Joseph Read Online Free Page B

had murdered his dad. Some of the girls even went so far as to tell her Joseph was dangerous and violent that he would hurt her. She knew he wouldn’t. He was always gentle with her. Too gentle. His devastating aggression fascinated her—excited her. If he ever, even once, had taken control of those make out sessions, she would have melted. But he didn’t. His restraint frustrated her to no end, but how does a seventeen-year-old girl tell her boyfriend that? No, Joey was a master of discipline. He never lost control during a fight and always stopped when he knew he had won. He was always victorious. It did seem that everyone in town feared her Joey. She laughed to herself. Nobody else called him Joey, not even his family.
    The two spent their senior year together talking, dreaming, planning their lives or just enjoying the peaceful silence of being together. Both knew that the relationship would end after graduation. With a maturity beyond their years, they accepted it. He wanted to join the Marine Corps and travel the world. She wanted to go to college and dreamed of being a doctor. They were best friends.
    Ember compared every man she had ever dated in college and after to him. None ever came close to meeting the thrill Joseph’s commanding presence gave her. If only he used that power in other ways . If she had only known then what she knew now? Would she have begged Joey to stay? Would she have become a military wife? More times than not it seemed her life-long drive to become a doctor had cost her more than she wanted to pay. She’d learned too many hard, unrelenting lessons, felt bitter disappointment, survived a mentally abusive boyfriend, a cheating fiancé and suffered through too many disappointing dates to count. If she had known? I would have followed him to the ends of the earth.
    When the phone rang two hours later, the shrill noise jarred her frayed nerves. She struggled to answer the unfamiliar phone, the shaking of her hands making the effort even more arduous. How the hell do I answer this thing? Ember hit a button hoping it was the right one to connect her to the caller. “Joey?”
    “Yeah, Em it’s me. Explain why you think you’re in trouble?” The sound of his voice crumbled all her stoic defenses. She swiped at a tear and spoke softly into the phone. The closest person was five rows up, but she whispered anyway. “Oh, thank God, Joey! A friend gave me a computer thumb drive for safekeeping last night. He said if something happened to him to get it to a person I could trust--someone at a national level. I didn’t know who else to call. Oh, my God.” Ember drew a shaking breath willing herself not to dissolve into tears. “Joey, he was found dead this morning. The paper said it was a suicide, but…he would never kill himself.”
    “Where are you and do you still have the drive?” His deep rich voice melted her to the core, similar to the voice of the young man she once knew but now deeper with a terse, clipped edge. His voice held a distinct chill, a distance. Ember’s mind raced. Perhaps he wouldn’t help? How much had he changed over the years? Was she wrong to reach out to him? Well, hell, it had been fourteen—no fifteen years.
    “Joey, maybe I freaked a little bit. I don’t know. I didn’t really know what to do so…I think I may have over reacted? Hell, I threw my cell phone out on the interstate and left my truck in a mall parking lot. Maybe I watch too much TV, but I didn’t want to be tracked so I bought prepaid cell phones and I’m on a bus heading to Kansas City. All with cash—of course.”
    “Being careful keeps people alive. I need information. Now. The man’s name? Where did this happen and do you still have the drive?”
    “Dale Landis, he is… was a lawyer in New Orleans. I have the damned thing in my pocket.” He didn’t respond. Nothing. No words, no indication he heard her. Ember looked at the face of the phone to ensure they were still connected.