Flame Read Online Free

did.”
    I
take a piece of lobster tail, dip it in butter, and eat it. “I’ve been on the
other end of that right hook. I don’t envy him.”
    Tommy
drops the smile and stares at me, which is enough to make most mortals have a
bowel movement. I stop chewing.
    “Okay
Tommy, I’ll bite. Why are you telling me this?”
    “This
guy was under the impression that the owner of Heat can supply him a Lolita or
two.”
    “Lolita?”
    “Underage
girls, Colton.”
    I
feel a wretch in my stomach as I wipe my mouth with a napkin. “Tommy, that’s
ridiculous.”
    Tommy
leans forward. “Colton, I’m serious.”
    I
throw the napkin down and stare back at Tommy. “And I’m serious when I say
that’s ridiculous. You know me. I like girls. Lots of girls. But they’re all of
age. One hundred percent of them.”
    We
stare at each other for almost a full minute, neither breaking our expression.
Then Tommy’s face relaxes a little.
    “You
don’t know, do you?”
    I stop
eating and lean back. “Know what?”
    “Colton,
I believe you. But I had to test you. I’m relieved. If you knew, I’d bury your
body parts in several places.”
    “Tommy,
it’s me, Colton! What the fuck are you talking about?”
    Tommy
looks out at the ocean and leans his elbows on the table. “Well, all this made
me curious. Couldn’t believe my buddy Colton Stark could be involved in
anything like this. So I did some digging on Stark Worldwide and came up with
some interesting info on your buddy Jasper van der Voort .”
    “He’s
not my buddy. He’s my dad’s best friend. Runs the company while I play on the
beach and smile for the cameras. You know that.”
    “Colton,
he has a reputation abroad. Takes lots of trips to South America.”
    I
eat another piece of steak. “I know. I love it when he’s gone.”
    Tommy’s
eyes dig into me. “You don’t know what he does there?”
    “Frolics
with women, I assume.”
    Tommy’s
face contorts into a frown. “Not women, Colton. Girls. Little girls. Some boys,
too. We’re talking young here. Sick young.”
    As I
swallow, the meat gets caught in my throat. I gasp, then chug some water to
wash it down.
    Everything
stops. We freeze frame. My skin feels clammy.
    “I wouldn’t
put it past him,” I say, glancing over at the waves. “He is the Emperor of
Sleaze, but I can’t imagine him pimping out little girls.”
    “Colton,
he brings them here.”
    My hand
now shakes. I seem to have broken out into a sweat too, even though there’s a cool
breeze.
    “How
do you know this?” I say.
    “Can’t
say. Let’s just leave it as I know. He’s got a stash of them here somewhere. A little
harem, apparently.”
    I feel
another wretch beginning in my stomach, stronger this time.
    Suddenly
a lot of things make sense to me. Things I hadn’t consciously noticed before.
Plus a series of images flash in my head.
    Jasper
in Costa Rica sitting on a boat with a group of kids. Jasper at that party many
years ago, emerging from a room. The day he wouldn’t let me onto his yacht.
Plus forty-six or so other signs I missed.
    Shit,
I’ve been blind.
    Oh,
God.
    I
believe it.
    I
do.
    The
wretch in my stomach expands upwards.
    “Excuse
me,” I say as I bolt to the men’s room.
    I barely
make it into a stall before I vomit into the toilet.
    I
stay there for a few moments, shaking and sweating.
    The
guy used my name. Colton Stark.
    My name!
    I
can’t let this happen. I may break the law to steal money from an evil man so I
can do good with it, but I can’t let my name be tarnished like this.
    I
grit my teeth and clench my fist as I lean on the toilet seat.
    I refuse to allow my name to be tarnished like this!
    I’m suddenly
infused with a powerful desire to kill Jasper.
    I
close my eyes, take a deep breath, and flush the toilet.
    A
plump tourist in a yellow flowered shirt washing his hands stares at me as I
emerge from the stall and walk to the sink.
    “You
okay, buddy?” he says.
    I nod
yes, and then he leaves.
    I