Euphoria Lane Read Online Free PDF Page B

the wizard for the first time. “I’m sure you are all reasonable adults . . .” she murmured.
    The crowd snickered. Luke suppressed a groan while returning to his seat. The active members of the board were anything but reasonable. And Valerie’s husband was nothing more than a poodle told to sit and not speak. Paul ran for the board because his wife told him to. They needed a yes-man.
    Undaunted, Andi continued. “I just moved in and wasn’t aware that you held everyone to such a strict interpretation of the rules.”
    “Not our problem,” Harry snapped. “Next.”
    Luke wanted to knock the man off his chair, but gripped his pen tighter instead. His need to protect Andi took him by surprise. He hadn’t known he still harbored such strong feelings for her.
    “The timer hasn’t gone off. And I’m not finished!” The papers she gripped shook in her hands. “My father didn’t know he would be breaking a rule by not moving his car into my driveway after my sister left the complex.”
    Harry’s face contorted into a menacing scowl at the mention of her sister. “Once again, miss, this is not my problem.” Harry sneered like a pit bull. “Perhaps you should keep a closer eye on your relatives. They have a tendency to park themselves where they shouldn’t.”
    “Park themselves?”
    Ding.
    “Time’s up!” Harry’s gavel hit the striker plate. “Next!”
    The security guard standing near the table stepped forward, and Andi quickly sat down.
    Meg leaned close to speak to her. Luke found relief in the fact Andi wasn’t alone. He had always considered Meg a nice woman, even though he found her boundless energy a drain on his nerves during every conversation they had.
    He also felt a twinge of envy. Once upon a time, Andi would have turned to him for emotional support. Back then he could have provided it, too. Not now. Not with his hands tied.
    Andi crumpled her papers in one fist. “I can’t believe he’s getting away with this!”
    Her voice rang through the room louder than she probably had intended, and everyone turned to stare.
    “The audience will keep their comments to themselves,” Harry commanded, “or you’ll be removed.” He directed every word at Andi.

* * *
    The second the meeting ended, Andi turned to Meg, “Why haven’t you all banded together to throw those dictators off the board?”
    The cheery pep drained from Meg’s face. “It’s not as easy as you think. People have tried. No one’s been able to get enough signatures to recall the board because they’re afraid of retaliation, and rightly so. Bernice and Harry got even with anyone who opposed them.” She sighed. “A couple of brave souls were voted on to the board a few years back, but the evil duo chased them off and then appointed their own puppet replacements.”
    Andi shook her head. “That doesn’t sound legal. This is America. People have rights.”
    “This is a homeowners’ association. No one has rights. There are loopholes, and the board uses every one of them to their advantage. One woman spent her entire savings taking them to court for harassment. She lost and had to pay their legal fees, too.”
    Andi felt her blood pressure rising. “It’s almost impossible not to break a rule. There must be over fifty.”
    “And many of them are so broad the board can define them as they wish. I received a violation letter for leaving a plastic baggie on my patio table. The board considered it a ‘storage container’ and there’s no storage allowed on the porch. Common sense tells you that rule was written to keep large storage bins off patios, but it wasn’t written clearly, so the board gets to define the terms as they please.”
    “There must be some way to stop them.”
    The nurse raised a brow. “Short of blowing a hole in them?”

THREE
    Andi drove the short distance back to her condo, condemning Harry and his cronies every second of the way. There was no need to check her watch—she knew her sister