Fight By The Team (Team Fear Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

her a little too late; she and Lauren needed to know what drug had incapacitated them a few days ago. Rose wouldn’t let her go alone, not after what happened at the bank, he had said, as if his rule was law. She’d made a half-hearted attempt at arguing, especially when the morning wore on and they still hadn’t left the no-tell motel, but she’d had too many bad things happen in the last week. When she wasn’t dealing with a panic attack, she was a relatively sane individual. If Rose wanted to be her bodyguard, he had her blessing.
    A few steps up and through a door that Rose held open, Debi entered the administration building. The halls echoed with painful silence, so she couldn’t avoid the coffee kiosk in the corner under the stairs. The brunette barista with her hair in a messy bun raced around to intercept Debi before they disappeared into the bowels of the building.
    Rose stepped between them.
    “Wait, you’re Professor Ryder’s friend, right? From the other night? I’m Beth, one of her students. Is she okay?”
    Debi didn’t want to have this conversation. The girl had unknowingly helped the bad guys incapacitate Debi and Lauren. Beth thought she was saving her favorite professor from an abusive husband, but she’d really stepped in the middle of a war. Debi pushed around Rose. “She’s fine, no thanks to you.”
    “Why didn’t she come back to class?”
    Debi stretched her neck, but the tension knotting her muscles wouldn’t ease. “She’s finishing her dissertation long distance, and you’re lucky we aren’t pressing charges. You knocked us out. Let strange men cart us off campus. That’s accessory to a felony, sweetheart.” It bugged her to use Rose’s word, but in Texas, sweetheart could be an insult as well as an endearment. “And you stepped into the middle of something you don’t understand.” She bit her tongue to keep from spewing more anger at the girl whose face turned whiter with each word. Debi had to remember that a psycho had manipulated the girl.
    “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—” Beth cut herself off. She twisted her hands together in agitation. “What happened to Joe?”
    Baby Face Joe was dead by Ryder’s hand, the only way to save Lauren, but it was better for Beth to think Joe had used her than that he was dead. “Find a new boyfriend, one who doesn’t use you to get to someone else.”
    Rose grabbed her arm. Shut up , he mouthed. “We need to go.”
    “Yeah, yeah.” It was probably best Debi didn’t destroy the poor girl. For all Beth knew, the cute soldier she’d started dating was a real sweet guy with all the best intentions. Debi made it several steps at Rose’s side before she stopped. Blaming Beth wasn’t fair. She had been a pawn, used by a man much the way Debi had been not that long ago. Manipulated. Duped. She’d been a fool, just like the coffee girl. “Beth, I know Lauren doesn’t blame you. She’d want you to forget it and move on.”
    A tear dripped from her expressive eyes. “Tell her I’m sorry.”
    Debi released a hard breath. “She knows.”
    Debi grabbed Rose’s hand to pull him down the hall and away from the barista. The heat of his big hand burned, so she dropped it as she led the way down the wide hall toward Lauren’s office. “The place seems harmless enough,” she said to hide her nerves.
    “Not safe. This is where you got kidnapped.”
    Leave it to him to crash the illusion of safety. “You’re a cheery man to have around, Rosie.”
    “The name is Rose or Sergeant.”
    “I am aware.” But the big, bad soldier was fun to rattle. He was often blunt to a fault, but she was glad he was there, walking with her through the treacherous halls of academia.
    “Hold up.” Rose broke the silence that so often defined him. He placed an arm between them and scooted her behind. “Let me go first.”
    “Have at it, Rosie.” She was all for letting the soldier take the first hit. He was probably bulletproof. He