Alpha Me Not Read Online Free PDF Page B

how’s that going to help? You’re going to have to reschedule not only the test, but everything else you’ve got going and plan out the rest of the week.” His stoic expression hadn’t wavered for a millisecond. Not even a hint of panic.
    She disliked him in that instant.
    Couldn’t he have shown some concern, some emotion? Her whole world had just fallen apart, and he wanted her to sit down and be logical. Every single molecule in her body burned in silent, frustrated rage. Her jaw ached from the constant clenching, and her palms stung from the pressure of her nails.
    An explosive thwack rent the very atmosphere. The concrete sidewalk below her slippered feet juddered.
    She slapped a hand over her mouth. An earthquake? Now?
    A wall of flames whooshed skyward. The fire, which had seemed to be contained a moment before, had exploded into the line of trees separating her house from Mr. Arnold’s.
    Tearing her stare away from the conflagration, she shuttered her eyes and took a deep inhale. Focus. Joe was right. Better to concentrate on what had to be done than stand there and fall apart.
    Susie nodded. “Let’s go.”
    “Detectives Sands and Johnson, this is my contact information. Can you keep us updated?” Joe handed Opie and Surfer Dude each a business card.
    “You’re Joe Huroq?” Surfer Dude wore a jaw-dropped expression.
    Was Joe well-known locally? Susie frowned but lost the rest of the conversation when a woman shrieked. She glanced in the direction of the scream. Mr. Arnold’s daughter and his caretaker were objecting to being evacuated, which was inordinately stupid of them as their house was less than two hundred feet from the blazing birches.
    Joe slid a hand under her elbow. Their gazes met.
    “Let’s go. They’ll call us once everything’s under control.”
    “I hope your house survives, Joe. It doesn’t look good for Mr. Arnold’s place.”
    He urged her into a brisk stride. “You said you couldn’t move in earlier because Mr. Arnold fell and broke his hip?”
    “Yeah. I’m surprised he’s back home so soon. His daughter, Gemma, poor thing, was going nuts what with the hospital, her job, and her son. I’d arranged to stay in one of the empty dorms for two weeks, figuring that’s how long it would take me to find a place. So when she contacted me about having to cancel the meeting to turn over the keys, I told her not to worry and call me when things settled down.”
    “How’d he break the hip?”
    She shrugged. “Dunno. And I didn’t ask. I only met her very briefly on Thursday morning at the hospital to pick up the keys. I guess you know them well?”
    They cleared the bend onto Bonaventure, and the stench of smoke and bitterness receded a tad. The street was mercifully silent after the deafening noise of the cul-de-sac. The dull roar of engines and equipment drumming their duties ebbed.
    Tears welled again.
    How could the sun still set, the wind still rustle leaves in the gutter, and the swallows crowding the electric wires overhead still chirp? The world should stop spinning. Why had she insisted on taking all those mementos? Thank God her mother had refused to surrender her baby pictures and high school yearbooks.
    Crossing her fingers, Susie prayed Terri’d put her photos and memories in storage. But the poor woman had lost everything else. Everything.
    Heck, how selfish of her to think of all she’d lost?
    Terri was thousands of miles away, her house was burning down, and there was nothing she could do. Was it morning in Ireland?
    “Susie.” Joe halted, snagged his arm around her waist, and laid a warm palm on her cheek. “Look at me.”
    If he so much as even sniffed at lecturing her, she’d wallop him again.
    “What?”
    “No.” He fingered her chin. “Not at my neck. At me.”
    Their glances met.
    “Whatever you need—you have it. Don’t for a second worry about a roof over your head or where your next dollar’s coming from.”
    He pressed a thumb to her