Absolute Zero
Authors: Lynn Rush
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Genre Fiction, #Coming of Age, #Romance, #New Adult & College, #Paranormal, #Teen & Young Adult, #New Adult
Absolute Zero
(Touch of Frost #2)
Lynn Rush
Dedication
To God, your mercies know no end.
To Charlie, the love of my life.
To Lynn Boeyink, you are missed.
To those dealing with cancer—stay strong!
Chapter 1
“I
f you don’t get me out of here, Georgia, I’m going to accidentally turn the place into an igloo.” I jabbed my sister’s side with my elbow.
“That’s okay, I’ll just melt it, and we’ll have a little pool party.” Georgia scrunched her forehead, glaring at me. “It’s our first college party. Enjoy it, sis.”
I glanced around the sardine-packed house. It reeked of booze and smoke. The music thumped so loud, I thought my eardrums would implode and ooze out my ears. Sure, my control over my freezing powers and strength had increased, like, a zillion times over the last few weeks, but still…
And I didn’t even know half these people bumping against me. Then again, we’d just finished freshman orientation, how
would
I know anyone?
“Can you believe we got invited to this?” Georgia screamed in my ear, but it was pretty much whispering since the music was so loud.
“No. Some guy just invited you?”
“He was handing out flyers. I grabbed one, and he told me to come.”
I tugged her to an empty space near a wall, and we squeezed ourselves between two other chicks scanning the crowd. “And why did we come?”
“I’ve never been invited to a party before. High school sucked remember? Zero friends, freaky streaks of color running through our hair. Loners?”
“Who cares? You’ve got Dan now, and I’ve got Zach.”
“Girl. Dan left for college last week for early orientation and cross country stuff, he hasn’t even called me yet.”
“Really?” I grabbed her hand and turned her toward me. “He hasn’t called at all?”
She shook her head side-to-side, then looked to her feet. I couldn’t exactly hear what she said, but I might have heard her calling him a jerk—or worse.
Something sharp jabbed me between the shoulder blades, and I lurched forward, straight into Georgia. She gripped my shoulders and stumbled back a step, but kept us both upright.
Maybe she
was
getting super-strength after all. Not that my scrawny, five-foot-two frame weighed a lot, but she wasn’t much bigger than me to have supported my weight as easily as she did.
The little zinger in my back shot a jolt of pain up to the base of my neck. Yeah, that didn’t feel so good, but at least it didn’t feel like a tranq dart. I’d had enough of those for sure.
“I’m sorry. Are you okay?” a deep voice asked.
I righted myself and whirled around to see my assailant. I stood eye level to a massive set of pecs testing the stretch limits of a dark-blue t-shirt.
I looked up. Two amber-flecked brown eyes stared down at me. Bushy, dark eyebrows puckered together, crinkling the skin around his eyes. The stranger’s strong fingers curled around my bicep to help steady me.
“Ahh…” was all I could manage for words since my lungs emptied of all my air.
“Dude, what are you doing?” Georgia said.
She’d definitely inherited my surly attitude over the summer.
“I’m sorry. I was—”
“I’m fine. No biggie,” I said, finally managing to catch my breath and find my voice.
“Good. I’m sorry. I was dancing my way to the keg, and I didn’t see you.”
“You have a lethal weapon there.” I pointed to his shoulder. “And—um—you can let go of me now.”
Mr. Tall-Dark-And-Handsome’s fingers loosened around my arm, and I shook it out. Man, he was strong, but that shouldn’t have surprised me considering his biceps were as big as my thighs. His eyes fixed on mine and for the second time, the stranger stole my breath.
“Can I get you a beer or something?” he asked.
“No. I’m good.”
“I’ll take one,” Georgia said.
I snapped my head to the side, eying my sister. “You will?”
She nodded. “I’ll have what you’re having.”
“I’ll be right back. Don’t move.” The stranger cast me a quick look, then wove around the bodies with cat-like grace toward the kitchen.
He stood about a head taller than most at the party so I watched him make his way through the crowd. He glanced back at me, then disappeared around the corner into the kitchen. My cheeks flamed. Not only my cheeks but other body parts, too. What the hell? I totally had a boyfriend.
“Hello?” Georgia asked, her eyes wide.
I knew she’d caught me gawking, so I changed the subject. “Georgia, what are you doing?”
“What do you mean?” She flicked some of her bangs from her forehead. They’d grown so fast over the summer they almost tucked behind her ear. Just couldn’t quite stay there very long.
I planted my hands on my hips. “Don’t give me that crap, G. You don’t drink.”
“Maybe I started.” Her gaze drifted over my left shoulder, and I turned.
A group of three guys, all sporting shaggy hair, baggy cargo shorts, and flip-flops stood a few feet away, leaning against a wall. Looked like the clone-brothers, and of course, all three held sweating plastic cups of amber-colored, foaming liquid.
One guy nodded his head in our direction, flipping his brick-red hair onto his forehead.
“I think he’s watching me.” Georgia jumped.
“So that’s why you’re ordering beers now?” I sent her a cool glare. Not literally, but close. “What’s going on with you, sis?”
“Nothing.” She faced me, jaw tense.
“Liar. I’ve got the whole twin-vibe-thing going on here.”
“Can’t I just enjoy the college scene? I turn nineteen this weekend, at least that’s what my
false
birth certificate says, and Lois is hopefully going tell me everything about what was in the safe. Our powers are wicked strong, we’re starting college in, like, two weeks, and I’m newly single. Why can’t I have fun?”
All this tiny, very combustible room needed was a drunk fire-thrower on the loose. “I’m all for fun. But drinking? When’d that start?”
“About three minutes ago.” She slugged my shoulder. “Shhh, I think one of them is coming over here.”
“And you are
not
single. Dan did
not
break up with you.”
“No call is pretty much breaking up.” She straightened. “Hi!”
I looked to the side, and there stood one of the clones. He had light brown hair, dimples in both cheeks, and a thin layer of perspiration glistening on his forehead. So, it hadn’t been the redhead scoping my sis out after all.
“What’s up?” the guy asked.
“Nothin’. You?” Georgia stepped to the side, closer to the clone.
“Cool party, huh?” He glanced at me.
I bit my blue fingernails, not that they’d chip or anything. Just a nervous habit I’d really honed lately. Zach was starting to flake more and more on me, always working, having family things to deal with, or just…
busy
. He had to work tonight—again—and couldn’t come with me.
I dug my phone out from my back pocket and clicked it to life. Zach might be on his way home from work by now. One tap had a text message open to him. Yeah, just a quick message. Maybe if I left the party now I could meet up with—
“Here you go,” Mr. Dreamy Eyed Back-Stabber said and stood next to me.
“Thanks.” Georgia snatched the cup of beer from his hand, then faced her new friend more intently, leaving me with this stranger. I cooled my hand a smidge and grabbed her fingers.
She gasped and looked at me. I winked.
“So, what’s your name?” my new friend asked.
Georgia shrugged from my grasp and stepped out of arm’s length. I faced the guy towering over me.
“It’s—um—Amanda.”
“I think I saw you in orientation today.”
I clicked my phone off and slid it back to its resting place. “You a newbie, too?”
He nodded, then brought the plastic cup to his lips. His eyes never strayed from mine, which, of course, made me look down. My heart did a back flip. If I didn’t calm down soon, the darn thing would shoot out my mouth and slap right against that ripped chest of his.
Wait. Heart pattering?
Oh crap, I was in big trouble.
Chapter 2
“I
’m so never going to a party with you again.” I stomped out from the cramped, stuffy, stinky house, practically dragging Georgia behind me. Not that I minded talking to Mr. Dreamy, but the fact I was addressing him as Mr. Dreamy was a serious problem.
I totally had a boyfriend.
I suck.
We stumbled down the two stairs and a few steps away from the entrance. The darkness of night blanketed the area, except the light above the door. It cast a weak shadow over the gravel-landscaped yard lined with short bushes.
She yanked her hand from mine. “I want to stay. Jason is really hot.”
“No way. You should talk to Dan first, girl. Maybe something just came up, and he hasn’t called you because of that.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “We all know what it means, you’re living in an effing dream world, Mandy.”
“Hey. Be nice.”
“Look. I’m sorry. I’m just—”
“You’re just wiggin’. Now what’s wrong with you, sis?” I stepped toward her. “Seriously. You’ve been a total PMS-case for, like, three weeks.”
“Hello… It’s my birthday—well—my fake birthday tomorrow.”
“I know. And you’re going to meet up with Lois and Gary for a birthday dinner. They’ll tell you everything about being adopted.” At least that was the theory we were all banking on.
She tugged at her hair. “What if they don’t? I’m going nuts living with them, Mandy. They’ve been lying to me for years.”
I curled the bangs that’d worked free around her ear. “I know, but you won’t be there much longer. Our apartment’s almost ready.”
She chomped at her nails, a habit I lovingly gave to her. “This weekend. You and me. Our own place.”
“Don’t sound so happy about it. I thought you wanted to live with your sister?”
“I do. I just—”
“What?” I put my hands on her shoulders and gave her a gentle shake.
A door slammed behind her, and I looked. Two girls stumbled down the steps to the sidewalk. Now that I had a chance to see the place I’d been stuffed in, it was a piece of crap old house. Peeled white paint, one story and almost as small as the apartment above the smoothie shop. To think there must have been a hundred people crammed in there.
No wonder I reeked. I shook my head. “Seriously. Tell me.”
“Why hasn’t Dan called me?”
I yanked her into a massive hug. Her arms didn’t weave around me, though. She stood stiff within my grasp. Hopefully she didn’t flame up or something.
“Maybe he’s wiggin’. You know, like new roommates, learning the campus. He’s all alone at State. Zach ditched him for me.” Which, I felt a little bad about, but not too much. I was so glad he was in town with me still.
“But I’ve called him, texted him, and even Facebooked him. He’s not answering. I’m not going to chase after him like some freak.” She shrugged from my grip. “I’m sick of being a freak.”
The girls who’d left the party staggered by us, giggling. “Nice hair.”
I didn’t see anyone loitering around, so I pointed my finger toward their feet and shot a stream of ice. The black-haired drunk slipped, tumbling to the side. She put her hand out to break her fall, but the booze must have made her misjudge the distance because her hand missed, and she landed straight on her shoulder.
“Heather, are you okay?” the other girl scrambled to her side.