Read Online Never Missing, Never Found by Amanda Panitch - Free Book Online Page A

eyes. He’s staring at a camera, its red light an unceasing eye. “Even if you weren’t kidding,” I say. “No stealing allowed. That’s also in the handbook.”
    “No bonus points for that, smarty-pants,” Connor says. “Though, nice try.”
    “I wasn’t trying for bonus points.”
    “You so were,” he says. “Okay, second question. How did Skywoman’s husband die?”
    “Trick question,” I say immediately. “Her
first
husband, a cop, was killed when he attempted to apprehend the Blade after she’d murdered his commander and slipped into his commander’s skin like one of the costumed characters here.”
    “Nice analogy.” He leans in, eyes lighting up.
    “Her
second
husband,” I continue, “is not dead, as any Skywoman fan would know. Her second husband was one of the Blade’s henchmen, spying on Skywoman. When Skywoman discovered his trickery, she tried to kill him, but the Blade swooped in at the last minute and stopped her with a kiss, the only thing that could possibly have stunned Skywoman enough to stop her in her tracks, and that gave them time to escape.” I flip my hair over my shoulder. “As any true Skywoman fan would know.”
    “You’re a true Skywoman fan, eh?” He sounds amused. “I should’ve known.”
    “Why should you have known?”
    His eyes are narrowed in thought; they set off the creases that light up when he smiles. “Because I just should have,” he says. “You seem like the type of girl who would like Skywoman. Are you one of the Sky-fanatics?”
    “No,” I say defensively, and it’s true, because I terminated my membership in the online Skywoman fan club two years ago. Though at this point I have enough letters from Skywoman on official Silver City stationery, and secret decoder rings for deciphering their hidden messages, to start a Sky-fanatic branch of my own. “Why, do I seem like a nerd?”
    He laughs and swings his legs. His feet thump emphatically against the side of the counter; on the upswing, they nearly brush against my side. “No! You just seem like the kind of girl who would like Skywoman. Like tough, and smart. Like you don’t take any crap. Stop trying to distract me from my third question.”
    I raise an eyebrow. “If it’s anything as easy as your first two questions, I’ll be out of here at noon on the dot. Sorry, Lizzy.”
    His legs stop and slam against the counter. His sudden smile is the sun breaking through the clouds. “What instrument does my little brother, Zach, play in the jazz band?”
    My mouth falls open. “That’s not a fair question!”
    “Really? I don’t remember setting down rules.” He raises an eyebrow. “Guess you forfeit.”
    “Never!” I chew on the inside of my mouth. “The trumpet.”
    “Nope.” He swings himself down from the counter, launching himself forward and landing only a few inches from me, and leans in. Heat radiates through his polo and cooks me from the inside out, a human microwave. He smells like Axe and detergent and a trace of something musty, cigarette smoke maybe—not strong enough for him to be a smoker himself, but strong enough that he must live in a smoker’s home. “Bari sax. Sorry.”
    Our noses are only inches apart. I could lean forward. I could catch his lips on mine. I could feel his heartbeat against my chest. I can already feel it, or at least I feel like I feel it. Maybe I’m just feeling my own.
    Before I have the chance to do anything, he clears his throat and jolts away, hitting himself on the counter. Freckles glow on his red face like miniature suns. He coughs again. “Sorry,” he says. He’s looking at the floor, the walls, the ceiling, anywhere but at me.
    Do I repulse him that much? I swallow hard and lean back. It’s probably for the best anyway. I had an everything bagel for breakfast. I would have tasted like garlic and onion. “You should apologize for that last question. So not fair. I call redo,” I say.
    He smiles, but there’s something