Red Handed Read Online Free PDF

from amused to regretful in the blink of an eye. “I’m very sorry, Phoenix,” he said.
    I blinked over at him in confusion. “For what?” Despite his earlier rudeness, he really had done nothing but help me.
    â€œFor this.” His hand whipped out and smashed over my nose. The action was startling, unexpected. And…wet. Droplets trickled onto my lips and chin. A bitter scent wafted to my nose, then down my throat as I breathed, then onto my tongue as I opened my mouth.
    I grabbed onto his wrist and tried to shove him away. He held tight. Weak as I was, I couldn’t budge him. Strangely, I was only growing weaker. Swiftly so.
    â€œMy fingers are doused with a sleep aid,” he explained calmly. “Sleep, Phoenix.”
    Our conversation, his praise of my name—obviously only a means of distracting me, I thought darkly. I tried to scream at him, to curse him, but only managed to suck in more of the bitter fumes. How dare he do this! How dare he…do…this…
    Once again, I was faced with a black spiderweb. This one was stronger, more potent than the other. Alluring, beckoning me to peace. Like a drug. Sleep would be unbelievably sweet.
    I was going to pass out; I knew I was.
    But I fought it, fought the sweetness, just as I had fought the Sybilins. Just as I now fought Ryan. What was he planning to do with me? I wriggled and bucked and landed a blow to his right eye. My fist smacked into bone. Satisfaction flooded me.
    â€œDamn it,” he growled, but there was no real heat to the words. He tried to capture my hands with his free one. “That hurt .”
    Good. I managed to punch him a second time before he pinned both of my wrists.
    â€œI’m not going to harm you,” he said. He sounded far away, slurred. “Stop fighting. Please. I’m doing this for your own good.”
    I didn’t want to obey him, but the world around me was crumbling. No, not crumbling. Had crumbled. Completely. I had no solid anchor; I was floating. My head was too heavy, my shoulders weighted with bricks. My eyelids closed, practically glued together. For me, there was only darkness and a never-ending tunnel.
    â€œHow is she still fighting?” I heard Allison say. I hadn’t heard her return.
    â€œI don’t know,” Ryan said, and there was awe in his tone. “Sleep, Phoenix. Sleep.” Warm breath tickled my ear. “Everything’s going to be okay. I’ll take care of it. I’ll take care of you . Promise.”
    It was the last thing I heard before finally sinking into oblivion.

3
    â€œLoad her up,” I heard a man say. He sounded far away yet familiar. Ryan, I realized a moment later. Mmm, Ryan. So cute. No, bastard. “Take her home, and be careful with her.”
    Suddenly I was floating.
    â€œKadar,” Ryan called.
    â€œYeah?”
    â€œTell her parents…I don’t know.” Ryan paused. “I hate to tell them we’re cops and we caught her using. I don’t want her in trouble after everything she did.”
    â€œI won’t mention the drugs, all right?” someone—Kadar?—replied. A man; a stranger to me. “I’ll just tell them I found her like this and used her ID to track down her address. We’ll leave it up to the parentals to decide what she did or didn’t do at the party.”
    I should protest . I tried to open my mouth, but no sound emerged.
    â€œFine,” Ryan said. “That’ll be fine.”
    The fog claimed me again, and I knew only darkness.
    Â 
    â€œHow could you, Nix? How could you?”
    My mom’s angry voice battered through the black shroud covering my mind. My body pulsed and throbbed with pain, I suddenly realized, as if I’d been in a wreck. A fight. Something .
    My mouth was dry, so dry. My skin prickled and itched.
    I’ll take care of you. Promise .
    The raspy male voice drifted into my consciousness. For a moment, I forgot