Thicker than Blood Read Online Free PDF Page A

have nothing to be sorry for. He got what was coming to him!
He got—”
    “Eve!” The agitated mutter belonged to Alex.
“Keep your voice down!”
    “You can’t be here,” I said, grabbing her
wrist. Using her arm, I pulled myself upright to a sitting
position.
    Evelyn wrapped both her arms around me, then
bowed her head, pressing our foreheads together. As she held me, I
let out a shuddering sigh of relief. I inhaled slowly, smelling the
sweat on her skin, the faint smell of liquor and…Jami.
    I looked up, over Evelyn’s head at the guard
she’d entered with. She wasn’t alone here. She had Jami, and if he
had been willing to risk bringing Evelyn into the station just to
visit me, his feelings must run deeper for her than he’d ever let
on.
    “You need to leave,” I said, pulling away
from her as I forced back more tears that threatened. “You can’t be
seen here supporting me, not after what I did. They’ll kill you for
that, Eve.”
    “I’m going to talk to Mason,” she said,
refusing to let me go, squeezing me tighter. “There has to be
something he can do, someone he can talk to.”
    “Don’t get yourself in trouble for me!” I
blurted out. Pushing away from her again, I attempted to scoot
myself backward, a hard feat when handcuffed. “Why are you being so
reckless?”
    Realizing what I’d said, using the same words
her late husband had always lovingly teased her with, guilt
instantly flooded me.
    Evelyn went still, her eyes filling with
unshed tears. “You sound like Shawn,” she said quietly. A long,
pregnant pause followed. “And you know what I always said to
him.”
    I nodded, feeling awful for her. “You
always said, ‘That’s why you love me.’”
    Evelyn gave me a sad smile. “And that’s why
you love me too, Lei.”
    My chest aching, I lowered my eyes. How I
longed for our lives before the infection. For our silly, simple,
and small lives in our quiet town where Evelyn had once been Miss
Popularity and a doting housewife, and I had been the quiet and
reserved preschool teacher. She had always been the complementary
sun to my moon. I missed it all—our husbands, our weekly barbeques,
our plans to vacation in Europe someday, our jokes about growing
old together.
    “I want to be with Thomas,” I whispered,
shaking my head. “I’m not strong like you are.”
    Evelyn threw her hands up in the air, her
expression twisted with both hurt and exasperation. “Why are you so
willing to leave, Lei?” she demanded. “To leave me! That isn’t what
Thomas would have wanted for you, to just give up!”
    “He wouldn’t have wanted any of this!” I shot
back. “And he’s dead, Evelyn, he doesn’t want anything
anymore!”
    In a singular lithe movement, Evelyn jumped
to her feet. Her hands planted on her hips, she glared down at
me.
    “I won’t let you die, Lei.” Her tone was
forceful and stubborn, and so very Evelyn. “I won’t let you
die.”
    Then she turned on her boot heel, arms
wrapped around her middle, and stormed out of my cell. Jami shot me
a sympathetic look before quickly following her out.
    When they were gone, Alex strode slowly into
my cell. Bending at his knees, he offered me a hand. For a moment I
simply stared up at him, taking in his features for what seemed
like the first time, noting his closely shorn black hair and
equally dark eyes. He looked tired yet alert, clean yet scruffy
with several days’ growth covering his jaw.
    It was one of those moments where you
realized that, although you’d lived side by side with someone,
you’d never truly noticed him before. How odd to have known someone
for so long only to realize you didn’t know him at all, not even a
little. I continued studying him, feeling as if I were missing
something, wondering at all his recent kindnesses, when he’d never
before seemed anything other than indifferent.
    “I have a plan,” he said in a low tone,
barely a whisper. His eyes darted in the direction Jami and Evelyn
had