Colters' Gift Read Online Free PDF Page A

home unless he looked his best. He’d never be caught dead with men like Liam and Noah.
    Liam and Noah were . . . Well, they didn’t give a shit. With them it was either take it or leave it, and your loss if you left it.
    They both had dark hair, though Liam’s was more of a true, midnight black and Noah’s was such a dark brown that it was nearly black. Alone one might think his hair was black, but standing next to Liam, it was obvious that Noah’s hair was lighter.
    Liam’s eyes were a shock of blue. Startling and vibrant. He was a man that drew stares from women and men alike. Noah’s eyes were dark, like Lauren’s own, only he had flecks of green and gold mixed in with the brown. In the right light, the different colors shone, lightening his eyes and making them mesmerizing to look at.
    Both sported tattoos. Noah had what looked to be a Japanese symbol on his right arm and then a bracelet tattoo on his right wrist. Liam had intricately, colorfully rendered sleeves on both arms. Lauren had often stared when he wasn’t looking, studying the designs. There was so much detail that she couldn’t imagine how long it had taken the artist to complete the tattoos or how patient Liam had to have been through the process.
    Separately, the men were forces to be reckoned with. But together? Complete badasses. No one in their right mind would cross them.
    Except, she had. Crossed them. Or at least lied to them. And now they
knew
she’d lied.
    Liam was still staring holes through her. She wanted to crawl underneath her chair and stay there until they were gone. Until she forgot why they’d come. She just wanted to put it all behind her. Them, Joel, everything.
    “We’re not going anywhere,” Liam said grimly. “You’ve got a hell of a lot of explaining to do.”
    She didn’t want to be the weak, pathetic woman she’d been such a short time ago. But them being here made her want to run for cover. She wanted to barricade herself in her bedroom and shut the world out.
    But isn’t that what she’d done for so very long? She’d existed in a haze of denial, too stupid, too cowardly to face the truth, and to act.
    “Damn it, Lauren, we’re not going to hurt you,” Noah said. “Stop looking at us like we’re that bastard who abused you.”
    She swallowed and then lowered her head to put her hands over her face.
    It was automatic to flinch away when she felt the hand on her shoulder. She heard a soft curse, but the hand was quickly removed.
    “Lauren, look at me.”
    It was Liam, his voice as soft and warm as the first rays of spring sunshine. She was compelled to do as he said, even before she realized she had raised her head.
    He took a deep breath, letting it blow out long and slow. It was a sigh that expressed a lot. Exasperation. Pity. She
hated
the pity. People who were truly victims deserved pity and kindness. She was someone who’d allowed bad things to happen to her because she was too much of a coward—and an idiot—to get herself out of it. And on top of it all, she’d lied to her brother, the one person who loved her in this world. She’d lied to the Colters, not overtly. She’d never voiced the lie, but it had been one of omission, which made it just as bad.
    And she’d lied to the two men who’d vowed to protect her. She hadn’t given them the information they’d needed in order to do their job, because she’d been afraid of what might happen to them.
    None of the reasons made sense now. She was honest enough with herself to admit that. She hadn’t known what she was doing or saying all those months ago. She’d just reacted.
    Now those lies were coming back to haunt her. Just when she’d finally made peace with the choices she’d made.
    “We know about Joel Knight,” Liam said quietly. “The question is why didn’t you tell us about him? Why weren’t you honest about who hurt you? Were you protecting him?”
    There was a note of fury that accompanied his last question, one she was