Darkness Torn Asunder Read Online Free

his off hours on his own. He treated Dan’s customers with courtesy but made no effort to get to know anything else about them other than their favorite brand of beer and how they liked their burgers.
    Dan stepped out of his small office and headed right for him. Emmett finished the order he’d been filling when Dan arrived. “These are for the table over there in the corner.”
    “Got it. See you in a few minutes.”
    If Dan had noticed that Emmett timed his breaks to correspond to when Jana usually walked to her car, he hadn’t said anything. Maybe he was smart enough to know it wasn’t any of his business. Emmett grabbed his jacket before heading out into the darkness. Filling his lungs with fresh air never got old, and his vision quickly adjusted to the darkness. Doctors had never been able to give him an explanation as to why his eyes were so sensitive to light. Their only advice was to wear good sunglasses. They found his strange ability to heal even more puzzling.
    To keep Jana from discovering how fast he healed, Emmett had taken out his own stitches two days after he’d been injured instead of returning to the clinic. Now, just shy of a week later, even the scar was barely visible. If Jana came looking for him, he planned to lie and say his regular doctor had taken care of it.
    He ducked into his usual hiding spot in the alley two buildings up from the bar, which afforded him a view of Jana’s entire route from the clinic to her car. He was tall enough to peek over a huge Dumpster, making it unlikely that she’d spot him as she walked past. Leaning against the wall, he settled in to wait. It didn’t take long before he heard the familiar sound of her footsteps.
    He thought Jana was naïve for thinking this area was safe for a woman alone, but he wasn’t going to be the one to burst her bubble. Same as always, she came striding down the block, her chocolate-brown hair brushing her shoulders and those long legs of hers drawing his gaze the same as they had every night. This time she was carrying two big boxes and looking blissfully unaware of any potential danger that could be lurking in the area. However, when Jana drew even with the alley, she turned to look straight at him. Rats, busted.
    After a quick glance up and down the block, she set the boxes down on the sidewalk and headed right for him. Instead of ripping into him, she put her hands on her hips and gave him a narrowed-eyed look softened with the barest hint of a smile. “Emmett Sloan, I’d like to remind you that I’m a big girl and capable of taking care of myself. However, if you’re going to insist on making sure I get to my car safely, you might as well make yourself useful and carry those boxes for me. There are four more just like them back by the clinic door.”
    He held up his hands in surrender and left his hiding spot behind. “Yes, ma’am.”
    Back on the other side of the street, he picked up the boxes and let her lead the way. After he stashed them in the back of her car, the two of them headed back toward the clinic. As they walked, she asked, “How’s your hand?”
    He stuck it out palm side up. At least he’d been smart enough to keep a bandage on it as camouflage. “No problems, no pain.”
    “That’s good. And you’re taking your antibiotic?”
    Rather than admit he hadn’t bothered, he asked a question of his own. “Do you often do follow-up care out on the street?”
    “Sometimes. You might find it hard to believe, but some of my patients don’t always follow my advice. When that happens, I hunt them down.”
    Emmett hoped she was kidding, but one look at her face made it clear that she was dead serious. “Tell me you don’t go prowling these streets by yourself, not at night anyway.”
    She gave him an impish smile. “I could tell you that, but I try not to lie to my friends.”
    He didn’t know which shocked him more: that she’d risk her own safety like that or that she might consider him a friend.