had tried to contain it, word
spread fast. It didn’t have much impact on Peter, but I knew all I
had to do was act more than a little vampire-like for him to run
scared, too.
    I knew
the Council wanted me trained and fighting-fit, but I preferred my
way. No rules, no plan, just keeping on and avoiding death for as
long as possible. Actual plans made me panic and jump at whatever
my instincts decided felt right. I had lasted long enough to
realise I couldn’t force the way my brain worked.
    All
morning, my stomach turned at the thought of being in such close
contact with Peter, and I found myself washing down my widest
kitchen counter in fourteen swipes. Any more and I had to start
over. It took five goes to perfect the ritual, but the safe numbers
calmed me enough so I could leave for Peter’s house.
    Clutching the cross hanging from my neck, I decided I would
be the one to make Peter think twice about the training session,
but when he opened his front door in his training gear, my mouth
watered instantaneously.
    “ You made it!” He sounded surprised, and I supposed I couldn’t
blame him. I hadn’t been quite there for a while. Phoning
everything in, more like. I wasn’t sure what was piquing my
interest all of a sudden. It was as though I had an aerial that
tingled whenever something was going on, and I felt like something
was going on all around me.
    Eddie
had warned that my natural ability to soak up emotional energy
might affect my moods, and that paranoid spike might simply