Quinn I (Undaunted Men #1) Read Online Free

my fury uncontainable.  
    “Where the hell did I put the Vodka?” I mumbled in irritation, needing something to take off the edge. I’m not much of a drinker, except either socially, or on that rare occasion I had a stressful day, and today surpassed the sucky-rotten-day meter. Cataclysmic was more like it. Even more frustrating, I don’t know what the hell I was going to do to get out of the mess I had found myself in.  
    Hooking my fingers onto the underside of the cabinet’s edge, I place my knee on the countertop and pull myself up on the kitchen counter. Balancing myself carefully, I stretched my arm out, reaching over the top of the refrigerator to open the cabinet doors. “Ah-hah, there you are,” I said out loud, relieved to have found a new bottle of Vodka. I grabbed the bottle with a satisfied smirk on my lips and clamored back down to safety.  
    My mouth watered just thinking about how delicious my cranberry Vodka was going to taste, and more importantly, how much it would calm my anxiety. I then frowned, knowing it would only be a temporary fix, but right now I didn’t care; I needed to get lost in something, even if it was for a day.
    Mixing the ingredients of my favorite cocktail, the swizzle stick clanked against the glass and ice as I stirred. I watched the liquid continue to swirl in a whirlpool fashion as I brought it to my lips and took a large sip of the cool drink. “Ahh,” I sighed in relief after I swallowed.
    Willing my hands to steady, I took a gulp this time, not even bothering to savor the sweet, cool liquid as it slipped past my throat. All I wanted was for this concoction to infuse itself into my blood stream and dull the ache in my chest.
    I’m so sick of Vince always controlling me. He always manages to preside over my every move without me knowing about it ninety-nine percent of the time. My stomach muscles contorted just thinking about Vince. I clutched my stomach with one hand and promptly took another swig of alcohol to assuage my frayed nerves.  
    What the hell am I going to do? I know freaking out isn’t going to help; unfortunately, that is all I wanted to do. I bit my thumb nail in nervous thought. My brain wasn’t wired to solve these types of complex problems, and even if it were, there was no solving the complex puzzle Vince had created for me.  
    With me being related to the mafia, you’d think I would be impervious to the authorities, but I’m not. I’m backed in a corner with nowhere to run. I took in a deep, shaky breath, and then blew it out slowly. Even though the alcohol had finally begun to dull my senses, I still felt as if I was in panic mode. I’m honestly surprised I wasn’t running around in hysterics right now, trying to cover my tracks and erase anything that had the potential to point the evidence at me.
    I tilted my head back, letting the coldness of the ice cubes fall to my lips as I greedily sucked in every last bit of liquid from the bottom of my glass. I decided I’m going to need another drink, and then another right after that one. Just as I placed more ice cubes in my tumbler, the doorbell rang. I stiffened and wondered who could be at my front door in the middle of the day. Then, a feeling of alarm shot through me. What if it was the police coming after me already?  
    “No, Lexi,” I told myself, breathing through the fear, “not yet.” Vince wouldn’t have tipped them off just yet. He wasn’t done toying with me. With that knowledge, I forced myself to relax my shoulders. I shut the freezer door, and decided I would just pretend I wasn’t at home, ignoring whoever it was. Eventually, they would give up and go away.  
    I finished mixing my second drink, and when I took my first sip, a thunderous pounding on the door ensued, almost making me choke on the liquor. I tried to suppress the pounding of my heart by pressing my hand against my chest. Was this how it was always going to be? Would I be a paranoid mess, looking over my