Loving Your Lies Read Online Free PDF

conscience.
    “Dammit.” I kicked the wall to my right. The
rubber-sole of my boot left a black mark on the white surface. I
shouldn’t even have to think about it, so why in the world did I
hesitate? And for a stranger?
    The exit had never looked better, and yet
invisible shackles prevented any further step in its direction.
Breathing became increasingly harder, and anger burned like a flame
through me. I didn’t understand this stranger’s hold over me. I
shouldn’t waste another thought on him. After all, I didn’t ask him
to remove the handcuffs.
    But he took them off, anyway. And he trusted
me.
    A growl rumbled out of my throat. I shot a
pissed glance heavenward and raked my clawed fingers through my
hair. With a helpless sigh, I returned to the spot where he’d found
me. Standing with my back against the middle column and arms
crossed tightly over my chest, I awaited his return.
    Only seconds later, footfalls announced his
approach in the hall behind my back. The steps slowed, and a hardly
audible sigh of dismay drifted around the column to me. I grinned
to myself, savoring this sweet, however short moment of victory.
Then I shoved away from the post.
    Relief washed over his face at the sight of
me, the corners of his mouth tilting up. “It’s good to see you
again.”
    Oh boy, and just how nice it is to look
at your beautiful face. But I steeled my expression and
ground my teeth. I spun on my heel and trudged back toward Abe’s
office, intending to hire Quinn as my bodyguard to keep this
goddamn Good Samaritan at arm’s length.
    “Damn you to hell,” I muttered as I
went.
    He laughed behind me.
“Oh joy.”
     
    *
     
    I zipped my backpack shut over my three
t-shirts, my only other pair of trousers, and the few precious
books I owned. The sun was setting over the low rooftops outside my
window. This would be my last night in an institution I had called
home for over twelve years.
    Bloody old Abe should have sent me to
prison. Could hardly be worse than the orphanage. But, to banish me
from the country and condemn me to live in the same house as my
mother was unspeakable cruelty.
    “It’s not even two months,” Quinn had said
after the hearing. “You’re a tough girl, you’ll survive.”
    Actually, he was the only person I was going
to miss.
    A knock rattled the door. That would be him.
The judge and Miss Mulligan had thought it a good idea that I spend
an evening out with my mother and her lover before attempting a
journey to a foreign country with them. Charlene had beamed while
her friend covered his smirk with a cough. Quinn accompanying me
tonight was the one condition on which I had agreed to go.
    I pulled the door open and stared. For at
least three whole seconds. Quinn in casual wear. Without his
uniform, he looked even younger, while his dark gray t-shirt and
bleached jeans fit him perfectly.
    My black zip up sweatshirt and ripped jeans
suddenly didn’t seem like such a nice thing to wear anymore. Maybe
I shouldn’t have removed the safety pin from the hole in the
knee.
    Quinn offered me his elbow. “Are you ready,
kiddo?”
    “Ready to face the dragon and get roasted?
Never. Let’s go.” I looped my arm through his and pulled the door
closed behind me.
    “It can’t be all bad.”
    “You have no idea.”
    Downstairs, Quinn held the door open for me
and led me to his black BMW parked around the block. We both
climbed in, and he pulled away from the curb. After a while of
staring silently out through the window, my train of thought broke
with Quinn’s not-so-subtle cough. I tilted my head his way.
    He briefly glanced at me then faced forward
again. “You know, I was quite surprised to see your mother today.
Didn’t you say she died in a car crash when you were little?”
    “If only.” Arms folded over my chest, I
concentrated on the car in front of us, wishing Quinn would crash
into it at the next intersection. That would give us an excuse not
to show up.
    We passed the