Right Through Me (The Obsidian Files #1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

in the eyes.
    He wasn’t used to that. He realized that he’d never seen her angry before.
    “What’s going on?” Rand Batello demanded. “Where did you run off to? That belly dancer have anything to do with it?” Rand’s fleshy face was even redder and more congested looking than usual.
    “No.” Noah exhaled before he allowed himself to answer, and the words that came out surprised him. “Things have changed. The deal’s off.”
    There was a breathless moment in the room, just enough time to reflect upon how crazy it was to make a decision this big based on an unsolicited text message.
    From Asa. Who he hadn’t seen or spoken to in thirteen years and whose agenda was a mystery. But it didn’t matter. When Noah made a decision, it stayed made.
    Batello shot an accusatory glance at Simone, and then looked at the documentation laid out across the table where Noah had been sitting. “What the fuck? This was a done deal. What the hell happened?”
    Obsidian happened. Your secret partner. My family’s mortal enemies.
    “I can’t discuss the details,” Noah said.
    “The hell you say,” Batello sputtered. “You can’t back out with no explanation!”
    “I just did,” Noah replied.
    “At least explain why you’ve changed your mind.” Simone’s voice was strained.
    “Like I just said, I can’t. Sorry.”
    “Sorry?” The pitch of Simone’s voice climbed. “You throw this in my face, in front of a room full of people, and then you tell me that you’re sorry? ”
    “Yes. I am.”
    Sisko, his right hand man, caught his eye, sending a silent message. Good luck with that, my friend.
    Simone crossed her arms over her chest. “This is about us, isn’t it?”
    “This has nothing to do with us,” Noah assured her.
    Simone’s red lips curled. “Like hell it doesn’t.”
    “Simone, this is not the time or place!” Batello growled.
    “Actually it is.” Her voice had a bell-like clarity. “I’m entitled to know why he stopped wanting me.”
    Chairs scraped and the table rattled as all present scrambled to get the hell out of there. Batello alone stood his ground, breathing heavily. “Don’t waste words on this son of a bitch,” he said. “We’ll let our lawyers deal with him.”
    “Give us a minute, Rand.” Simone didn’t even turn to look at him.
    Batello snarled an obscenity and stumped out of the room.
    The door shut behind him and a freshly awful silence fell.
    “So?” Simone said. “Do you have anything to say to me worth hearing?”
    He didn’t.
    “Like I thought.” Her voice was soft and bitter. “You’ve got nothing.”
    Jesus, this was heading right off a cliff, and he couldn’t think fast enough to head off the inevitable nosedive. “Listen. Simone. I’m sorry that I—”
    “Just tell me one thing, Noah. Were you even aware that I was sitting next to you while that girl was shaking her tits in your face?”
    He closed his eyes, took a moment. “I knew you were there,” he said.
    Some answer. Simone was just warming up.
    “I’m thinking you did me a favor,” she hissed. “First during the dance when you forgot that I existed and went off into your porno fantasyland right in front of everyone. Then just now when you broke the deal. I don’t like being blindsided, Noah.”
    “It wasn’t intentional.”
    “Just . . . shut . . . up. I’m not interested in your bullshit.” Her voice snapped like a whip. “I’m not sorry this happened, Noah. Better now than after ten years and two kids. Much better now.”
    Listening to her was like holding a live electrical wire. All he could do was hang on, letting the charge buzz until his teeth rattled and his hair stood on end. The pain in her eyes was very real. The raw anguish in her eyes said it all. He’d thought that she was cool by nature and he’d liked her coolness, hoping it would mesh with his own preference for control. Hoping she might not need the intimacy all the other women he had sex with always