The Darkness Within Him: The Untwisted series Read Online Free PDF

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Chapter Two
    Being quite a sensible person and thinking myself a good judge of character, I should have seen the warning signs from Nicholas flashing like great big neon bulbs and run away as fast as I could. If I’m really honest with myself, I had seen the signs during our first encounter – in short, he’d been controlling, intense, and formidable – but I’d stupidly ignored them, preferring instead to take a risk and allow myself the chance to experience the thrill of being near such a domineeringly sexy man. And believe me, Nicholas was sexy, his looks, clothing, demeanour … Goodness, even the tone of his voice had got me excited.
    Huffing out an impatient breath, I pushed off the railings and ran a hand through my hair, tucking it behind my ear. Immediately, I scowled at the stupid nervous habit that I was now fully aware of thanks to Nicholas bloody Jackson. Of course he had spotted it straight away, my little tell, as he’d called it. And he’d been right, I did push my hair self-consciously behind my ears when anxious, which since we’d spilt up seemed to be every frigging five minutes.
    Managing to bring my focus back to the present, I realised I must have been standing on the bridge for at least ten minutes, staring out across the marketplace like a complete loon. Once again I was immensely glad I lived in Camden, where you could look like an idiot and no one cared one little bit, much less commented on it.
    Just as I was downing the dregs of my lukewarm coffee, the sound of a piano hit me again and my whole body tensed in reaction. Closing my eyes, I traced the music to somewhere very nearby, softly mocking me with its notes. Tilting my head, I listened more carefully. The tune kept faltering and repeating as if someone was learning it, or perhaps tuning the instrument as they played. Gripping at the railing with increasingly white knuckles, I tried once again to trace the source of the piano music.
    Looking down the stairs to my left, I saw the wooden façade of a shop I’d never noticed before. Camden Piano Restorers , its aged sign stated. Sitting at an upright piano by the open door was a man, playing the battered old instrument and tuning it as he went. My throat tightened against my will. He wasn’t Nicholas, as my desperate imagination had hoped, and the piano was a far cry from the elegant beauties Nicholas played, but still the coincidence left my mind reeling.
    Finally regaining the feeling in my legs, I pushed off the railing and made my way down the steps past the piano shop toward the canal, making a mental note not to come this way through the markets again. A canal boat was working its way through one of the brightly painted gates and part of me wished I could jump on board and leave my nagging and annoying memories behind and sail away with the occupants.
    Remembering the better times wasn’t going to help me get over Nicholas, but it was all I seemed to do lately. While my body was physically functioning and going through the motions of living and running my bookshop, I couldn’t have been more unproductive if I’d tried. My fluctuating moods made interactions with other people difficult to say the least, so it was just as well I didn’t have a packed social life to rearrange, and thankfully, at work I had my employee Louise to rely on. Since my split with Nicholas, she’d been an absolute legend, keeping the shop running while I tried to get my head back on straight.
    My mind was like a cinema these days, replaying each step of our relationship in high-definition detail, and I was starting to think my subconscious was trying to torture me slowly to death. Pausing by the canal, I placed my hands on the damp stone wall and watched the boatmen tug and push at the locks on the gates. One shouted commands and the other followed them without hesitation – just as I had with Nicholas, I thought with a scoffed, humourless laugh. Even though it had been three weeks now, I