Fallen Read Online Free PDF Page B

exposing a sky of denim blue. There was a steady breeze in the air. Sara clasped her hands behind her back and looked down at the broken sidewalk. Tree roots pushed against the concrete like gnarled old toes.
    She glanced at Will. The sun picked out the sweat on his brow. There were two scars on his face, though Sara had no idea what had caused them. His upper lip had been split open at some point, then badly stitched together, giving a raffish quality to his mouth. The other scar followed the line of his left jaw and dipped into his collar. When she’d first met him, she’d taken the scars for signs of boyhood mischief, but knowing his history, knowing that he had grown up in state care, Sara now assumed the damage had a darker story.
    Will glanced at her and she looked away. He said, “Dale seems like a nice guy.”
    “Yes, he does.”
    “Doctor, I guess.”
    “That’s right.”
    “Looked like a good kisser.”
    She smiled.
    Will shifted Betty in his hand to get a better grip. “I guess you’re dating him.”
    “Today was our first date.”
    “You seemed friendlier than that.”
    Sara stopped walking. “How’s your wife, Will?”
    His answer didn’t come quickly. His gaze fell somewhere over her shoulder. “I haven’t seen her in four months.”
    Sara felt an odd sense of betrayal. His wife was gone and Will had not called her. “You’re separated?”
    He stepped aside so that a runner could pass. “No.”
    “Is she missing?”
    “Not exactly.”
    A MARTA bus lurched up to the curb, its engine filling the air with a protracted grumble. Sara had met Angie Trent almost a year ago. Her Mediterranean looks and curvaceous figure were exactly the sort of things mothers were thinking of when they warned their sons about loose women.
    The bus pulled away. Sara asked, “Where is she?”
    Will let out a long breath. “She leaves me a lot. That’s what she does. She leaves, and then she comes back. And then she stays some and then she leaves again.”
    “Where does she go?”
    “I have no idea.”
    “You’ve never asked her?”
    “No.”
    Sara didn’t pretend to understand. “Why not?”
    He glanced out into the street, watching the traffic zoom by. “It’s complicated.”
    She reached out and put her hand on his arm. “Explain it to me.”
    He stared at her, looking ridiculous with the tiny dog in one hand and a pizza box in the other.
    Sara narrowed the space between them, moving her hand to his shoulder. She could feel hard muscle beneath his shirt, the heat from his skin. In the bright light of the sun, his eyes looked impossibly blue. He had delicate eyelashes, blond and soft. There was a stubbly spot along his jaw that he’d missed shaving. She was a few inches shorter than him. She stood on her tiptoes to look him straight in the eye.
    She said, “Talk to me.”
    He was silent, his eyes tracing back and forth across her face, lingering on her mouth, before meeting her gaze again.
    Finally, he said, “I like your hair down.”
    Sara was robbed of a response by a black SUV slamming on its brakes in the middle of the street. It skidded to a halt about twenty yards away, then jerked into reverse. The wheels squealed against the asphalt. The smell of burned rubber filled the air. The SUV stopped directly in front of them. The window rolled down.
    Will’s boss, Amanda Wagner, yelled, “Get in!”
    They were both too stunned to move. Car horns blared. Fists were waving. Sara felt like she was caught in the middle of an action movie.
    “Now!” Amanda ordered.
    “Can you—” Will began, but Sara was already taking Betty, the box of pizza. He fished into his sock and handed her a house key. “She needs to be locked in the spare room so she doesn’t—”
    “Will!” Amanda’s tone didn’t leave room for equivocation.
    Sara took the key. The metal was warm from his body. “Go.”
    Will didn’t have to be told twice. He jumped into the car, his foot skipping along the road as Amanda pulled