Kiss in the Dark Read Online Free PDF Page A

nightmare she kept reliving every three months or so. At first, Boston felt anxious, worried, and tired. But then she began to feel lighter, as if a huge stone had been hung around her neck and was gradually being lifted. She could endure one more of Stephanie’s fits; she could hang out with Danielle for one more hour. It would certainly be more pleasant than having to deal with Steph.
    Shaking her head, unable to fully believe she had such a wound-up nut bag for a roommate, Boston turned the car around and headed back toward Danielle’s. She should’ve had the guts to stand up to Stephanie the month before when Danielle had moved into her bigger apartment. Danielle had tried to get Boston to move in with her, but Boston had still felt too sorry for Stephanie to do it.
    As she drove back to Danielle’s, Boston wondered what had finally pushed her over the edge. Why had she finally found the nerve to tell Steph she was moving out? Yet, after several moments of reflection, she decided she’d just reached her limit—finally. She didn’t even know which straw had broken the camel’s back—but whatever the straw had been, she was thankful for it!
    Reaching out, she pushed the CD player button. As Taylor Swift sang “Love Story,” Boston smiled. Steph never wanted the music on in the car—especially anything even resembling country music—and Boston suddenly felt quite entirely liberated.
    “It’s my freaking car!” Boston exclaimed out loud. “I can listen to whatever the heck I want to listen to!”
    To further assert her own power, Boston reached out and set the CD player to repeat. All the way back to Danielle’s, she sang “Love Story” with Taylor Swift—sang at the top of her lungs and with such a feeling of triumphant freedom that she arrived at Danielle’s door smiling, rosy-cheeked, and more hopeful than she’d felt in a long, long time.
     
    “Did you forget something?” Danielle asked as she opened the door.
    “Nope!” Boston said, smiling. “I told Stephanie I’m getting my own place, and she told me to leave.” Gesturing quotation marks in the air with her fingers, she added, “‘Go find something to do for an hour or two so I can have time to think,’ is what she said exactly.”
    Danielle rolled her eyes and laughed with utter disbelief. “Oh my heck,” she groaned. “That girl is whacked! How did we ever get ourselves mixed up with her?”
    “I don’t know,” Boston mumbled. She was beginning to feel bad about being so happy at the prospect of ridding herself of Steph’s constant presence. “I think our initial intentions were to help her…you know…teach her how to make friends or something.”
    “Those were your intentions,” Danielle said. “The rest of us just endure her for your sake.”
    “Really?” Boston breathed as she stepped into Danielle’s apartment.
    “Of course not,” Danielle giggled. “We all felt sorry for her.” Yet Boston wondered if the first reason Danielle offered was more the core truth.
    “Well, I’m glad you finally said something to her,” Danielle said as they sat down at the table. “Do you want some ice cream?” Danielle asked.
    Boston smiled. “Sure. Ice cream always makes me feel better.”
    Vance was already sitting at the table eating a bowl of ice cream. Boston studied him quickly, feeling sorry for the man. He had no idea what was about to come his way where Stephanie Crittendon was concerned.
    “Did you have a nice swim?” Boston asked, still studying him. Mercy—he was handsome! She really couldn’t blame Stephanie for wigging out at the sight of him. “You must be a complete prune. You were gone forever.”
    Vance glanced up at her then, and Boston was startled; the way his eyes fixed on her caused her to experience an intense, although pleasant, sort of discomfort.
    He shrugged broad shoulders and said, “I didn’t want to mess up you girls’ evening, so I went for a run after the pool.”
    “Well, I’m sure