Commanded Read Online Free PDF Page B

can’t control.”
    “Yeah, no kidding.”
    With that horrific thought hanging in the air, silence settled over them. Sawyer could
     sense Chloe’s mind working, trying to figure out next steps. He glanced at his sister,
     who was still asleep. There was nothing he could do for her now. And the chance to
     learn more about Chloe wasn’t something he would pass up. “So, tell me a bit about
     you. Were you born in Vegas?”
    “Yep, but I didn’t grow up here.” Chloe leaned her hip against the hospital bed, amusement
     in her eyes. “My parents are what you’d call free spirits.”
    Interested by that, he stretched out his legs and laced his fingers behind his head.
     He noticed her thorough once-over of him, and he liked it. “Free spirits?”
    “Just not the norm.” Her soft laugh warmed the room. “I’m an only child and we traveled
     a lot, so they home-schooled me. They wanted me to explore the world, they told me.”
     Her eyes twinkled. “They always said that experiencing the world was better than having
     my nose stuck in a book.”
    Sawyer smiled. “Neat way to grow up.”
    “It really was, but once I became a teenager I asked to stay in Vegas to go to high
     school.” She paused, glancing over at Ashlyn, then focused on Sawyer again. “My parents
     respected my wishes and settled down for a handful of years. Now they’re sailing across
     the Mediterranean Sea with a group of their friends.”
    “Do they work?”
    She nodded. “Both my parents have tech jobs, so they can work from anywhere. They
     aren’t the type to stick around home. And they only work so that they can play—money
     has never been something they cared about.”
    Now Chloe’s reaction to his mother’s hug made sense. Perhaps she missed the warmth
     and love of her family. Thinking it over, he suspected Chloe wouldn’t dwell on how
     much she missed them. She seemed far more put together than he had been at twenty-five,
     and he found that particular trait sexy.
    “Sawyer…”
    Ashlyn’s murmur jolted him out of his seat. One of her eyes fluttered open, and the
     whites of her eye were red. His heart banged in his chest as he reached for his sister’s
     hand. “Yes, Ash, I’m here.”
    “Trav…”
    “Travis is responsible. Yes, I know.” He fought off emotion as a single tear escaped
     her open eye. In what kind of fucked-up world could something like this have happened
     to his sweet, vivacious baby sister? “Shhh…stay quiet. Just rest. He’s going to pay
     for this, don’t doubt that.”
    Ashlyn turned her head against the pillow, taking in Chloe next to her. “Who…?”
    “I’m Sawyer’s friend, Chloe.” Determination filled her eyes. “I’m the one who’s going
     to find the asshole who did this to you.”
    —
    An hour later, and still feeling sadness for Ashlyn, Chloe stood in the middle of
     four large condominium complexes that created a mini-community with manicured lawns.
     “Is this Travis’s condo?” she asked Sawyer as she followed him up the cement stairs.
    “No, it’s Ash’s place.” Sawyer reached the top of the stairs, then headed toward apartment
     103. “My parents helped her purchase the condo when she finished college.”
    “Nice parents,” Chloe said with a smile.
    Sawyer opened the screen door and used a key on his keychain to unlock the door. “Ash
     is a good kid. She works hard and deserves a break now and again.”
    Chloe’s heart squeezed against the hint of sorrow in his voice. Having heard the way
     Sawyer spoke to his sister in the hospital before she fell asleep again, it had become
     clear to Chloe that they had a close relationship. That looked cute on such a tough
     guy.
    “Expect a mess in here.” Sawyer opened the door and stepped inside. “A fellow cop
     and friend of ours, Kyler”—a name Chloe had heard before, from Porter—“told me that
     investigators have been here to gather as much evidence as they could.”
    Chloe crossed the threshold