Bare Bones Read Online Free PDF

water from his hair and face as he rose. Without a care for those of us in the room who were complete strangers, he began to strip off his shirt and shimmy out of his pants. Before I had a chance to turn my head, he’d re-dressed himself and draped the wet clothes over the edge of a laundry basket.
    I felt a bit sorry for the guy. How embarrassing to have your sister call in a priest just because you ate a steak and had a job interview. Reaching down, I picked up the backpack and handed it to him, noticing that it was really too heavy for my bloody clothes theory. What did the guy have in here, bricks? Squishy bricks?
    “Thanks.” His eyes darted to my tattoo and narrowed. “You’re the Templar.”
    I was a Templar. I wasn’t the Templar. His choice of words was really odd. Suddenly my sympathy was gone, replaced by suspicion. Yes, some people did recognize the mark. Rob at the records office had. Some of the LARP people had. Occasionally I’d served a latte to a history buff who had. But this was a twenty-one-year-old guy who, up until last week, hadn’t done more than lay around the house, eat tofu, and listen to Rabid Rabbit.
    “Yes, I’m a Templar.” I might be the only one living in Baltimore, but I wasn’t presumptuous enough to call myself the Templar.
    “Cool.” He reached out to touch the tattoo on my wrist and I jerked my arm back. There was a limit to my politeness, and letting a strange guy feel up my tattoo was way past that limit.
    “A Templar.” Father Bernard seemed impressed, nodding and smiling at me as he put the rest of his gear away. “God be with you.”
    “And with you, also,” I replied.
    Bradley stepped closer, well into my area of personal space. “Can I buy you dinner tonight? Or drinks? Or a cup of coffee?”
    What? Seriously? The guy had just been through an exorcism that had left him drenched with holy water and now he was asking me out—a stranger who’d witnessed the humiliating event. Bradley seemed to have forgotten all about his job interview and was giving me what was clearly his best attempt at a sexy come-hither, smoldering look.
    “No. I have a boyfriend.” Zac wasn’t a boyfriend, but he made a good excuse not to go on a date with this creep.
    “You sure? I know a great brewpub downtown. They’ve got a good menu. Farm to table with local, grass-fed beef.”
    That did sound yummy, but not with Bradley. “No, thanks.” I looked pointedly at my watch, then over at Janice. “We really need to get going. I’ve got a million things to do.”
    I didn’t, but I did want to get out of here before Bradley made me even more uncomfortable than I already was. Janice grimaced in sympathy, exchanged information with Amanda and we hotfooted it out the door to her car.
    “What a bunch of weirdos,” she said once she had the car in gear and was backing out of the driveway. “How about that sister? And what was it with the white carpeting?”
    “I know. In my house that would have been stained with wine or mud in about five seconds. And Bradley? Just as I was starting to feel sorry for him, he turns into a creeper. Think he has a white van in the garage?”
    Janice snorted. “I think he’s probably got bodies in the garage.”

Chapter 4
     
    I KICKED OFF my sneakers, threw my keys on the table, and placed my sword gently on the kitchen counter before plopping down on my sofa. It was still early. I had hours before I needed to meet Dario.
    Never did I think I’d feel bored again. The first six months here in Baltimore had been lonely. I’d spent my time at work or harassing Dario in downtown pubs, trying to find something to entertain myself that didn’t cost money.
    August had been a whirlwind of activity and sleepless nights. The job with the vampires. The necromancer. The demons, and angel, and death mages. I’d found friends. I’d lost one of the best friends I’d ever had. I kinda started dating a guy. But right now, I had nothing to do and it was driving me