Infamous Read Online Free Page A

He crossed the yard that he shared with Mary and used his key to open her back door.
    Bambi and Atticus, who’d been sleeping on the couch, barked excitedly and hurried to greet him. Bambi sat like the good girl she was, but Atticus scratched at his legs and yipped, the uncivilized mongrel.
    â€œShhh,” he hushed them, patting their heads.
    â€œMax?” John came out through the hallway that led to the bedrooms. His hair was disheveled and he was wearing only a pair of boxers . . . which were on backward. He looked none too pleased at the interruption.
    â€œSorry.” Max shrugged, completely insincere. He was feeling frustrated and annoyed, and wasn’t it a best friend’s job to join him in misery?
    â€œJust get lost, okay? Take the dogs with you.”
    Max wasn’t able to resist the devil that made him say, “Are you worried she’ll ask me to join you?”
    John looked pissed, and for a moment his face just twisted, tugging and highlighting the scars; then something seemed to occur to him, and he laughed. It was a strange laugh to Max’s ears, and not one he’d ever heard from his friend before. Sadness, resignation, and relief were the low notes, but there was also a steady drumbeat of joy, of calm happiness.
    â€œMax, my friend, here’s the truth. I’d do anything for her, even have a threesome with your ugly ass.”
    The house seemed to settle and still for a moment, the way it would after a loud crash.
    Max stared at his friend, then snorted and picked up Atticus. “Well, that’s just fine, then. I’ll hold my breath till that happens.”
    Love. For fuck’s sake.
    He located Atticus’s leash on the hook near the door and hooked up the tiny white fluff ball before putting him on the ground. “The thing is . . . I might be able to understand if she were just another girl ye were bangin’, but if ye love her, how can ye share her with anyone else?”
    John struggled to answer for a moment, but then he just shrugged. “I don’t know. I just know it’s true.”
    â€œReally?” Mary, who’d apparently been listening from the bedroom, appeared in the hallway entrance wrapped in a sheet. She put a hand on John’s shoulder; her other hand held the sheet to her chest.
    â€œReally what?” John looked nervous, which Max thought served him right.
    Mary’s lips curved on one side. “You love me that much?”
    John glanced at Max, who raised an eyebrow. The lad could nut up and just fucking say it.
    John put a hand on the back of Mary’s head and pulled her in until their foreheads touched. “Yeah, I really do.”
    Mary laughed. “That’s awesome.”
    She looked teary-eyed, which was Max’s cue to leave as quickly as possible, and he did, grabbing Bambi’s leash and whistling. The dog charged out the door as if naked displays of emotion were appalling to her as well.
    Max walked back over to his place with the two dogs. He was having trouble wrapping his head around what he’d just witnessed. He could’ve sworn his best friend had just proven how much he loved a woman by saying he’d be willing to have a threesome. With Max. If that wasn’t some fucked-up shit, he didn’t know what was, but nothing should really surprise him anymore.
    When he reached the gate on the side of his house, he leashed up Bambi and set Atticus down on the ground. He wouldn’t be able to run far with the white dog, but the little man would be game for at least a mile or two.
    He started jogging at a fairly leisurely pace, heading toward the road that ran alongside the beach and doing his best to keep the dogs out of the grasses and weeds on the side of the street. Sticker burrs had a tendency to get hopelessly tangled in the dogs’ fur.
    After a mile, he was out of breath and cursing—John had put him to shame on their run yesterday. Max had