Running From Mercy Read Online Free PDF

mood strikes you. So no, I will not go and wake her up simply because you want to talk. Her mother is dead. We buried her today, in case you forgot. I think letting her sleep is the best thing we can do for her right now.”
    â€œIn case I forgot . . .” Pam stared at Chad with her mouth hanging open in disbelief. “What the hell does that mean? How could I forget?” Angry now, she pushed against his chest and sent him stumbling backward. He barely managed to regain his balance and narrowly missed ramming into the counter behind him.
    â€œPam . . .”
    â€œYou bastard,” she hissed through clenched teeth. Then she went wild on him.
    Chad tracked the course of her flying hands with his own and finally caught them just as they came toward his face. He brought them to his chest and held them there, waiting for her to calm down so he could speak. By the time she was done struggling against his hold, she was breathing hard and tiny bubbles of perspiration sat on the bridge of her nose. He watched them catch the light and then he caught her eyes.
    â€œYou said you loved me. You said we were best friends and that what we had together was special. We talked about getting married and having children and leaving here together. And then you got on that bus and left me here.” He squeezed her hands and made her look at him. “Eighteen years you stayed gone. What the fuck was I supposed to do?”
    â€œMarrying my sister was the best idea you could come up with?”
    â€œShe had my child.”
    â€œShe was my best friend.”
    â€œMine, too,” he said softly. “She filled the hole you left behind. Having her was the next best thing to having you.”
    â€œThat’s sick.”
    He released her hands when she tugged and then spread his arms wide in surrender when she fisted them in the collar of his shirt. “You want to fight me, go ahead. I’m only telling you what you came here to hear, and you know it. You want me to tell you that all these years I still thought of you? Fine, I will. You want me to tell you that sometimes I looked at Paris and wished she was you, looked at Nikki and wished that it was the two of us raising her? Then that’s what I’m saying. I’m telling you right here and right now that you damn near killed me when you got on that bus. But hell, you knew that already, because I begged you not to go. And you went anyway.” He took both of her hands and held them between his, used them to nudge her back and away from him. “Go ahead and admit it, Pam. Your ego needed to hear that. You got what you came for, and now you can do what you do best, which is run. Only this time have the decency to say a proper goodbye to Nikki, will you? You owe her at least that much.”
    â€œAre you leaving already, Aunt Pam?”
    Chad’s head rocked back on his neck and his entire body stiffened as the sound of Nikki’s voice cut through the tension in the kitchen. He wondered how long she’d been standing there and how much she’d heard in the process. He massaged the bridge of his nose with stiff fingers, waiting for the explosion he expected to come.
    Pam took a moment to rearrange her expression before she looked at Nikki, and when she did, there was none of the hurt and confusion from minutes ago. Her lips trembled into a gentle smile. “I thought you were asleep,” she said.
    â€œI was and then I heard you guys down here.” Nikki looked from Pam to Chad curiously. She could’ve sworn they were arguing and she wondered what they could possibly have to argue about at a time like this. “Is everything all right?”
    â€œEverything’s fine,” Chad put in evenly. “How are you doing? Do you need anything?”
    â€œJust my mom, but I can’t have that, so I guess not.” She was silent for a moment. And then, “Are you leaving, too, Aunt Pam?”
    â€œNot just yet, but