Backward Read Online Free PDF Page B

deciding he wouldn’t disturb her if she was happy.
    Harry fell asleep with Butterscotch for company. How pathetic was that? A cat—he shared his bed with a cat. Harry moved, and Butterscotch stopped purring and growled at him. Yup, he was way past pathetic. He closed his eyes and wished for a hell of a lot more. Fuck, he wished the person sleeping down the hall was with him instead of this cantankerous old thing. After a few minutes, the cat moved again, and Harry ended up falling asleep with the cat right next to him, her head on the next damned pillow.

Chapter 2

     
    T RISTAN M ARTIN didn’t sleep much. He was in a strange place, and he never slept well in a place he didn’t know. He also spent half the night worried about the apartment. More than once he’d gotten up and peered out the window to check that no one was watching the house. There wasn’t anyone, as far as he could see. It was still dark, but he was awake. He’d only gone to bed a few hours earlier, and he should be tired as heck, but he was wide-awake. He would normally go into the living room and watch television when he felt like this, but Harry had said that the alarm was on, and he’d set it off if he went downstairs. And just outside the door, waiting for him, was that hairy yellow demon of death. He hated cats, just hated them. With nothing else to do, Tristan checked outside the window one last time, then climbed back in bed and stared at the ceiling.
    What the hell was he going to do? He’d made a mess of his life yet again, or more precisely, still. One stupid mistake, and he was still paying for it. All he’d done was fall in love with Eddie Menendez, and then his life had gone down the crapper. How in the hell was he supposed to have known Eddie was a goddamned drug dealer who turned into a possessive asshole as soon as Tristan found out and wanted out of the relationship? He didn’t know anything about Eddie’s business or drugs. But his life had been torn to hell, and his problems affected his friends too.
    This was the second time he’d been pulled out of his home, and he hated it. Harry was nice to let him stay here. Tristan tried not to let his mind go to the handsome club owner. He had noticed Harry—who wouldn’t? He was tall, and while not nearly as big as Bull, he was strong and—from Tristan’s perspective—fearless. He’d liked the way Harry had protected him at the club. But Tristan had seen Harry talking with a lot of guys at the club, and he knew Harry went home with some of them. Tristan had even thought about talking to Harry, but as soon as he had, he’d seen Harry talking to the bartender Rodney, and then that night he’d noticed the two of them leaving together. That was cool, Harry could see whoever he wanted, but Tristan had had enough of guys who slept around and spent all their time cruising. Eddie had been like that. He’d just done a good job of hiding it for a long time.
    “Stop whining,” he whispered out loud. Tristan hated that he’d been doing that a lot lately. It drove him crazy. He hated when others went on whining for hours, and yet he’d been doing that for months.
    He decided he needed a drink of water and figured he could brave it. He got up and cracked open the door. He didn’t see any four-legged creatures prowling the hall, so he opened the door the rest of the way and walked across the hall to the bathroom. He got a drink of water and used the toilet before returning to his room.
    “Are you okay?” Harry asked from his bedroom doorway.
    “Yes. I’m sorry I woke you.”
    “I’m surprised you’re up already.”
    “I couldn’t sleep,” Tristan admitted. “Everything is very comfortable and nice, but I can’t stop my mind from wandering.” He yawned. “I’ve been doing that a lot lately. I guess I keep wondering what I did to deserve this. All I wanted was a boyfriend, but what I got was a real mess, and it put all my friends in danger.”
    Harry stepped closer. “You