Wake to Darkness Read Online Free PDF Page A

recipients. Dammit, Mason was right. It isn’t over.
    “Aunt Rache? You sure you’re okay?”
    “Yeah. Fine. Look, I’m sorry, kiddo. You want to curl up here for the rest of the night?”
    “Only if you promise not to wake up screaming again.”
    I looked at the clock. 4:00 a.m. The pills would have worn off by now. “I’m pretty sure I won’t.”
    “If you do, I swear, I’m gonna hit you with this bat.” She stood it up against the headboard and climbed under the covers.
    Myrtle snuggled back down between us and started snoring like a chain saw.
    “Hope you don’t mind sharing with a bulldog,” I said.
    “She’s been in bed with me every night since you left. I kind of missed her, to be honest.”
    “Yeah, she has a way of getting under your skin, doesn’t she? Good night, Misty.”
    “Good night, Aunt Rache. Sweet dreams. And that’s an order.”
    I turned off the bedside lamp. Of course the night-light was on. I always left the night-light on.
    Saturday, December 16
    Seeing Rachel again after almost a month had had an impact on Mason that he hadn’t expected. He’d thought their one-night stand had been based on the drama they were going through, and the sense of intimacy between them on the secret they shared. No one else in the world knew the truth about his brother. Or that he’d concealed evidence to protect his family—his mother, his pregnant sister-in-law, his nephews. He loved those boys like his own. No one knew what he’d done but Rachel.
    He knew she needed time to figure out who the newly sighted Rachel de Luca was. He’d been relieved by that when she’d said it, because he’d convinced himself that their roll between the sheets hadn’t meant anything special. And he wasn’t ready for anything more than that, anyway. He’d just lost his brother, betrayed his oath of service, become the only father figure in his nephews’ lives. There was no room for anything else.
    Even the way he kept thinking about her at odd moments, and the idiotic way he’d set his damned DVR to record anything that had her name attached to it, had seemed like no big deal. But seeing her again... that had hit him like a mallet between the eyes.
    And now he was starting to wonder if maybe what connected them was more than just the traumatic situation they’d gone through together, the secret that they shared. Hell, he’d seen through her masks so easily on that talk show yesterday that she’d seemed completely transparent. But she wasn’t, she couldn’t be, or the entire reading public would see through her, too, right?
    No, it was only him. And he saw more than the mask she wore, the positive-thinking public persona. He saw through the cynic she thought she was to the real Rachel. And it made him want to see her even more.
    A door slamming downstairs reminded him that he wasn’t alone. It was the weekend, and his nephews, who usually showed up on Friday nights, had been delayed an extra twelve hours due to his trip into the city to see Rachel. They would not be put off any longer.
    “Uncle Mason!” Joshua yelled. “Aren’t you up yet?”
    He rolled onto his side and blinked at the clock. 8:30 a.m. Kids had no respect for sleeping in. Flinging back the covers, he sat up, gave his head time to adjust to being vertical, then shouted back, “I’ll be right down.” He needed a shower, but in the meantime he pulled on pajama bottoms, a T-shirt and a pair of nice thick socks, because his old farmhouse had cold floors. Giving his hair a rudimentary flattening with his hands, he headed downstairs.
    Jeremy was in the living room, on the sofa, already manning the Xbox controller. His expressionless eyes were glued to the TV screen, and his brown hair was even longer than it had been last weekend. He refused to get it cut.
    “Hey, Jer,” Mason said.
    “Hey.”
    Nothing, not a flicker. It was par for the course with Jeremy lately. Only a little over four months since his father had shot himself in the