After Dark Read Online Free PDF Page A

had insisted that we visit her family. She’d dragged me to a salon that morning to get the black dye trimmed out of my hair. I had “Frankenstein hair,” she’d said, and she didn’t want to “freak out her family.” Though she had tried to laugh it off, I knew what she really meant: my hair was an unsightly reminder of the faked death fiasco, and her parents didn’t need extra reminders about my insanity.
    We had spent the afternoon combing Larimer Square for a gift for her father. Exasperated and out of options, we’d stumbled into John Atencio, of all fucking places, surrounded by engagement and wedding rings. “Cuff links,” I’d growled at the saleswoman.
    It was getting dark by the time we were ready to go.
    “I want them to see you,” Hannah said. She squeezed my hand. “I want you to … get to know my family better, and for them to see how amazing you are.”
    “Don’t you mean how sane I am? How well-adjusted I’ve become?”
    “You’re hurting me,” she whispered. “That’s not how I see it and you know that.”
    “We need to get going.”
    I dropped her hand and walked briskly to the car. I carried a small black bag from the jeweler—sterling silver cuff links—extravagant, admittedly, but Hannah wanted to make a good impression tonight. I’d also bought two bouquets of peonies for her mother and sister.
    I drove slowly through Denver, past my old apartment and past Lot 49, past that patch of green space where Hannah and I had touched for the first time, and down the familiar roads toward the house where she grew up.
    I parked at the curb. Hannah’s fingers curled on my leg.
    “Here.” I passed the John Atencio bag to her. She took it and replaced her hand on my thigh, rubbing gently. She knew what that touch did to me …
    “Mm.” I gazed at my lap. “I feel like a well-behaved dog being rewarded.”
    “You’re nervous. I get it now.”
    “Did it take you all night to figure that out?” I exhaled softly, controlling my desire. “Do you think I don’t want your parents to like me—that I’m indifferent to their opinion?” I gazed at the lawn stretching toward the house, all the windows dark. I pictured a much younger Hannah playing on the grass. I also thought about giving Hannah a home and making her happy there.
    “You’re smirking,” she said.
    “I’m having unsettling visions of domestic bliss. Remembering, too … the first time I drove out here, and you came running across the lawn.” I pointed. Ghostly sadness gripped me. “God, I can still see it, the way you looked. I can smell that night, taste it. I know that…”
    She touched my inner thigh. “Go on.”
    I kept pointing, searching for words.
    “I know that I’ll die with those memories in me. I know those are the kind of memories … that last.” I focused on Hannah. Her face was vibrant, her expression unlike anything I had ever seen. I knew that whatever had been left unsaid, she understood. I also knew that the old cosmic trick was playing itself on me. The greatest cynics fall in love.
    I pulled away from the house.
    “Matt?” Hannah’s hand stilled on my leg. “Uh, my—”
    “We’ll go back. I’m not ready.” I expected her to protest, but when I glanced at her, she was smiling. “Something funny?”
    “You.” Her finger dragged up the seam of my pants. “You think I don’t know you, but I do. This is how you always get when you’re nervous. Rude, agitated.”
    “Mm, one of my many ch—” I groaned. Hannah’s hand brushed my cock, which was starved for her touch. I floored the accelerator. “ Fuck. ”
    “Matt!” She giggled. “Slow down.”
    “ You slow down.” I laughed, really laughed, for the first time in days. I didn’t know why Hannah had suddenly deigned to touch me and I didn’t care. It felt good. Her fingers strayed over my thigh and I drove east, out into the prairie. We had taken this same nighttime drive almost a year ago. We were strangers then, but