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Chapter Sixteen
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Monster Among the Roses Chapter Seventeen
chapterSEVENTEEN Isobel didn’t return to the library for the rest of the day. At first, I was okay with her absence. I mean, hell, I needed a moment to regroup, too.I’d kissed her. Things had changed. We’d probably never get back to the place we used to be. And this new direction could either lead somewhere very good, or very bad. So, yeah, it was scary. I got that. I understood her need for a moment to herself.Maybe even an hour or two to her herself.But when four o’clock rolled around, it was time for me to leave, and she’d never reappeared. I had tried to place as many of her books on the shelves as possible, hoping I didn’t put something somewhere she didn’t want it to go, but it just felt all wrong doing it by myself. We’d started working on this together; we should’ve finished together.The worst of it came the next morning at seven, when she didn’t show up at the lake to run. I stood on the running trail, our running trail, hands on m
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Eighteen
chapterEIGHTEEN The silence that followed my confession was resounding. It echoed around in my head until sweat misted on my brow.I opened my eyes to find Isobel watching me, her expression bleak.She shook her head. “What do you mean?”Glancing down at my hands, I began to pick at a piece of skin coming loose around a callus on my palm.“I told you before, I originally went to your dad because of my mom, right?”She nodded. “What? Is that not true?”“No, it’s true,” I said. Then I drew in a deep breath and began my story.“I went to him because she owed him money. He’d given her a loan for her bakery. I swear, she owed everyone money. I have no idea how a single person could rack up that much debt, but she kept it from me for as long as she could. By the time I learned about it, it was out of my control. I sold my truck, sold her house, sold most of our furniture. And it still wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. After I moved her in with me,
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Nineteen
chapterNINETEEN I might’ve followed Isobel around the rest of the day like an eager little child. I just had this pitch in my stomach, telling me not to let her out of my sight. What if she suddenly changed her mind and decided not to believe me after all? I mean, all she had to go on was my word alone and no physical proof whatsoever. Or what if she decided she felt deceived after all? Or she decided she didn’t like me? Or—Okay, I might’ve been a tad paranoid. But could you blame me? I’d just bared my heart to this woman, fully expecting her to stomp on the organ and throw it back into my face. That’s what I deserved. But, no. She’d taken it all surprisingly well and believed me when I had nothing to back up my story. I wasn’t sure if I could trust such an easy resolution. And so instead, I probably annoyed the hell out of her by refusing to leave her all day.Thank goodness she didn’t seem irritated by my neediness.But I think she un
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Twenty
chapterTWENTY Isobel pounced as soon as I exited her dad’s office. “Well?” she demanded, grabbing my hand.Her worry made me grin. “Well, what?” I teased, leaning in to shift my nose across her cheekbone.Huffing out her impatience, she nudged me back far enough to see my face. “Well, what’d he say? Did he try to fire you? Pay you off? Chase you away? Keep us apart?”With a laugh, I tugged her into my arms. “No, no, and no. He already promised you he wouldn’t fire me and…what? Pay me off? Are you kidding? He’s pretty much already paid me off by taking care of my mother.”“But—”“And how exactly did you think he’d keep us apart? We’re both adults. That’s not even…” I shook my head, cracking up over her concerns.Isobel sniffed and shoved against my chest. “Stop laughing. This isn’t funny. He could’ve—”“He couldn’t have done anything to keep me away from you.” Then I winked. “He has no mob ties, remember?”She shook her head slowly,
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Twenty-one
chapterTWENTY-ONE Oh, holy shit. Holy shit. Did that mean what I thought it meant?I had no idea, but my libido certainly started assuming plenty. Instantly hard, I shifted in my seat to make more room in my pants before clearing my throat and tipping my head toward the flower shop. “Didn’t you want to go inside?”Isobel glanced over her shoulder toward the store she’d purchased. Gaze disinterested, she turned back to me. “No.”Air puffed from my lungs. “So, you…just…anywhere?” I asked.When she nodded, I had to concentrate on exhaling again. “Okay,” I said. “Okay.”I put the truck in drive and pulled back into traffic. We drove for about five more minutes as the day slid into dusk and my headlights came on. At first, it was aimless. I wasn’t sure where to take her that would be private. Mom was at my house, and well…that’s as far as my brain could travel. Until I remembered the closed and abandoned shoe factory I’d worked at for nearly ten ye
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Twenty-two
chapterTWENTY-TWO I couldn’t stop glancing across the cab of the truck as I drove back to Porter Hall.Isobel anticipated every stolen glance and met my gaze before she sniffed out a laugh and rolled her eyes. But then we both burst out with crazy, delirious grins. I bit my lip before I returned my attention to the road. When I reached across the interior of the truck without looking, she took my hand and interlaced our fingers.Damn, I felt giddy. Light-headed. Downright decadent. It was the best feeling in the world.“I don’t want to take you home,” I admitted, even though that’s exactly where I was taking her.Night had fallen and I could only see her face in the bluish glow from the screen of the truck’s dashboard. Yet I still had no trouble making out the hope in her expression when she said, “You can stay the night…if you want.”I was tempted. Of course I was tempted, but then all the reasons why I couldn’t stirred in my head, an
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Twenty-three
chapterTWENTY-THREE The next morning, I woke early, eager to see Isobel. I made myself lie there for a good half hour until it was the usual time I got up. Then I pulled on my jogging clothes, stuffed another outfit into my backpack, tucked my new mirror into the front pocket, and checked on my mom who was still sleeping peacefully, before I hurried out the door. It took me about ten minutes to reach my truck, when it typically took about fifteen. And then I made it to Porter Hall in about half the time I usually spent driving.The gate opened a minute later, letting me in, and I pulled around the back to my parking spot.Isobel hadn’t made it out to the lake by the time I jogged up to our starting spot. I paced and stretched, impatient for her to show. When I finally heard the crunch of gravel as she approached, my body clanged with awareness.“Hey,” she called, her voice full of pleasure when she caught sight of me already here. “You’re early
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Twenty-four
chapterTWENTY-FOUR By the time Saturday arrived, I was nervous.I’d never been to a fancy restaurant before, and everyone said Urbane was the crème de la crème of eateries in the area. I didn’t want to do anything to embarrass Isobel. Shit, I wondered if I should’ve taken one of those lessons to learn which silverware went with which course.I was totally going to bomb this.But at least I was going to look good doing it. Driving Henry Nash’s truck and wearing Ezra Nash’s suit, no one would be able to tell I was a nobody. A fake.Henry had set the reservations for seven thirty. Since I got off work at four, I went home to spend a couple hours with Mom before I dressed. She gave a low, impressed whistle as soon as I exited the bedroom, trying to figure out the cuff links.“My goodness, don’t you look handsome?”I glanced over to where she sat in her worn-out chair, wearing a floral muumuu and watching Wheel of Fortune on TV with her walker sit
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