Five Days Grace Read Online Free Page A

female, her height and small frame would have. She might be nothing but a teenager.
    He planned to wait out the screaming, so she could hear him when he spoke, so he could back this down, slow and easy. He really didn't want to hurt her. But the dog either took exception to the whole thing or got scared and picked that moment to try to huddle against their legs. The girl elbowed Aidan hard, low in his gut, managing to catch a still-healing incision from multiple surgeries.
    Fuck , that hurt.
    She lunged away from him, tripping over the dog, and Aidan went right after her, not willing to let her go but also trying to protect her as they fell. The dog howled in outrage, or maybe fear, and scampered out of the way. Aidan and the girl landed hard on the floor. He managed to twist sideways with her, to take most of the blow on his right side, and his rebuilt hip hurt like a son of a bitch. She landed half on top of him and half on the floor, struggling like mad.
    Did she not realize that if he wanted to, he could have killed her three times over already?
    Rolling her over, he pinned her face down on the floor, straddling her hips as he sat, purposely putting all his weight on her. He pulled one of her arms behind her back, hard enough that if she tried to move too much, it was going to hurt, but if she just relaxed and stayed there, it wouldn't.
    Took her a minute to figure that out, screaming the whole time, the dog dancing around the two of them, seemingly unable to figure out if this was some kind of game or if Aidan was trying to hurt her. He whined, barked, cried and then finally licked the girl's face, bringing forth a howl of outrage from her, and then, finally, blessed silence.
    "God, thank you," Aidan said. "I don't know how much more of that I could take."
    "How much more you could take?"
    She sounded even more pissed than before, started struggling again, and he tugged a little harder on her arm until she stilled. Once she did, he could feel that she was trembling badly and felt guilty about that, but not enough to let her up yet.
    "Who are you?" she cried. "What do you want?"
    "Right now, just to talk."
    "Oh, I'm sure. If you hurt me, you'll be sorry—"
    "I'm already sorry—"
    "My family is insanely protective," she insisted. "They will hunt you down. The whole town will—"
    "The whole town? Think a lot of you, do they, Princess?"
    "Yes, they do. Ahh!"
    She probably would have kept going, but the dog came up and licked her cheek again, effectively silencing her once again.
    So, the dog could be useful. No matter how much of a pain in the ass he was, he was better than having the girl screaming. Aidan had planned to stick the barrel of his gun in her back again, which he had hoped would silence her, but this was better and less threatening.
    "What is that thing?" she asked, breathing hard, but she wasn't screaming anymore. As she turned her head to stare, her face spoke more of stunned amazement.
    Tink danced a bit, coming close and then retreating, barking once, then again, maybe asking her to get up and play. Aidan couldn't be sure.
    "Some people claim he's a dog. I'm not convinced," he told her. "Be still for a second so we can talk about this, and I won't hurt you. Give me a hard time, and I'll order that thing to lick you again."
    Now, if she didn't figure out that he had no control over the dog, they'd be okay.
    "Who are you?" he asked.
    "Who are you?" she shot right back.
    Aidan sighed, exasperated. "I can sit here on top of you as long as you want. You're not going anywhere unless I let you, so I suggest you start talking."
    "My name is Grace, although I don't understand why you'd want to know. Is that some quirk of yours? Wanting to know your victims' names?"
    "Victim? How did you get to be the victim here? You broke in, remember?"
    "I didn't break in. I know where the spare key is. My family owns this cabin," she said.
    "Owns it?"
    "Yes, owns it."
    Could it be that simple? A mix-up in who was supposed to be