Flanked Read Online Free PDF Page A

alone.” He eyed the path to the door, wondering if he could make it out of the room before Greg choked him to death.
    But one glance at Marci’s husband, now sunken onto the bed, his head bowed and shoulders heaving, had Garret taking a second look. Was he crying? Aw, crap. Now he really needed to get the hell out of here. The minute this guy got his head together and realized Garret had seen him in tears, he’d really want to kill him.
    He began backing toward the door when Greg raised his tear-filled gaze to him. “I just try to be a good husband, you know? But nothing’s ever good enough for her. I can’t help it if I only make minimum wage. Try getting a better job around here with just a high school education. It ain’t easy, and all she does is bitch, but does she get a job to help out with the bills? No.”
    “Uh, times are bad. I’m sure you both do the best you can.” Garret glanced at Marci and saw her roll her eyes. He hooked a thumb toward the door. “I’m just gonna take off—”
    “Garret James, you made it good though, didn’t you? Driving that fancy truck out there in the drive.” Greg’s eyes narrowed.
    “Really, the loan on that truck is huge. I don’t even own it. The bank owns it.” Something sounding like a giggle snuck out of Garret’s throat as his adrenaline pulsed.
    Good thing his truck was fully insured, because Greg could probably do some kind of damage to it, and it seemed like the truck was what he was focused on at the moment.
    The hulking man stood and took a step closer, and Garret realized exactly how much Greg dwarfed his five-foot-nine-and-a-half-inch frame. Being big and tall was not in the rider’s favor when on the back of a bull—during a fight however, it was a different story entirely.
    Greg laid one big hand on Garret’s shoulder and he braced himself for a punch, but it didn’t come. Instead, Greg patted him a few times. “I shoulda been nicer to you in high school. I’m sorry I wasn’t.”
    “Really. It’s fine. You were fine.” Garret dismissed the apology with a wave of his hand.
    “Nope. I was an ass. And I married a bitch. Guess that was my punishment.” Greg dropped his hold and turned back to Marci. “You can stay living here. I don’t care. I’m done.”
    He strode out the door with Marci scampering after him. “What do you mean stay here? I’m not moving back in with my parents.”
    “Then you shouldn’t have left last night.”
    As their raised voices faded down the hall, Garret was left alone in the pink room. He seriously considered crawling out the window before they came back. Instead, he snuck out into the hallway and spotted the kitchen. All the houses on this block were built alike and he’d had a friend who lived in one just like it. There should be a door in that kitchen, a door that led outside to the driveway and freedom. While the unhappily married couple argued in the living room by the front door, the dog barking at them as they yelled at each other, Garret snuck quietly out the back door.
    Married bliss, his ass. If this scene today was any indication of matrimonial happiness, he was never getting married. No fucking way. Everyone else could just keep that shit. Garret wasn’t falling for the lies about how great marriage was because he’d witnessed the truth first hand. He could be totally in love like his father and mother had been, and then lose her to something out of his control. Or he could get legally bound to a bitch like Marci who would punish him the rest of his life.
    He leapt into his truck and started the engine as fast as his shaking hands could get the key in the ignition. He had to swerve wide and back onto the lawn to get around Greg’s truck parked behind him, but there was no other choice. He sure as hell wasn’t going to ask Greg to move his car. That grass would grow back and fill in his tire marks on the front lawn…eventually.
    Still not convinced he’d made a clean getaway, Garret didn’t