Secondhand Smoke (Dartmoor Book 4) Read Online Free Page A

groan, Aidan pushed up on his arms and sat back. The pounding in his head intensified. The light, weak though it was, stabbed through the high frosted window above the bed and shot needles through his eyes.
                  Wincing, he glanced down at himself, confirming that he was indeed naked, and that someone had thrown a blanket over him, one that now trailed off his shoulders. He wrapped it tightly across his front and reached for the tea. It actually smelled good, so that was something, at least.
                  Tango sat on the side of the bed, long hair on the top of his head carefully gelled and styled, so a few pieces fell across his forehead. He wore soft colors, a white t-shirt with the Lean Dogs logo and rockers. His face seemed sharp and too-thin, his eyes a little haunted around the edges.
                  Or maybe that was just the hangover. Whatever.
                  The first sip of tea flowed soothingly across his tongue, proving that his English brother knew everything about everything, as if he’d ever doubted him. He took another sip and glanced over the mug at his best friend.
                  “What did I do last night?”
                  “Tried to choke Jasmine to death.”
                  “Shit.” More tea. “Did I dream it, or were you and Jockstrap and she…”
                  “Yeah.”
                  “Huh. How’d that go?”
                  “Pretty good up until that whole strangling thing.”
                  “Right.”
                  “She wanted it to be you.”
                  “Come again?”
                  Tango sighed, stared at the toes of his boots. “A while back, she asked if I’d ask you if…”
                  Aidan started to grin, and it turned into a gasp of pain as the movement plucked at his headache. “Shit. Yeah, okay, that woulda been fun.” Some faint memory from last night grabbed at him, tried to take a firmer hold. “Wait…did you…did you kiss me?”
                  “And you enjoyed it,” Tango deadpanned. “I’m a very good kisser.”
                  They held one another’s gazes a moment, Aidan’s watery with exhaustion and pain.
                  Then they both smiled together, sad, regretful smiles.
                  “I didn’t hurt her, did I?” Aidan asked quietly. “If I’d been in my right mind, I swear, bro, I never–”
                  “She’s a little shookup, but physically she’s fine.”
                  “Thank God.”
                  “Yeah.” Tango gave him a level stare. “I haven’t ever seen you like that. Violent with one of the girls. That was Mercy’s old game, not yours.”
                  Aidan swallowed more tea, kicking himself mentally.
                  “Tell me about Tonya.”
                  “She’s trying to trap me.”
                  Tango’s mouth tugged in a sideways frown. “No offense, but what the hell would she want to do that for?”
                  “She–” His mind went blank.
                  “She’s rich, she’s gorgeous, her dad has connections. She’s got everything she wants. What would she be trying to get out of you?”
                  Wasn’t that a giant slap across the face?
                  “Nothing,” Aidan muttered. “She wouldn’t want anything from me.”
     
    ~*~
     
    “No, no, I’m not calling in sick.” Sam cranked hard on the wheel with one hand, her other occupied with the cellphone she held clamped to her ear. The battleship that was her ’83 Caprice dipped hard into the turn, brakes squealing. “I’m just going to be late is all. Can one of the TAs slap a sign on my room door or