Ash Rising (DEAd Series) Read Online Free

door.
    “Yeah, nice of him to ruin our last night together.”
    “Are you okay?” Ash asked Lisa when he and Daniel joined her and Andy just outside the door.
    Lisa’s face formed hard lines. “He’s not going to leave me alone, is he? He gets off making me feel like shit.”
    “You’ve got to stop letting him get to you.” Daniel slid an arm around her shoulders. “Giving him a response only makes it worse. Any attention is good attention, you know?”
    “He ne ver deserved you,” Andy offered.
    Ash exchanged a glance with Daniel. They’d both listened to Andy mope about his unrequited feelings for Lisa too often over the past decade.
    She snorted a humorless laugh. “Yeah, well, I do know I don’t deserve to be tormented until the end of time by that asshole. I won’t let him get away with it.”
    “That’s the spirit.” Daniel rubbed a hand through her hair and smacked a kiss to her temple. “Let’s go grab something to eat. I’m hungry.”
    “You’re always hungry,” Ash said, but he grinned. “I’m in.”
    “So am I. ” Andy turned expectantly to Lisa.
    “I’m going home.” She wouldn’t meet any of their gazes, her mouth tight.
    “Come on,” Andy urged. “It’s our last night together for who knows how long. Don’t let that asshole spoil the fun.”
    “You guys go on ahead. I won’t let him ruin any more of my nights. I promise,” she added when Andy started to argue. “I’m just going to go home tonight. I’ll see you all later.”
    “Should one of us go with her?” Daniel asked as she walked to her car, her head bent and shoulders hunched.
    Ash suppressed a shudder at the memory of what had happened the last time he’d taken her back to her apartment when she’d been upset over Greg.
    “No,” he said, perhaps a little too sha rply. Andy narrowed his eyes, but Ash managed a casual smile and slapped him on his back.
    “No,” he repeated in a more normal tone. “Best thing to do is let her work her own way through this.”
    Andy sighed, frowning in the direction Lisa had disappeare d, but then nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s go get food.”
    “Now you’re talking.” Daniel rubbed his hands together, and they turned toward the parking lot and Andy’s car.

    “Here’s the thing, Beaulieu.” Pete Davenport leaned back in the chair behind his desk, tapping a pen against his lower lip. “You’re just too damned good looking.”
    What the hell did that have to do with anything? Maybe the late night with his friends had affected the early morning meeting in Davenport’s Toronto office more than he’d thought.
    “Coming on to me, big guy?” he teased. No way he’d blow this chance to work for a legend in RCMP investigative and undercover operations.
    Pete snorted. “You’re not really my type. No, I’m saying you’re noticeable. Most plainclothes and undercovers blend. People see and forget them. You, not so much.” Pete eyed him and winced. “I’ve seen you cause mass shortness of breath and whiplash in your wake when you’re dressed in uniform.”
    “So that’s why I got assigned to Buttfuck, Saskatchewan?” Ash had expected to be assigned away from home, friends, and family, but he didn’t look forward to spending the first years of his career in Saskatchewan or even further north, chasing moose across the tundra.
    “Not quite Buttfuck,” Pete said dryly. “But I think we can use your looks to our advantage. No one will believe you’re a Mountie. You need to get some experience working the street and finish your Field Coaching. I’d also like to start you out doing some plainclothes work—hanging around the usual suspects and locations. Let them see you, get you some experience observing, listening, gathering intel. Means a lot of extra hours above and beyond your rookie duties. You’ll put in a full shift, go home, change, and then head out to the locations I give you. You’ll be lucky to get a couple hours sleep before starting