Shattered (Broken Trilogy Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

watched you die,” I whisper as he reaches out and cups my face. His hands feel so warm. “I’m dreaming.” I start to sob. “This is a fucking dream, this is cruel.” I start to panic, as I’ve experienced moments over the last few days where I could almost believe none of it had happened, only to realize with dread that it had.
    “No, baby,” he leans in, “this is fucking real.” He smashes his lips to mine, making me feel him. I reach around his neck and deepen the kiss, just wanting to feel something, even if only for a moment. His thumb brushes away my tears as he slowly pulls back, and I see tears in his eyes as well. “Hi, baby.” My hands move through his hair, over his face, down to his shoulders. I let out a giddy laugh, but it gets caught in my throat. I shake my head, not sure what to say as the shock begins taper slightly, so I go with the obvious.
    “Hi,” I say back. “How?”
    He shakes his head, staring deep into my eyes as if I’m not real.
    “Let’s get inside and I’ll tell you everything, okay?” He winces when he lowers his arms.
    “Are you all right?” I step back, inspecting him. He is obviously in pain, but he looks intact.
    “I am now.” He takes my hand, threading his fingers through mine. He raises them to his mouth, kissing our joined hands. Tears stream down my face as I take in that he’s actually standing right here in front of me. My Cole, my love, my reason for living is back.
    We walk in silence, and the guys follow behind us. His hand continues to squeeze mine. I have no idea what to say or what to think, but I can feel my heart thawing just a little.
    Sue flies out the door. I let go of his hand as she wraps her arms around her son. She is crying happy tears. Abigail and June do the same, all taking their turn to ensure he’s alive and well. I step back a few steps, feeling so confused. I bump into Daniel, who smiles down at me as he gives me a side hug.
    “It’s just shock, honey. You’ll come around soon. Give yourself a moment to let it sink in.”
    I turn away from everyone as I gather myself for like the eighth time today. Lord, what I wouldn’t do to have a handle on my emotions. I feel his hand find mine again, and I turn and see him looking down at me with a questioning expression.
    “Don’t let go again, okay?” He gives me a tug toward him, kissing my forehead as he leads me into the house.
    We all gather together in the living room to celebrate his return, everyone laughing and talking. I can’t seem to pull myself out of the shock and sadness that still has a firm hold on me. What’s wrong with me? I should be ecstatic, but instead I’m swimming with a hundred different emotions. I try to interact with everyone. Mark hands me his special Marcus Martini. I take it and thank him, but I just stare at it.
    “Okay, honey, let's hear the story,” Sue says after everyone has quieted down. “I need to know, as I’m sure everyone else does.”
    Cole nods then takes a long sip of his beloved brandy and squeezes my hand. “Let’s see, the last thing I can remember is keeping watch as the guys left the house. We needed to get out of there. Mark and Paul needed a medic. I must have been hit on the back of the head. I woke to someone taking an electric—” He stops himself and looks at me. “They roughed me up a bit, wanting to get the location of the house. They kept me handcuffed to a pipe in a small room, fed me just enough to hold on. This went on for a while until The American showed up. We had some words, and finally he got tired of me not answering his questions. The days kind of mesh together, but mostly they just pumped me for information. One night The American left the house, and that’s when the video was made by a man named Raul.”
    I start to shake. I feel it start in my legs then travel up my spine through my arms and hands, and my teeth start to chatter. I sit my untouched drink down since it’s spilling over my hand. Keith