Jace Read Online Free PDF Page B

“I can’t tell you,” she whispered.
    He wasn’t even sure if he heard
her say those words or if her mouth moved without speaking and he read them.
“You can.”
    “I fought back. I was scared
that this was the end. He was actually going to kill me and I’d never get away
from him. I grabbed his bat. It was this stupid wooden thing that his father
had given him. He said it meant a lot to him. I hit him upside the head a few
times, grabbed my stuff in a jiffy and got the hell out of dodge.”
    Bad timing, but his lips
twitched with a laugh. “A few times?”
    She shrugged, also fighting a
laugh. “Like three. I was surprised it worked, to be honest. He’d always seemed
so…infallible, so big.”
    Jace leaned back in his seat.
“So you think he’s the one who’s been calling you?”
    “Actually, after yesterday, I’m
certain. See, after you dropped me off—thank you for the ride by the way—he
called. Only this time he said something. I knew as soon as I heard his voice.”
She sat back down.
    “What did he say to you?” he
asked.
    “He said ‘tick tock’. Like he
was counting down to my demise.” She said it laughingly, but he could see how
scared she was of this Corey. She might be scared of him, but Jace wasn’t. Jace
couldn’t be certain, but he was pretty sure he was bigger too.
    “From now on, we’re going to
see to it that he doesn’t interfere with your life,” Jace said.
    She leaned forward in her seat,
pretty strands of hair cupping her chin and shoulders. He wanted to touch it
and find out what it felt like.
    “You believe me? You’re going
to help me?” She sounded so damned hopeful that he laughed.
    “Yeah, I think so.”
    “Oh! I almost forgot. Where’s
my car?”
    Damn. Jace flushed. He quickly
got his shit checked before she noticed. “It’s at a trusted mechanic right now.
I talked to him yesterday. They’re treating the car as a priority so it should
be fixed in a few days.”
    Mara squinted in confusion.
Still, a sweet smile played at her mouth. That mouth. Just looking at it made him
wet his dry lips with his tongue. Thin, shapely lips the color of a rose. He
wanted to kiss her, to feel what her mouth felt like, to taste her, to smell
her. Because already he’d caught a scent and it was sweet.
    “I should probably go there,
right? I’m sure there are things I have to sign. I haven’t had a chance to call
the insurance company yet. Not after…Corey and last night.”
    “One thing at a time. Your car
is in good hands. We’ll get it taken care of. Now, I’ll need to see your house.
Do you have a security alarm system at all or just a deadbolt?”
    She flinched like she was
losing points on a test. “Just the deadbolt and the little flip lock on the
door handle.”
    “Do you have a chain?”
    She shook her head. “So what do
I do now?”
    “My gut’s telling me that we
can set up some cameras at your house. You said you have a restraining order
that’s still valid?”
    “Yes, it’s for five years. I
ran away from him almost seven months ago.”
    “If he’s breaking into your
house at night while you’re asleep then you must be aware that he’s dangerous.”
He tread carefully here, not wanting to brush her the wrong way.
    She laughed, voice strained.
“Oh, I’m quite aware of how dangerous he is. I don’t even know how he got into
my place. Everything looked fine when I checked.”
    “And you’re certain there’s no
way that you bumped into the thermostat and accidently changed it? No landlord
or maintenance guy who was in your house?”
    Her cheeks flushed “Excuse me?
Are you saying you don’t believe me? There is no landlord and there is no maintenance
man. There’s only me there and I’m telling you he was in my house. When I woke
up sweating like a pig it’s because he came into my house and left the
thermostat on ninety-three degrees because that’s the last thing he ever said
to me.”
    “   ‘Is
ninety-three hot enough for you,