Kaleb (Samuel's Pride Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

you? Or hurt her?”
    Samuel knew the word. She was asking him if she needed to castrate him. He nipped at her neck and held her tighter, laying his hand over her belly to feel their child move beneath it.
    “When I was seven and she five, we found each other one night after my father had beaten me so badly that I could barely move. I’d found this place about a month before and would go there to hide from him until my mom came home from work. Apparently Thor used it as well when her own dad had taken a belt to her.” Kennedy put her hand over his and moved it over her belly to where the baby was moving. He continued telling her what this girl meant to him as his own child flipped and moved against his hand. “She’d been beaten as well that night. Her back was bloodied, and her face…. It wasn’t as bad as she’d been when we brought her in, but he’d taken his fist to her. I wondered how she could even see.”
    “Her mother, where was she when her little girl was being abused?” Samuel remembered that she’d been alive and wondered if Mrs. Thornton was as yet, but he told Kennedy that he didn’t know. Thor had never mentioned her when they’d been children.
    “One night , when I’d decided that my dad wasn’t going to hit my mom again, Thor talked me out of it. While she said I could take him—I was about nine by then—I could never look my mom in the face if I’d been responsible for killing him. Instead, she and I devised a plan to make him suffer. If I remember correctly, it was the best two weeks I had while he spent that time in the hospital.” Kennedy laughed and asked him what she’d done. “She iced up our front steps and made him fall down them. Broke three ribs and his left leg. Thor had never been one to back down when she felt someone had ‘shit in her oatmeal,’ as she used to say.”
    “Oh , I like her. Very much so. Do you think she could teach me a thing or two about dealing with bullies?”
    Christ , he hoped not. His wife was pretty fierce now. And since she’d been at the end of her pregnancy, she’d been a tad on the violent side. Instead of answering her, he kissed her. Samuel didn’t think it would distract her for very long, but it might buy him a little time to tell her that she was just fine the way she was, thanks.

Chapter 3
     
    The room wasn’t overly bright . Thor knew it wasn’t, but it was still painful to look around. There was a fuzzy blob in front of her, but other than it being large, she had no idea what or even who it might be. She closed her eyes and opened them again when she heard the laughter.
    “You’re not going to be able to lay there pretending you ’re asleep this time. I’ve let it go before, but not this time.” She tried to bring the man into focus, but it was simply too hard.
    “I don’t know you.” Laughter again. “I think you are very rude to laugh at me when I’ve been beat to shit and—Fuck. Where am I?” She had to close her eyes again. The pain was overwhelming and making her slightly sick to her stomach.
    “You’re at the hospital, one that will protect you at all costs.” She snorted. There was no way anyone could protect her from Lipscomb. He was a motherfucker with a god-like attitude. “Don’t you believe me? I’ve never lied to you before.”
    This time he was closer to her. The brown eyes looked familiar, but she couldn’t think beyond hurting. Reaching out to touch him caused her more pain, but she had to see who he was. As soon as he was close enough, she realized who he was.
    “Samuel.” He nodded and kissed the palm of her hand. “I’ve missed you so much. You came for me.”
    “I did. You did tell me to, didn’t you? And when I got there, you didn’t even have cake or any beer.” She moved back on the bed and laid there for several seconds, trying to think how to tell him that he needed to stay away from her. “Oh honey, who did this to you? Thor? Who did this to you?”
    “I work for some pretty