Deadly Beginnings Read Online Free PDF

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    “But what?” he asked her.
    “Women . . . that is . . .” She shook her head and jerked her hand away. “When I came here for nursing school a few years ago, I had this idea that I’d be a nurse, then go to medical school and become a doctor.”
    “So what’s changed?”
    She looked at him. “I don’t . . . I can’t . . .” She looked around. “I don’t know who I am anymore,” she whispered. “I’ve seen women . . . women like me. I’ve told them to get away, to go, move.” She smiled, but it held little humor. “Part of me says to hell with him, he’s an ass and a jerk, but—”
    “There’s no damned but,” Jock said.
    She smiled. “My job, he’s a doctor there. A surgeon. He found out I applied to medical school and was so angry. I know he’s the reason I didn’t get in. I don’t know who his friends are and I’ve worked hard to get where I am, harder to be able to get where I want to go, and he’s making it so I can only do what he wants.”
    “What he wants doesn’t matter,” Jock told her.
    She shook her head and tapped the tabletop with the tips of her fingers. A nervous habit?
    “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m telling you all this. I’m sure there are any number of other topics that would be better to discuss.”
    “I want to know what’s wrong, what’s making you sad, and you’re telling me. There’s nothing to apologize for. If I didn’t want to know, I wouldn’t have asked.”
    “You know, I haven’t even told my friends this, well, about med school. They know how difficult he can be. They think I should just move. I don’t want to have to move. I want away from him, yes, but I want to be a doctor. I want to go to medical school. I want Johns Hopkins and I thought . . .” She trailed off again and looked out over the water.
    “You can do whatever you want to do,” he told her.
    “I used to think that. But he’s always there. He’s where I work. I don’t know who he has watching me, but I know someone is, not my boss—who thinks I should move away as well. But someone there is telling Landon what I do, when I do it, how I do it. If I screw up at work, he gets mad at me, says it reflects badly on him. He wanted me to quit, and when I said no and that we weren’t working and I wanted him to find someone better suited to him, this is what I got.” She motioned to her face. “I’m scared. I haven’t been scared since my parents died and I’m tired of it. I can’t live this way. I want my life back, my dreams back, my thoughts back. I worry about what he’ll think, if I’ll get in trouble with him for the simplest of things and . . . and . . .” A tear trailed down her freckled cheek. “I just want . . . I want . . . I don’t know, it’s just all so big sometimes and I just want to go home. And I’ll apologize again for bombarding you with all my problems.”
    For a minute Jock didn’t say anything, just sat silently listening to her. The waiter brought their drinks. Jock saw her quickly wipe the tear away.
    Bastard. He’d make the doctor pay for that single tear alone.
    When they were alone again, Jock said, “Don’t apologize for needing a friend. Any time you want to talk, vent, yell, skip rocks, you can call me. I’ll be sure to be there, Kaitie—Kaitlyn.”
    She took a sip of water, her long fingers tracing patterns on the outside of the glass. The restaurant smelled like grilled meats and garlic.
    Her look was one he couldn’t read. “You know what I thought the first time I met you?”
    “No, what?”
    “You were one of those playboy types. Got your way easily enough with the ladies and life.”
    “Well, I didn’t make a very good impression.”
    “I think maybe I was wrong. You were easy to be with. I’ve learned to be cautious. I was never really cautious before.”
    “You never have to be cautious with me.”
    She grinned. “Oh, I bet that’s not true.” She waved a hand. “I don’t want to talk about my