Heart in Wire: A by a Thread Companion Novel Read Online Free Page A

tractor trailer hit him. He didn’t survive.” These were the exact words he was supposed to say to her. He was supposed to tell her that her fiancé died. He wasn’t supposed to say anything else.
    The front of his black ATF shirt was soaked in her tears. His heart ached for this girl he didn’t know. She didn’t deserve this. Hell, no one deserved this.
    “You’re going to be okay,” he said as he laid her down on the bed. “I’ll arrange everything and we’ll head down to the service tomorrow. Try to get some sleep.” He turned to go back upstairs, he really needed a drink, but he felt a wet, warm hand on his wrist.
    “Please stay with me.”
    He sat and patted her head and shoulder and told her it’d be okay until she passed out from exhaustion. He walked upstairs and her dog followed him. He poured himself a whiskey. “Please stay with me,” she’d begged him. Fuck. The dinner that smelled like heaven was currently burning in the oven. He turned off the oven and pulled out a salvageable casserole of some sort. He sighed and left it on the counter, his appetite gone.
    Billy texted to make sure everything was okay.
    You good?
    Patrick read the text and then looked down the stairs toward the girl whose heart he’d just decimated.
    Fucking great
    Billy responded quickly.
    You told her?
    Patrick nodded. Then remembered he needed to text.
    Yep
    He sighed heavily and took a gulp of his whiskey, not even wincing as it sloshed down his throat.
    Sorry dude. That’s harsh.
    Patrick actually laughed out loud at Billy’s response. “That’s a bit of an understatement,” he said to no one, then took his phone and whiskey into his room and dialed the number of Stella’s parents that Jamie had given him. Someone would have to tell them as well. He didn’t think Stella would be doing anything but crying for a while.

    He was pulled back to the present by his phone ringing. “Hey, babe,” he answered.
    “Take me on a date tonight,” Millie demanded.
    “Of course,” he chuckled, “anywhere in particular I should take you?”
    “Take me to Sequoia, wine me and dine me…you know what that leads to.”
    “My favorite number,” he said with a laugh. “Where are you?”
    “I’m at the grocery store; we need everything.”
    Patrick loved the fact that since Millie had moved in, the only time he had to go to the store was to get more beer. “Whatever you want, babe. Thanks.”
    When El lived with them, she didn’t do shit most of the time. They took turns going to the store. Millie was damn near perfect. He willed himself to love her. Every fucking day, he willed himself to love her. Some days he convinced himself he did, others he knew that they lacked something. He couldn’t understand it…she had everything he wanted.

    Patrick lounged on the couch, drunk. Billy and El had gone to bed over an hour ago and he and Millie stayed up talking. He laughed as Millie recounted stories about El in law school. He never got to see that side of his roommate, the smart, serious side. Around him, she was either drunk, surly, or laughing. Sometimes all three at the same time. He blinked; he needed to go to sleep. George had just dumped El, so they’d been drinking since three o’clock this afternoon and it was catching up to him. He sighed and clapped his hand on Millie’s leg.
    “I’m going to hit the bed. You going to sleep downstairs with El? I’d be careful, she sleeps naked.”
    Millie laughed and batted her doe eyes at him. “Do you have room for me in your bed?”
    “Um, yeah.” His eyes widened—that was unexpected. “I mean, sure.” He pulled her off the couch by the hand and kept hold of it as he walked back to his room.
    Her hand was soft and fragile. This was a really bad idea. He felt her other hand graze his back as they entered his room. He turned around to face her and she pulled the door shut. Millie pushed him until the backs of his legs brushed up against the bed and he sat, gazing up at