Deceive (Declan Reede: The Untold Story #2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

lips, but I couldn’t ask it in case the answer was yes.
    Fuck me. I’d called in a favour from Danny that I hadn’t really earned or deserved—one that would no doubt cost me in the long run—to organise my planned date with Alyssa. The entire fucking experience I was trying to put together for Saturday would be for nothing if she didn’t want to see me again. My hand gripped at my hair, tugging the auburn locks with concern.
    Mum shook her head lightly and chuckled. “Don’t stress so easily. She didn’t say anything in particular.” There were times I thought Mum could fucking read minds or something—it was scary how intuitive she could be. “Between your behaviour last night, Flynn bringing you home, and Alyssa’s phone call this morning, I guessed something must have happened between you two. I just want to know that if she honestly wants you to leave her alone, you will.”
    I nodded. “If she said that, and really meant it, I guess I’d have no choice, would I?”
    She mulled it over for almost a minute before scribbling a number down on a piece of paper. Grabbing it off her with a grin, I headed to my bedroom, programming the number into my phone as I went to make sure I didn’t lose it.
    Just as I was about to dial Alyssa’s number, my phone rang again.
    Fucking popular today, aren’t I? I sighed but then looked at the name displayed and was smiling by the time I pressed Answer. “Hello, Doc.”
    “Good morning, Declan. Are you ready for your first session?”
    “Sure thing, Doc. Shall I call you back, ’cause I know you’ll add a surcharge to my arse if you pay for an interstate mobile call.”
    He chuckled. “Are you implying I’m opportunistic?”
    “I ain’t implying anything, Doc,” I said with a laugh. “I’m saying it straight out.”
    “Shooting straight from the hip, like always. Do you ever think that maybe that’s what gets you into trouble?”
    “Always.” Despite the pain I was in, talking to Dr Henrikson made me almost buoyant. So long as I could convince Alyssa that my fuck-up with the alcohol was a one-off that would never happen again, I might be able to look forward to a date with her. After all, she’d agreed to a date for every session, and I was ready to have my first.
    With those thoughts bouncing around within me, it was easy to ignore everything else. Okay, there was still a lot I had to arrange with Alyssa, but overall I was feeling pretty fucking elated. “I thought you were going to have Lucy call and schedule though?”
    “I had a cancellation,” the doc said. “I figured you were desperate to talk to me and wouldn’t complain if I was the one to call in this instance.”
    “’Course not.”
    “So, tell me: where would you like to start?”
    Fuck. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. Alyssa had specified I try to sort myself out, but there was so much to sort. I didn’t know where to start or how much to tell him. Especially not after what had happened in our last meeting—where I’d threatened him for trying to force me to talk about Alyssa. The truth was I hadn’t really thought the whole therapy thing through. Sucking down a painful breath, I just let the first thing I could think of free. “I think I know why I was crashing?”
    “Is that a question or a statement?”
    “Um, I’m not really sure, I guess.”
    “Well, why don’t you tell me what you think is causing it?”
    “Alyssa.”
    I don’t know what the sound that I heard down the phone line was. It might have been the sound of him choking on a drink, a cough, or possibly even him stifling a laugh. “I thought Alyssa was off limits?”
    I really hadn’t thought the whole therapy shit through. “She’s, uh, she’s not anymore.”
    “And why is that?”
    I took a deep breath. “Because almost everything I need to talk to you about from here on in centres around her in one way or another.”
    “And why is that?” His voice definitely had a hint of amusement to it. He was