Phoenix Dead (New Adult Dark Romance) (The Vampire Years) Read Online Free

sweater was to cover the marks Army and his gang brothers had left on my body. Instead I was hiding the fact that the marks were completely erased from my skin as if the entire night had never happened.
    But it had, and Officer Danny was there to pry more information out of me. He asked Elliot if he could take me for a drive.
    Elliot waved us off before turning back to work on his engine. “See if you can't get her to eat something while you're at it.”
    Danny held the door open for me. Sliding into the front passenger seat, I felt scrawny -- empty. I watched him walk around the front of the unmarked police car. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, topped by a light leather dress jacket. His face was clean shaven except for the small, stylish goatee and his dark brown hair curled at his ears and collar.
    Over the last few days, I had learned to see without being distracted by every little detail. He looked exquisite, the outline of the body beneath the clothes, the way his muscles moved as he walked.
    I'd had crushes growing up -- had been trying hard to avoid crushing on Chris. This was beyond a crush. When he was near, my whole body zeroed in on him. Other smells and sounds disappeared until I was left with his scent, the rustle of his clothes, his pulse. I wanted him. It bothered me, how bad I wanted him. I'd spent almost a decade evading men -- one man in particular. Now I wanted to crawl all over Danny.
    He got in the car and automatically hit the door locks. I tensed, my reaction surprising me. I hadn't been in a car since the drive back from the hospital and Elliot never locked his doors.
    “Christ, I'm sorry, Lee. I should have warned you.” He twisted in his seat until he was looking at me. “They'll lock anyway once the car starts moving. All the units do.”
    I nodded. “I'm fine. Maybe we can have the windows down?”
    I didn't really need them down, my first reaction had been a knee jerk response. Now, with his worried gaze on me, he seemed to expect me to act afraid, traumatized.
    He started the engine and put the power windows down. I dragged the seat belt across my chest, clicked it into place. We pulled out of the drive and he asked me if there was anywhere I wanted to go.
    I frowned at him. “Not anywhere there's a sketch artist.”
    He laughed. “Sorry. I know I've been hitting that hard.” He put his hand down on the side of my seat and pinched the fabric of my sleeve between his fingers.
    “I know this is asking a lot…” He let go of my sleeve and rubbed at his jaw.
    “Just ask.” The Maryvale cops had already had me pour through the perp books. I couldn't imagine what else there was left beyond the sketch artist he wanted me to try.
    Then I realized we were back on Indian School Road, heading towards 63rd.
    “You want to take me into the house?”
    “Lee, these guys are predators. They're not going to stop doing this until they're caught.”
    “Sure.” I wrapped my arms around my chest and looked out the window, wanting him, for the moment, to leave me alone so I could think. “I'll go in the house.”
    It was a typical John F Long home. Most of Maryvale was. My grandfather had bought his place in the mid-sixties when it was still green-lawned, cookie-cutter suburbia. Little rectangles of middle-class paradise. Back before there was at least one meth lab per street.
    Danny parked in the drive.
    “We started in the garage.” I said.
    “Let me cut the tape.” He got out, sliced the crime scene tape at the garage door and opened it. He pulled the car inside.
    “The truck had a bench seat.” I unhooked my seat belt. “Sandy was sitting against the door.”
    I was going to have to tell him -- about Sandy. I hadn't told anyone yet. I knew better than to try -- Elliot wouldn't believe me and everyone else in his house would fall in line behind him.
    “He stopped the truck, the garage door went down. Then he tried to pull me out.”
    “Is that when you screamed?” Danny got out and