Vengeance (Twenty-Five Percent Book 3) Read Online Free

do. Or Brian, he was almost as big, and almost as tall.
    Sam then wondered if Claire liked big muscles.
    A minute later Dave came back with an orange rose, Leon returned with one red and two pink, and they started off again.
    Sam looked at the flower in his hand. He hoped Claire was home by now. He couldn’t wait to see her smile when he gave her the rose.

3
     
     
     
     
    Alex finished the last bite of his second onion chutney and spam sandwich and considered what to eat next.
    Bacon would have been better, but it was probable there wasn’t one single rasher of the good stuff left anywhere in Sarcester. Besides which, being the first thing he’d eaten in five days, even spam tasted amazing.
    Not eating since they got back from Omnav hadn’t been intentional. He had simply lost the drive to do anything ‘normal’, anything that would feel like he was living life as it had been before. So he’d spent five days lying in bed, not eating, not communicating, not showering. The first thing he’d done after hearing Harvey Boot was on his way was get himself clean. Micah had insisted on it.
    Micah had tried to get him to eat a few times the first couple of days, even bringing a bowl of chilli con carne from Pat, but even his neighbour’s unequalled cooking skills hadn’t been able to tempt him. After that, Micah had given up.
    Whether it was the despair, or a kind of self punishment, or some other psychological problem, Alex supposed it didn’t really matter. The chance to get to Boot had snapped him out of it.
    And now he’d started eating, he didn’t want to stop.
    Micah went to the fridge and brought out two desserts. He placed a still sealed individual chocolate cheesecake only two days past its use by date in front of Alex and sat down to open a low fat strawberry yoghurt.
    “Don’t you have a cheesecake?” Alex said as he peeled off the foil lid and inhaled the heady aroma of chocolate mousse.
    “That’s the last one,” Micah said. “I saved it for you.”
    Alex looked down at the small pudding, his mouth watering. “Oh. Well, we could split it.” He didn’t want to split it, but he felt obliged to make the offer.
    “No, it’s yours. You eat it. I know you want to.”
    Alex dug his teaspoon in. He didn’t need to be told twice. “Thank you. You’re a good friend.” He sucked the chocolatey cheesy mouthful from the spoon, closing his eyes to savour the taste as it melted on his tongue. “That is so good. But I feel bad that you don’t have one.”
    Micah smiled. “Don’t. Janie brought us four. I ate the other three.”
    Unwilling to risk losing any of the cheesecake, Alex clamped his mouth shut and laughed through his nose. “And I thought you were being so generous,” he said when he was finally able to swallow. It felt good to laugh.
    “Dude, chocolate cheesecake. You’re lucky you got that one.”
    Alex took a second bite. “What time’s the meeting?”
    “Midday at Janie’s. Leon said they were using the morning to do something Bates came up with. I didn’t ask what. I should probably have offered to help, but...” He shrugged.
    “Have you been home at all?”
    Micah shook his head, looking down into his yoghurt pot. “I didn’t feel like going back out.”
    “I’m sorry. I haven’t been much use.”
    In many ways, Micah had lost more than him, and yet Alex was the one who’d gone to pieces. He was ashamed of himself. Not for the first time, he wished he had Micah’s strength of character.
    Micah leaned back and stared out the window. “To be honest, I didn’t really want to talk about it either. It was just...” He shrugged and swallowed another spoonful of yoghurt. “I didn’t want to be on my own.”
    Lying in bed, Alex had thought he wanted to be left alone. Now he knew he didn’t. Just knowing Micah was there had helped. “I know what you mean.”
    “Plus,” Micah said, “me and the sofa, we’ve bonded.”
    Alex carefully peeled away a sliver of his