Dark Mysteries Read Online Free Page B

the couch, draping it up on the back
cushion so she could just pull it down on herself when she laid down.
    “You
live in this neighborhood,” he said, straightening and turning,
finding her watching him, “you get to know a lot about drugs.”
He walked toward a closet next to his bed, reaching in and quickly
closing the door. Like he was hiding something. “Here,”
he said, holding out an big blue sweatshirt and a pair of men's blue
and white plaid pajama pants. “These are going to swim on you,
but they're dry.”
    Ellie
walked closer, taking the clothes between her hands, holding them
away from her wet body. “Thank you,” she said, genuinely
meaning it, “is there somewhere I can...”
    “Oh,”
Xander said, shaking his head as if trying to clear his train of
thought. “Yeah. Right outside this door,” he said,
opening the door to the hall and pointing to another door, “is
the bathroom. There are towels in the cabinet if you want to take a
shower.”
    Ellie
opened the door, feeling around for the light switch. “Thanks,”
she offered him a weak smile, slipping behind the door and closing
it. No lock. What was wrong with people and not having locks on their
bathrooms? The bathroom, like everything in the building, was dated.
The bathtub, sink, and toilet were all identical shades of
blue-green. The floor was tiled in inch-wide white tile, faded with
time, some of the tiles broken. The walls were covered in larger
white tiles, interrupted by the occasional square of four blue-green
tiles. It was awful, Ellie decided, shaking her head. What did he
have against a little updating?
    She
reached in the shower and turned the water on hot, quickly stripping
out of her clothes, and moving the curtain out of the way to step in.
She sunk into the heat for a long time, closing her eyes, and trying
to go over the events of the night.
    Trying
to find what she did wrong. She messed up somewhere along the line.
Not because he found her. He always found her. But he had caught her
off-guard. She hadn't been prepared enough. There hadn't been
anything but her cup of tea to throw at him. And that just so
happened to be carelessly left there that morning. There should have
been a vase, a bat, a frying pan. Something everywhere to grab. She
should have been carrying mace, homemade pepper spray... something
that she could assault him with from a distance so she could run.
    She
was getting sloppy. And it was going to get her killed.
    She
dried and stepped out of the bathroom, looking around for a second,
trying to figure out what felt wrong. Something was out of place.
Then she looked down at the floor, a puddle where he clothes should
have been. But weren't.
    She
looked over at the door with wide eyes. He had actually come in while
she was naked in the shower and taken her clothes. She took a deep
breath, trying not to get agitated, despite what she decided was a
gross invasion of privacy. He seemed like a good guy. She didn't need
to be suspicious of everyone.
    The
drawstring on the pants had to be pulled almost completely out and
tied tightly. They still slung down low on her hips, but they would
do. She looked down at her side in the mirror, seeing the deep blue,
purple, and yellow bruises smattering across her skin. Worse than she
had thought. The shock and adrenaline had masked the pain somewhat
and it was growing now, sharp and impossible to ignore.
    She
threw on the sweatshirt, opening the door and calling out. “Hey...
do you happen to have a few elastic bandages?”
    A
minute later, Xander walked into the doorway, leaning against the jam
causally. “What for?” he asked, looking down at her.
Trying to ignore the fact that she smelled like him. That she was
naked underneath his clothes.
    Ellie
saw the patient look on his face that suggested he wasn't going to
get her anything until he knew why. She took a shallow breath,
grabbing the hem of the sweatshirt and pulling it upward, holding it
against the skin right