Holding on to Hope Read Online Free PDF

wrong.
    What made him more striking was his attire. Brad had the fashion sense of a pig, and Leslie frequently nagged him about how badly he dressed. If it hadn’t been for his good looks, she’d never have thought a guy like Ronan would have ever come near him. At that moment, Ronan looked like he was all set to walk the red carpet of some celebrity awards show. He was wearing a light-blue dress shirt and a black skinny tie under an unbuttoned gray vest. Leslie noticed the design of a tattoo peeking out of the collar of his shirt. She pondered over how far down it went. For a split second, she was even envious of Brad for scoring a night with this guy.
    “Ian has filled me in with all the details of what happened,” Ronan finally spoke in his deep, manly voice. “Can I see the text that he sent you?”
    “Yeah,” Leslie whispered and took the phone out of her purse. She quickly searched for the message she had received from Brad when they were on their way to meet Ronan. They were all surprised and also relieved, of course. “He says in there that he has found a way to get his lost memories back.” She handed the phone to Ronan so he could see. “We are guessing that the old man in the coffee shop said something to him to make him believe….”
    “Of course he did,” Ronan muttered under his breath, staring at the phone screen intently. “He tends to make people believe things that are not real.”
    Leslie blinked.
    “What are you fucking talking about, dude?” Patrick’s angry voice caught her off-guard. “Who is that man exactly? Do you think Brad isn’t safe with him?”
    Ronan eyed him from head to foot warily before exchanging looks with Ian. The big guy gave him an apprehensive nod, and she heard a sigh that probably came from behind her: the man in black. “Right now, mister, I would say your friend is anything but safe.”
    Leslie turned to face the goth guy, and suddenly realized he was there for a reason. She had noticed the waitress standing by too, listening to their conversation. It had given Leslie a weird vibe then, but now she understood. All five of them present in the nightclub at that moment knew something classified that Leslie or Patrick, or maybe even Brad, didn’t know about.
    “What is going on?” she gasped. “If Brad is in some kind of danger, I need to know right now.”
    “Les,” Ian spoke, grabbing her attention immediately, “Before I tell you what’s going on, I want you to know that we didn’t intend for this to happen. Ronan and I… we tried our best to keep Parker out of this.”
    Patrick snorted. “I can see how hard you tried. I swear to you, Anderson, if Brad is hurt even the slightest bit, I am going to rip off your fucking head.”
    Leslie held his wrist and pressed it. His face was red, and his jaw was clenched. She could understand his anger, but her boyfriend was acting before knowing the whole truth.
    She turned to face Ronan. “Tell me everything from the beginning.”
    Ronan nodded and returned the phone back to her. His features softened, and his eyes suddenly looked empty. Maybe it was her wishful thinking, but Leslie was certain he was thinking of Brad at that moment. A few seconds passed in silence, and she began to doubt if he would ever speak up.
    But then he did, in a dangerously calm voice. “It was last month when I actually met Brad for the first time.”
    Leslie did a double take. “Wait,” she interrupted, replaying in her mind the exact account that Brad had given her about Ronan, “But he said….”
    “I know.” Ronan lowered his eyes and frowned. “He wouldn’t remember it. The same way he doesn’t remember last night.” She watched him exhale. “The day when we met, Brad was at Ian’s hanging out with him, and I happened to stop by. We hit it off right away, and that surprised me really, because I don’t open up to strangers that easily. But it was Brad. He has a way with getting people to talk. And such a goofball he