Read Online After Dark by Jayne Castle - Free Book Online

your homework here and keep Fuzz company until it’s time for you to go back to your place. But no watching the rez-screen. Understood?”
    Zane made a face. “Jeez, Lyd, I don’t have enough homework to fill up the whole evening.”
    â€œIf, by some bizarre chance, you happen to finish your schoolwork early, you can read a book until it’s time to go home,” she said heartlessly.
    Zane groaned. “Okay, okay. No rez-screen.” He paused speculatively. “How about ice cream?”
    Lydia grinned. “Sure. As long as you leave some for me.”
    â€œNo problem.” Zane waved her through the door with a gallant motion of his hand. “Have a good time.”
    Lydia grasped the strap of her purse tightly and moved out into the hall. When Zane closed the door very loudly behind her, she was suddenly conscious of being alone with Emmett. Without a word, she walked beside him to the stairwell.
    â€œKnown Zane long?” Emmett asked as they started down to the fourth floor.
    â€œI met him and his aunt right after I moved into this apartment complex. He and Olinda were very kind to me at a time when I, well, when I needed friends.”
    â€œOlinda is the aunt?”
    â€œYes.” Lydia stepped into the elevator. “She’s okay. A good-hearted soul. Runs the Quartz Café down the street. But I’m afraid she’s got plans for Zane, and they don’t include a college education.”
    â€œWhat kind of plans?”
    â€œOlinda makes no secret of the fact that she can’t wait until Zane is old enough to join the Guild and train as a ghost-hunter. A good one can make excellent money, you know.”
    â€œSo I’m told.”
    Lydia grimaced. “Unfortunately, Zane shows every sign of becoming a very powerful dissonance-energy para-rez.”
    â€œIn other words, good old Aunt Olinda thinks Zane’s going to become an asset to the family’s cash flow as soon as she gets him into the Guild.”
    â€œExactly.” Lydia glanced at him. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m very fond of Olinda, but she and I are engaged in an undeclared war. I’m fighting to make sure Zane goes to college before he even thinks about becoming a ghost-hunter. Olinda wants him to join the Guild the day he turns eighteen.”
    â€œI get the picture.”
    â€œI’m doing my best to discourage his fantasies about ghost-hunting, but I’m not making much headway. Young boys are so impressionable. All that macho hunter stuff really appeals to them, especially at Zane’s age.”
    Emmett slanted her an enigmatic look as they exited the stairwell and walked out into the parking lot.
    â€œBeing a dissonance-energy para-rez isn’t something you can ignore. Sooner or later Zane will have to come to terms with that side of his nature. He won’t be able to pretend his talent doesn’t exist, no matter how much he tries.”
    His calm logic irritated her. “Zane’s a bright kid. He could be a doctor or a professor or an artist. I’m not saying he can’t exercise his talents on the side. But I don’t want him to become just another high-priced, overrated bodyguard.”
    â€œI realize the profession doesn’t rank very high with you, but bodyguards occasionally have their uses.”
    â€œHuh. That’s a matter of opinion.”
    He stopped beside a dark gray Slider and reached out to open the passenger door for her. “If you were going to continue as my consultant, you might need one.”
    She paused, one high-heel-shod foot inside the car. “What are you talking about?”
    â€œI’m afraid I’m going to have to fire you.”
    Outrage and disbelief swept through her. “You’re taking me out to dinner to tell me that you want out of our contract?”
    â€œThat pretty much sums it up. Those burn marks on your wall have changed everything, Lydia. There’s some