Marked Clan #2 - Red Read Online Free PDF Page B

herself all the time to check her sugar. It always bugged me that there wasn’t a better way to handle that.”
    “So you nobly pursued a career in medicine in the hopes of one day finding a cure?” I hoped my incredulous smirk wasn’t too obvious.
    Justin blushed, and I immediately regretted the comment. “It’s cheesy, isn’t it? Sounds like a Lifetime special.”
    “No, you’d have to be a woman and have an abusive father or something. You know, can’t have a heroic male figure in those things. Not empowering enough.”
    Our waiter came over and took our drink orders. What the hell, I wasn’t out hunting tonight. “Vodka tonic,” I said. Justin ordered an iced tea, unsweetened. Probably doesn’t drink. My initial attraction to him was starting to wane. Choirboys are cute and all, but I get bored easily.
    “So, Connor never said what you do for a living,” he said.
    “Errand Whore,” I said. He snorted, and I laughed too. “It’s true. I do whatever Connor needs at the time. Sometimes it’s IT help, sometimes it’s the books. I used to work at a call center. Didn’t take.”
    Our drinks arrived, and Justin unloaded four packets of sugar into his tea all at once. I sipped my drink and watched. “You can order them with sugar already in there, you know.”
    He shook his head. “Not the same. There’s a perfect ratio of tea to sugar. They never get it right.”
    Nothing on the menu looked good, so I ordered a chicken Caesar salad. Justin got his chicken Parmesan. I heard my phone buzz inside my bag, so I downed the rest of my drink and excused myself to the ladies room.
    Connor had sent me a message. “How’s it going?”
    I texted him back. “None of your business. Where’d you find him, a Boy Scout convention?”
    “Give him a chance. GTG.” Connor messaged back. I sighed and put away my phone. There was no line for the ladies room, which surprised me. Fridays usually meant waiting at least a half-hour to get a stall. I walked right in. A woman in a high-backed, dark blue dress was touching up her makeup in front of the mirror. I walked by and grabbed the first stall.
    “No paper in that one,” she said. “Just FYI.”
    I checked—sure enough, just an empty tube. I moved to the next one. “Thanks.”
    “No problem,” she said. She was still there when I finished up my business and washed my hands. My hair was a little bit frizzier than when I’d left, but not a total loss. The woman clicked her compact shut and turned to leave. I couldn’t help but watch her. Her hair was up, and she had a dark mark at the base of her neck. A tattoo? You’re paranoid, PJ. I watched her walk out of the bathroom, moving like she had too many muscles in her legs.
    Or maybe not.
     

Chapter Seven
    I left the ladies room quickly, but tried not to bring attention to myself. She was gone by the time I made it out. Was she a friend of Dree, come to check up on me? Or had I finally been outed by the wolves as a threat? Considering I hadn’t seen my former best friend in five years, it could be either one or both. Was it really a good idea to meet with her tomorrow night?
    The food had already arrived when I got back to the table, and Justin had ordered me another drink. I smiled at that. “Trying to get me liquored up? If you want to play doctor , you just have to ask.”
    He laughed, and waited for me to dig into my salad before taking his first bite. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure you liked me that much. I got the impression I was a little plain for your taste.”
    Damn, I really need to work on not letting my emotions show. Why is it I can put on a great poker face when I’m hunting, but give me a regular, relatively attractive guy and I’m an open book?
    “Or was I right the first time?” he asked. “You’re thinking really hard all of a sudden.”
    I shook myself out of my thoughts. “Sorry. No, you’re fine. Mom always wanted me to marry a doctor. Can’t promise that, but I certainly