Beautiful Surrender (The Surrender Series Book Three) Read Online Free PDF Page B

to the kitchen to get a cup of water. It was past
midnight and I was exhausted from the evening’s events. I couldn’t wait to fall
asleep and block everything out until tomorrow. During a long sip of water, the
front door unlocked, opened, and clacked against the chain lock.
    “Kristen?
You left the chain lock on. Open up.”
    I
nearly choked on my water before I recognized the voice.
    “Riley,
is that you? Are you by yourself?”
    “Uh
yeah, duh. Were you expecting someone else?” She jiggled the door again but it
wouldn’t budge. “Are you naked right now with whip cream on your nipples
waiting for Vincent to show up? Is that why there are flower petals all over
the doormat?”
    I
breathed a sigh of relief. Typical Riley. “No, I’m not naked,” I hollered.
“I’ll open the door.” I went to undo the chain. Once she was inside, I redid
the chain.
    The
short blue dress she went out in was rumpled and there were drink stains on it.
She must’ve danced pretty hard, even if she’d gotten in early. “So how was
dinner?” she asked.
    I
groaned. “Bad.”
    “Bad?
Or badass?” Riley said, her mood chipper as she flung off her shoes into the
corner.
    When I
didn’t respond, she looked at me and studied my face. “Whoa Kristen, were you
crying? Oh my god, what happened?”
    I told
her about how I saw Ariel’s text message during dinner with Vincent and how I
ran home and then Marty showed up.
    Riley
dropped her bags, gripped my shoulders, and shook me. “Are you okay? Did you
call the police?”
    “No.
Kurt and Bernie tackled him. Turns out they were Vincent’s security team he
assigned to watch over me.”
    She
squinted. “You mean the gay couple across from us?”
    I
wasn’t sure about the gay couple part. In fact, I didn’t know what to believe
about Kurt and Bernie. They could’ve been Navy SEALs or trained killers for all
I knew. “Yeah.”
    “No
way.” She put her hand up to my forehead to check my temperature.
    “Yes
way. They restrained Marty and Vincent showed up and beat the shit out of him.
I thought Vincent was going to kill him.”
    Riley
gasped. “Wow! I’m sure he was just protecting you though, right?”
    “Yeah,
but it was way overboard. Marty wasn’t even doing anything threatening. We were
just talking outside my door when he was tackled.”
    Her
voice lowered. “But he could have done something. It can happen in a split
second.”
    I shook
my head. “Still. You don’t go as far as Vincent did. He was punching and
kicking Marty so hard I thought he was going to die. Plus, he lied to me. He
asked me before if I wanted a security team and I told him no and he ignored my
answer completely. It makes me feel so small and powerless!” I began to cry.
    Riley
pulled me to her and hugged me. “It’s okay. You’re safe now.”
    I
sobbed into her shoulder. “I don’t know what to do, Riley.”
    “Are
you afraid Vincent’s going to hurt you?” Her words were careful.
    “No, I
don’t think he’ll hurt me. But then again I didn’t know he was capable of what
he did to Marty. I don’t know if I can trust him. I don’t know what to think.”
    “You
said he cheated on you with that chick Ariel, right? Then fuck him. Let him go
surfing with sharks and have his dick get bitten off.”
    “I saw
a text from Ariel saying she enjoyed riding his cock—and I freaked out. But
Vincent explained that she was referring to his company’s new surfboard called
the Shuttlecock.”
    She
pulled back and looked at me. “Are you serious? You have to be kidding.” She
laughed. “That’s hilarious. What a clever name.”
    “No
it’s not! It’s stupid.”
    “A
shuttlecock in badminton moves back and forth through the air—kind of like how
a surfboard moves across a wave. Plus it has the word ‘cock’ in it. You have to
admit that’s pretty genius marketing.”
    Apparently
I wasn’t the target audience. “You’re the worst.”
    She
laughed. “Aw, I’m sorry Kris. I’m