BLOODLINE
CHAPTER 1
NOAH
The weekend has barely started.I step out of Mom’s SUV into a wall of heat so thick it feels like breathing soup. The gravel crunches under my sneakers, cicadas screaming like they’re warning me to turn back. Mom waves from the driver’s window, already late for whatever conference she’s speaking at.
“Be good for your stepuncle, Noah! No screens, remember? Fresh air and hard work!”
“Yeah, yeah, Mom. Love you,” I call back, forcing a smile.
The car disappears down the dusty road, leaving me with one duffel bag and a pounding heart.
The farmhouse door bangs open and Uncle Levi steps onto the porch like some kind of Greek god who decided to go country. Six-foot-five, sun-bronzed, shirtless, sweat rolling down carved abs that disappear into low-slung jeans. His d
