Devils Among Us (Devin Dushane Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

two hadn’t spoken since.
    Now Beth watched Dean grab Laney’s arm and shake her a
little. Beth frowned to herself. Laney should stay away from him she doesn’t
need the drama that follows Dean. Besides, with a new wife and a baby on
the way, it didn’t look good for the two of them to be together. She was relieved
when she saw Laney knock Dean’s hand off her arm and walk away. Her relief was
short-lived when Peter stopped Laney and leaned in close to her ear to tell her
something. He rested his hand on her elbow while he spoke. Beth bit her lip and
tried to turn away when a voice just over her shoulder stopped her.
    “She can’t help it, you know. We all follow her around her
like she’s some kind of pied piper.” Henry stood behind her, sipping a beer. “Just
because she’s hypnotic doesn’t mean you’re not beautiful. Give him time. He’ll
get tired of being turned down and realize what he’s missing out on.” He didn’t
take his eyes off Laney as he spoke.
    Beth looked up at him with sincere eyes, “Do you ever get
tired of her turning you down?” It was no secret that Henry was in love with
Laney, but at twenty-three, she saw him more as a big brother than a lover. So
he stood in the wings waiting for his opportunity, always looking after her,
always hoping.
    Henry Maddox stood watching the girl he loved from across
the dance floor. He wasn’t afraid to ask her to dance or to tell her how he
felt, he just had to be patient. As long as Laney is still wearing my locket
there’s a piece of her heart that’s already mine.
     Henry had given Laney the heart-shaped locket for her fourteenth
birthday. It cost a month’s pay, but was worth every penny when she opened it
up to reveal the picture of her father. Henry had asked Mrs. Bennett for the photo,
knowing Laney only had a vague memory of her father because he’d been killed
when she four. She’d squealed with delight when she saw it and threw her arms
around him. When he fastened the chain around her neck, she’d looked up at him
with tears in her huge brown eyes. He couldn’t help himself. Henry was five
years older than she was, and if her uncle, who he worked for at the time, ever
found out, he’d tear Henry apart. He had gently tipped her chin up and given
Laney her first kiss. Before the kiss, he’d been infatuated with her; after the
kiss, she might as well have wrapped him in chains, as he completely belonged
to her.
    Henry sighed again and then smiled down at Beth, thinking,
for the first time, how pretty her eyes were. He threw his arm around her neck
and said, “Come on, let me buy you a soda.”
     
    Before they walked away, Beth looked back towards Laney and
Peter, but they were gone. That familiar hate bubbled into her heart.
    Two hours later Beth was looking for Laney. She was bursting
with excitement, because around nine-thirty, Peter had finally asked her to
dance. They’d spent an hour tucked away in a corner talking, and Peter had
asked her to go steady with him. She couldn’t wait to tell Laney about it. But
after thirty minutes of searching, her excitement was turning to worry; she
couldn’t find Laney anywhere. Beth asked Henry to help, but after forty-five
minutes of searching, they grew panicked. It was closing in on midnight, and
only about a dozen people were left in the pavilion when Henry asked Charlie Rinker,
who ran the Summit, to call the police.  
    It’s not very often that the prom queen goes missing in a
small town. Within thirty minutes the Summit was crawling with sheriff’s deputies.
By 4:00 a.m. there were over a hundred volunteers searching the woods around
the area, and plans were being made to bring in boats to search the water. They
began a new search with a single line moving forward, one man every twenty yards,
searching the ground for any sign of Laney.
    At 5:15 a.m. as the sky began to lighten to a charcoal grey,
Henry Maddox let out a tortured cry that echoed out over the lake. The raw
animal