No Remorse Read Online Free PDF

understand.” Tally Francis said as she stood with her weight on her toes in the hallway of her house, ready to react if he attacked.
    Austin Shephard was unshaved and reeked of beer and sweat. His shirt was wrinkled and buttoned wrong. He wasn’t a big guy, but he was ex-Army who’d done it tough in Afghanistan, and being from Nebraska he’d been raised on beef seven days a week. Quick on his feet too—at least when he was sober. Tally was expecting the confrontation to end in violence like the last time, two weeks ago. She was still bruised and sore from then.
    But this time she was better prepared.
    She cursed herself for not bothering to check the security viewer before opening the door. But it had been natural for her to assume the buzzer was Rosco forgetting something; after all he’d only left a couple minutes earlier. Austin must have been watching, waiting for him to leave.
    Austin’s nostrils flared. He started jabbing his finger like he was stabbing a knife. “No, you're the one who doesn’t understand. I come here to apologize and you shove it right in my face. That’s what’s not right. What is it now, two weeks? And already you’re fucking other guys! You think I don’t know? Jesus, I’ve seen the look on your face after a good fuck. The cheeks, the eyes. Look at yourself! You know what you are? You’re a disgrace, you know that? A fucking, whoring disgrace!”
    She crossed her arms defiantly, refusing to be drawn into an argument, but remaining alert in case she had to move fast. This time she wasn’t going to let him get the jump on her. It was difficult to maintain a calm voice, and inside she felt like churning concrete. She had to get him out the door before he lost it. Her two-story house backed onto bush in the Montreal suburb of Laval, and neighbors would not be rushing to her aid any time soon.
    “It was only Rosco from work,” she said. “I’d hardly be rushing into another relationship after us. Not that it’s any of your business.”
    “How convenient.” Austin said, as his demeanor continued to darken. “Clearly, I was standing in the way.”
    “Rosco’s gay, for God’s sake! Surely you knew that. He makes no—”
    “Oh, sure! He comes around for an intimate little meal and doesn’t leave till two a.m. You used to kick me out before that, and that was after we’d had sex!”
    “ Rosco cooked. And he likes to talk. And you kicked me once too often.”
    “One time. I kicked you one time…”
    “As I said. Once too often. And now I think you should leave.”
    “Look, I said I was sorry. How many times do I have to fucking apologize?”
    “Do you want me to call your mother? You obviously can’t drive.”
    An aggressive laugh. Austin glared at her. He looked like Jack Nicholson in The Shining .
    “You fucking deserved it. You think you’re so smart, don’t you, in your nice, cushy office overlooking the lake. Looking down on people like me who have to do the dirty work in the field.”
    “Just go, Austin. You need help. The Army will—”
    “Don’t make this about the Army!” he yelled, jabbing the finger again. “I know what you think of the Army. This is about you, you skanky bitch. You and your whoring.” Suddenly his expression turned morose. “How can you treat me like this? After what I’ve been through…”
    He began to cry.
    Tally lowered her voice. “I think you should leave.”
    He whimpered as the tears ran down his cheeks. Tally didn’t move any closer. She knew better. That was how he’d surprised her last time. Austin sniffled and his face twitched, as though he was trying to decide what to do. He ran his fingers through scraggy hair that was graying prematurely, and began to dawdle to the door.
    Keeping her distance, looking for objects she could grab if he lashed out, Tally followed. Usually, once he started to cry, Austin would become morose and introspective. Their boss, Derek Wisebaum, had tried to help, but in the end, cutting him