Sweet Vengeance Read Online Free

you keep playing with him."
    She
jerked her head toward the husky voice coming from a chair in the corner of the
room near the head of the bed.  Her vision swam from her quick movements, but
slowly a familiar face came into view.  He had the most hauntingly beautiful
dark eyes.  Allie swallowed her surprise.  He'd been in the room with her the
whole time.  "You." 
    "Get
down, Boo."  The man watched her as the dog lowered his ears and jumped to
the floor.  "Do they hurt?"  He nodded at her bandaged hands.
    "No." 
She wondered if she should be alarmed, being alone in the same room with a
strange man, but her fear was quickly replaced by a fuzzy, disoriented
feeling.  She bent her fingers.  "Well, maybe a little."   
    Allie
looked back at the man.  "I'm sorry.  This is all a little unreal to
me."  Memories of the previous night—crazy memories hovered at the edge of
her mind.  "You were there..." 
    She
tried to hold them back, but looking into his eyes brought everything to the
surface.  "Joey?"  She whispered the name as tears sprung to her
eyes.  "He's dead?" 
    She
already knew the answer, but watching the man confirm it with a nod of his head
broke her heart.
    "Why
would someone kill him?"  She brought a hand to her face, trying to steady
herself and the dizzying room.
    "Consider
who he was associated with.  It happens to drug dealers."  The man
shrugged.  "Occupational hazard, it goes with the job."
    "No." 
She didn't want to hear that.  "No, not Joey."  But she knew it was
true.  She'd avoided recognizing the signs, but deep down, she knew he was
involved in some bad things.  "He was a good guy." 
    "Not
as good as you might think."
    "And
we were...shot, too, weren't we?"  The lump in her throat thickened as she
tried to contain her tears.  Joey had been murdered last night, and she and the
man sitting next to her almost had been, too.  "You saved me."  God. 
It was too much to think about. 
    She
flicked a glance at her left arm, remembering the moment when she'd realized
she'd been shot.  Her arm had been wrapped in gauze as well.  The sight of her
injury brought a dull thud which began to throb.  She sat up farther in bed,
the action making her woozy.
    "Slow
down."  The stranger moved over and sat on the bed.  "The painkillers
Doc Green gave you are going to make you a little off-balance."
    Painkillers ?  Would they
hurt her baby?  "What did he give me?" 
    "I'm
not sure."  He studied her with solemn eyes.  "I'd have to check the
bottle."
    She
nodded.  There was a lot to think about.  A lot to process from the previous
night, but she couldn't do it right now.  She needed to get her feet back under
her first.
    She
caught him watching her.  He seemed wary of what she'd say or do.  That was
understandable, she supposed.  They didn't know each other and both had been
through a traumatic night.
    Feeling
uncomfortable under his scrutiny, she dropped her gaze.  It fell squarely on
well-sculpted muscles that were showcased by his tight T-shirt.  He was built
like he was made of steel.  Power radiated off him even in his relaxed state.
    How
did a girl ignore muscles like that?  She'd noticed his hard body last night,
remembered pressing herself against him in the car.  And he'd felt good.  Safe.
    Blowing
out a breath, she forced her gaze away, catching sight of the matching gauze
wrap on his left arm.  The reminder brought her emotions back to the surface. 
The horrible images wouldn't stay away. 
    She
put her hands to her face, wiping tears with her fingertips.  Her emotions were
raw, open.  She needed to clear away the fuzziness so she could think of what
to do.  "I need to go home now."  She needed to get out of that
stupid beige room before her heart broke wide open, and she flooded the bed
with her fears and sorrow.  She needed a corner to crawl into where she could
grieve in private.  Plus, she had to find out where they'd taken Joey's body. 
His mother