Waiting Read Online Free Page A

was just tossed to the side as if he were a wadded up piece of paper. How on Earth could this be real?
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    THREE
     
    A scream was ripped from my throat when arms encircled me from be hind the same time a hand was thrust over my mouth, effectively drowning out any noise from me. I kicked and threw my head back in an attempt to get free but my attacker held firm, and actually chuckled at my feeble attempts.
    "Calm down! I'm not going to hurt you unless I have to."
    Well now, that's reassuring!
    I picked up my struggle and wriggled, scratched and fought, but he didn't move an inch. His skin was harder than anything; my nails didn't leave any scratch marks. My gaze fell back on Brian when I began to cry in defeat .
    "He should be here soon, if he's not already. My brother's been very hard to keep track of over the last few years but I do know that he's been deliberately driving me away from you. And now I know why."
    What? Why? His brother? In a last ditch effort to get out of this alive I went still, stopped struggling al together in hopes that he'd loosen his grip and give me a breath of hope that this wouldn't be how my life ended.
    "Good. You're going to play along unt il you think you can escape. I can deal with that," he assured me before letting me go and taking a step back after turning me to face him. He had a faint English accent that got more and more pronounced as he spoke.
    He put himself between me and the door, smiling wickedly since he knew what I planned on doing. Gesturing to the seat behind me, he slowly sat. I did the same, my heart almost pounding out of my chest, my t ears streaming down my cheeks while I remained silent.
    "Let me introduce myself. My name is Francis and I'll be taking care of you tonight." He winked at his apparent joke before continuing. I sat at the edge of my seat, anxious to keep him talking and away from me. "My brother and I have been in a quarrel for some years now and it's time to end it. I hope he can find it in his heart to show himself tonight, but if he doesn't show in the next five minutes I'll be taking you home with me where you'll be harder to protect."
    He spoke loudly as if his brother was listening on the other side of the rooftop, making me crane my neck to see if anyone else was actually up here.
    Come on Piper, come up with something, and fast. Anything.
    "My name is Piper and I think you’ ve mistaken me for someone else. I have children and I'd like to get back to them."
    I stood slowly, gauging his reaction, a wicked grin growing on his face as he gestured for me to sit back down, which I obligingly did. So much for plan A.
    "Lovely to meet you , Piper. You don't have any children, barely even practiced if my senses are correct, so let's just have a nice little chat for a few more minutes until Parker shows up."
    Parker.
    I stopped breathing at the mention of his name, lamely trying to cover my shock with a cough.
    "P-P-Parker Smith?" I asked in a low tone. He nodded and the grin on his face remained. "I haven't seen him in over ten years, and before that I only knew him for a few months in high school. I really think you have the wrong person." There I go again, ineffectively trying to sway him into letting me go. I glanced back at Brian to see he was still knocked out. And bleeding. There was blood dripping over his forehea d. "I need to call an ambulance. Brian might be really hurt."
    I didn't comment on how he'd gotten hurt since I'd clearly missed what really happened. There's no way Francis flung him across the rooftop twenty f eet with the strength of a bull dozer.
    "Brian's fine. His heartbeat is steady," he assured me in a conversationalist tone. "And you might not have seen Parker in years, but I'll bet my right nut that he's seen you. He probably watched that tosser kiss you and barely managed to stop from revealing himself to knock him out before he sensed me here." He looked around as if expecting him to step from