The Beast (The Bad Boys Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

love it, setting up his games machine and fighting enemies six feet high. It would have cost a fortune that I didn’t have.
    On the opposite wall, an open door revealed a modern kitchen. Small but sleek with stone countertops and stainless steel appliances. I walked over and peered inside. Shelves of nuts, spices, and flour in glass jars, neatly arranged. A small refrigerator hummed in the corner. I opened it to see it stocked with fresh delicious food. I plucked a raspberry from a small bowl and popped it in my mouth.
    I walked back into the bedroom. There was another door further along. I figured it was a bathroom, but I didn’t have the inclination to check right now, as my attention was drawn to an ornate desk to my left.
    The desk was dark mahogany with a Tiffany lamp to one side and a small pile of vintage books on the other. A cup of pens and pencils sat atop a pile of notepads ready for journaling or writing to-do lists. Not that I thought that Nick was a to-do list kind of guy, although what did I really know about him.
    Hung above the desk was a simple cork notice board. There were four newspaper clippings pinned to the board, piled on top of one another. They’d been neatly cut out and I walked over to read what they were about and what crimes the newspapers had reported he’d committed. However, none of them were about Nick. All of them were about a woman named Angel Parrish, one about her engagement, two about a business her and her fiancé owned, and the last a wedding announcement. The wedding announcement was dated back six months. A photo accompanied it showing the happy couple in wedding attire holding a child. I knew immediately that this was the woman that Nick Prince was convinced he’d hurt. Why else would he have the clippings?
    I pulled the wedding announcement away from the board to have a closer look and a photograph of the woman, but this time naked, fell onto the desk. I picked it up. She didn’t look hurt or scared, this woman looked happy and content. But photographs can be deceiving. I placed both of them on the desk trying to figure out how Nick played into this story.
    Obviously this was the woman he’d claimed he’d hurt, but how and what were the circumstances?
    A wire basket under the desk had not been emptied. I bent down and reached inside, picking up the top most paper that looked like it had recently been screwed up and thrown away. A quick check of the others revealed nothing important.
    I smoothed out the paper, flattening it as much as I could so I could read the words. It was a restraining order dated eighteen months ago, although it had lapsed six months ago and was no longer in force. I wondered why he’d thrown it away now and not sooner? Did it have something to do with me staying here? No, that wouldn’t make sense.
    I needed to find out more clues so I could understand the puzzle a little better.
    I opened the only desk drawer but all it contained was office supplies: a stapler, eraser, calculator. Boring. Feeling under the desk revealed no false bottoms or hidden items. Perhaps he’d stashed something important under the bed?
    I bent down on my hands and knees and peered underneath.
    “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
    I nearly hit my head on the bed frame as I jerked back up. I swung my head around to see Nick in the doorway. His face was red and his fists clenched. Damn it .
     

Chapter 9
     
    “I wasn’t expecting you back so soon,” I said casually, as if nothing at all was wrong. I’d locked the door behind me, he wasn’t supposed to be back for at least another half hour. Plus, three knocks, he’d said. I should have been more careful.
    He stormed into the room, his eyes flashing and strode toward me. “What are you doing in here.” He took in the newspaper clippings that I’d arranged in neat order on the desk. He picked up the photograph of the woman. “See, can you see now why I’m a danger to women?” His breathing was heavy and