Burning Bright (Going Down in Flames #5)

“We didn’t discuss them,” Jaxon said.

And now she was back to thinking Blues were weird. “Anything else going on that I should know about? Any Dragon-pire reports or family drama?”

“I think we are at the no-news-is-good-news stage,” Jaxon said.

“That works for me.” Bryn said. “I’m hoping my chaos magnet days are over. I’d love an uneventful holiday season.”

“The Christmas Ball should be safer this year. Your grandfather has hired extra guards and installed more surveillance cameras around the estate.”

“That’s comforting, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to relax and believe an event is safe.”

“I feel compelled to point out that the common denominator among all the recent chaos has been you.”

“And you get to spend the rest of your life with me,” Bryn shot back. “You lucky duck.”

“I can barely contain my joy.”

They drove back to the Institute for Excellence trading comments and laughing. It was nice. On the way to her room, he said, “Do you still have the present I asked you to keep for me?”

Way to put a damper on the day. “I do.” Where is he going with this?

“Can I have it back?” he asked.

“Of course.” She unlocked her door, letting him into the living room and then went to retrieve the bracelet from underneath her sweaters. Should she admit she’d looked at it? No.

Jaxon accepted the box from her and held it in his palm like he was testing its weight. “I finally figured out what I should do with it.” He slid it into his coat pocket and then said, “I almost forgot.” He pulled a small white cardboard box from his pocket and handed it to her.

“What’s this?” She opened the box and looked inside to find brownies dotted with green Christmas tree-shaped sprinkles.

“I stopped in a bakery to order something for my mother, and I saw those.”

That was oddly thoughtful of him.

“I know normal girls wouldn’t want to eat brownies after baking cookies all day, but I figured that didn’t apply to you.”

“It’s not like I can argue that statement, so thank you.”

“Good night, Bryn.”

“Good night.” She locked the door behind him before taking a bite of brownie. It was chocolatey fudgey heaven. A small voice in her head whispered that he must actually care about her. The smarter part of her brain said to shut up and enjoy the brownie. No reason to read anything even remotely romantic into the nice gesture.

Bryn stopped mid chew. Wait. What? Did she just think of romance and Jaxon in the same sentence? Sure, he was funny, and smart, and handsome when he wasn’t being an asshat, but that didn’t mean there would ever be any real feelings between them. Right?

She should shoot for friendship. Friendship might be attainable. If she went looking for anything more than that, she’d be disappointed. The brownie was a gesture of friendship. That was all. Just friends.





Chapter Twenty-Nine


The night before Christmas break, Bryn couldn’t sleep. She was looking forward to time off from school and spending time with her family. But staying at Sinclair Estate sometimes felt claustrophobic, which was odd for such a giant building. Maybe claustrophobic wasn’t the right term, more like she was cut off from the world her friends lived in.

After tossing and turning in her bed, she grabbed her blanket and a pillow and headed for the couch. Maybe a change in rooms would help shut her brain off. Once she had herself situated on the couch she mentally ran through her list of Christmas gifts. She’d found a fancy pen for her grandfather and a beautiful cashmere scarf for her grandmother. The gifts probably weren’t up to par, but they were from the heart, so they would have to do.

For her parents, she’d purchased a new set of dishes and silverware, since they seemed to be using odds and ends they’d scavenged. Her grandmother had confirmed that Jaxon’s present had shown up at Sinclair Estate so that was taken care of.

Maybe counting presents wasn’t like counting sheep because she was still wide awake. Fine. She’d just lie there and close her eyes and eventually she’d have to fall asleep.

When her alarm went off the next morning she struggled to get untangled from the covers which she’d somehow wound tight around herself while she’d been sleeping. She stumbled into her bedroom to shut off the alarm. Then she headed across the hall to turn off the other alarm. The door didn’t open. Could it be locked? The only reason it would be locked would be if someone was in there. Who in the hell was in the spare bedroom?

The doorknob was yanked out of her hand. Rhianna stood on the other side of the door looking groggy. “Sorry. I forgot we locked it.”

Bryn could only stare. Rhianna was here. Alive? “We?”

“I hate that damn alarm.” Jaxon’s voice drifted into the hall. “I’m going back to bed. We don’t have to be anywhere for two hours.”

Bryn saw Jaxon climb back into bed. Rhianna said, “Sounds good to me.” And then she shut the door.

What the hell was going on? This had to be a dream. It couldn’t be real. Her phone rang, and she went to answer it.

“Bryn, how could you let this happen?” her grandmother demanded.

“Let what happen?” Why was her grandmother yelling at her?

“We had Rhianna removed and then you just let her back into Jaxon’s life? What’s wrong with you?”

“This isn’t real,” Bryn said.

“Well if that’s how you feel then you’re no longer our granddaughter. We’re cutting you off. Go live with your parents.”

Bryn stared at the phone. How could her grandparents blame her for Rhianna not being dead? She shook her head. This made no sense.

“You did the right thing,” her mom said.

Bryn blinked and looked at her surroundings. She was standing in her parents’ cabin.

“We’re proud of you, sweetie,” her dad said. “But as you can see, there’s no room for you here.”

The inside of the cabin was tiny but surely they could let her sleep on the couch. “I don’t need a bedroom. I’ll sleep out here.” She pointed at the couch.

“No,” her mom said. “You misunderstood. We don’t want you here. You turned your back on us. Left us for dead. Celebrated Christmas without us.”

The room went fuzzy and Bryn found herself alone in a rundown cabin. “It hasn’t been restored yet, but it has potential,” Jaxon said. “You’ll be fine. It’s not like you ever wanted me in the first place.” And then he disappeared, and she was alone in a rotting cabin in the middle of the woods.

This wasn’t real. Her parents wouldn’t abandon her. Her grandparents wouldn’t kick her out. Rhianna wasn’t coming back to life. This was a stress dream. A stupid nightmare. She closed her eyes and tried to feel the softness of the pillow under her. There. She could feel that. Now she should feel the weight of the blanket. There. There it was. And she was going to wake up now. She opened her eyes and saw the dorm room ceiling.

Thank you, God. She shucked off the covers and went to the spare bedroom door. She reached for the handle and then hesitated. And that was dumb. She turned the handle and the door opened with ease. She flipped on the light switch and looked at the empty room.

The alarm went off, making her jump. How could it be morning already? Whatever. She walked over and smacked the top of the alarm to turn it off and then did the same thing in her room. She felt like crap. It’s not like she could try going back to sleep after those disturbing dreams, so she headed for the shower.

She planned to meet up with Clint and Ivy before they all went home. After she was dressed and packed, she headed down to meet her friends outside of her dorm so they could walk to breakfast together.

Over a cup of coffee and an omelet she told them about her crazy nightmare.

“Wow,” Clint said. “The only thing missing from that dream was dragon-pires.”

“I guess I should be thankful for that.”

“On to happier topics,” Ivy said. “We should pick a date to meet and have lunch over break.”

“I declare that lunch will occur at the Snack Shack on the twenty-eighth at eleven,” Clint said.

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