Day of Atonement Read Online Free PDF

car, and made it to his parents’, and another hour after that before they got to bed. He was sure that he spent the next several hours lying in bed thinking about Elana and the day she disappeared before drifting off. At seven-something in the morning, he was fully awake.
    Troy stared at the ceiling. He hadn’t occupied this room for more than a couple of weeks at a time since high school and yet he still saw the sticky marks from the posters he’d hung up during his teenage years, mostly posters of models and movie stars in bikinis that he would enjoy looking at every night before falling asleep. He chucked lightly to himself, amazed at how he had matured from a knucklehead teenager who got his jollies from pictures of any attractive woman to a committed husband and father who only had eyes for one woman. No one, picture or in person, could do to his heart or body what Natalie could.
    This room had a lot of memories. A few of them good, a lot of them bad. He recalled the time when he, his mom, and little sister locked themselves inside while his dad, drunk and out of control, banged on the door. They all sat huddled on Troy’s full-sized bed with Tracy screaming and burying her head in his Chicago Bullscomforter whenever their dad’s hits caused things in the room to rattle. Troy was about fifteen at the time and Tracy was eight. They were both downstairs and had witnessed their father slap their mother so hard he’d knocked one of her teeth loose, all because his plate wasn’t warm enough. With his mom grimacing in pain and sister screaming, fifteen-year-old Troy took a lamp from one of the living room end tables and hit his father in the head. In the movies people passed out when that happened, but in real life, Troy learned that, not only didn’t his father go unconscious, but he also turned his wrath from his wife to his son. Had it not been for one of Tracy’s toys in the middle of the floor, causing their father to stumble and fall, Troy was sure he would have gotten one of the beatings meant for his mother that day. Instead, she grabbed Tracy and the three of them darted upstairs and locked themselves in his room.
    They were there for hours until his dad finally passed out. When he woke up, he pretended like nothing ever happened and Troy was mad that his mom acted the same way. That was the last time Troy had ever witnessed his father get physically aggressive with his mom, but he knew it wasn’t the last time he hit her. Troy was certain that he had startled his father by getting involved. Drunk or not, the man was wise enough to know the older Troy got, the stronger he would become. Troy did not have one positive memory of his dad and yet this was the man his mom had sworn had found Jesus. Thankfully his father was sound asleep when they had arrived from the airport.
    The buzz of his cell phone interrupted his thoughts. It was a text from Elvin asking if they had made it safely. Troy responded and the two exchanged several additional messages.
    â€œWhat are you doing?’ Natalie turned his way with a sharp look.
    â€œTexting El. He wants me to meet with him at his mom’s aroundeleven. Is that cool with you?” Troy had already agreed. He was asking simply as a formality.
    â€œYeah,” she mumbled before closing her eyes again.
    â€œYou’re welcome to come if you want. I know Lilly would like to meet you and she’s never seen Nate. Plus Nikki will be there.”
    â€œNo. I’ll see them both on Monday. I’m sure Diane would have a fit if we took Nate somewhere this morning. And anyhow, I want to relax. I didn’t sleep well thanks to these overactive twins. When I was finally getting into a good sleep, someone woke me up by moving around in the bed.”
    â€œMy bad.” Troy leaned over and kissed her lips lightly. “That same someone will be happy to assist you in going back to sleep if you let him.” He seductively