Fury’s Kiss Read Online Free PDF Page B

him. He probably thought I was a total slut after what he’d seen at Spyder’s. Not to mention a complete idiot. And a murderer.
    Nora and I watched Jackson disappear into the house with the little girl after shooting me one more dark glare, and I shook my head in disbelief at my reaction to seeing the man again. I had a murder investigation to worry about, and I was fantasizing about jumping his bones. Maybe it was a reaction to Miller’s attack on me the night before? Like how near-death experiences were supposed to make people feel more alive. At least, that’s how it worked in the movies.
    “What do you think you know?” I asked Nora when they were out of earshot.
    She turned wide, brown eyes on me and answered my question with one of her own. “The Kindly Ones have returned, haven’t they? And you’re one of them.”
    “The who?”
    “The Kindly Ones. You know, Furies.”
    Personally, I wouldn’t have described giving someone the kiss of death and leaving a bloated purple corpse behind as kind , but thanks to Rachel, I did have a vague idea what a Fury was. What had she said about them when she’d been going through her Classics phase?
    “Furies. Like Greek goddesses of revenge?”
    Nora nodded. “Exactly.”
    “You think I’m a Fury.” The skepticism in my voice was impossible to ignore, but Nora just looked at me and arched an eyebrow. Clearly, she thought I was trying to deny it. Little did she know I just had no idea what she was talking about. And since one of my best theories so far was that I was the She-Hulk, I figured I should hear her out. I was hardly in a position to deny the impossible.
    And besides, she was offering lunch and my appetite had returned with a vengeance. I wasn’t usually a huge eater, but my empty stomach growled like an animal and I suddenly felt like I might pass out if I didn’t eat something soon. It felt wrong somehow, to be concerned with a mundane thing like eating after everything that had happened, but I couldn’t help my body’s response to the promise of food any more than I could control my reaction to Jackson, so I followed Nora up the driveway and into the house.
    The interior was a lot like the outside, a little worn, but tidy and looked-after. The front door opened into a homey living room, leading to a kitchen just beyond it. To my left was a row of coat hooks with a jumble of flip-flops and sneakers on a mat underneath. The masculine leather jacket and heavy brown boots mixed in with them looked out of place, and my heart rate sped up when I remembered my first glance at Jackson the night before.
    I heard Ruby’s voice in the kitchen and Nora led the way without stopping to take off her sandals, so I left my shoes on too and followed her. Pathetically, I brushed my hand over the sleeve of the leather jacket as we passed. I had an urge to bury my nose in its soft folds and inhale the male scent that clung to it, but managed to restrain myself.
    When we reached the kitchen, I paused in the doorway to take in the domestic scene in front of me. Ruby stood on a plastic footstool in front of the counter, where she was stirring a bowl of pancake mix. Jackson was next to her, teasing the little girl as he poured the first batch into a frying pan on the stove. They both looked up when we came in and wary distrust clouded Jackson’s features, chasing away the open, good-humored smile he’d worn just seconds before.
    “Hey gang,” Nora said, as though there was nothing unusual about me tagging along behind her. “Something smells good in here.” Jackson scowled at us both.
    “I like your hair,” Ruby said to me. “You look like Rapunzel.”
    Nora smiled as I thanked the girl. “Why don’t you guys finish making the food while I show Tara my garden?” she suggested, leading me out the back door before anyone could object.
    The backyard was bigger than the front, with a swing set off to the right and a corrugated metal shed behind it. The left side of