What He Fights (What He Wants, Book Ten) (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) Read Online Free PDF

had done to me.
    “You too,” she said, tracing them with
her finger.   Her voice sounded
awestruck, wary, surprised, relieved, all at the same time.  
    “What?” I frowned.  
    “You too.”   She turned her wrist over, showed me the bruises there.  
    “Where did you get those?” I asked.
    “Josh.”  
    She said it matter-of-factly, though, not
with any trace of being upset or worried.   Was it possible that Josh was into tying her up the same way Noah did to
me?   Or was Josh actually hurting
her?
    “Julia,” I started.   “Is Josh –”
    “Hello?”   The sound of the front door opening echoed through the
apartment, followed by Josh’s voice calling to us from down the hall.
    Julia pulled her arm away from me as if
she’d been burned.   She quickly
tossed the pregnancy test into the garbage.
    “We’re in here,” she said.
    “Who’s we?” he called, and then he turned
the corner and his eyes fell on me.   “Oh.   Hey.”
    “Hi.”   I made sure to keep my voice light, controlled.   The last thing I wanted to do was show
weakness.   I was going to be stuck
in this apartment at least until I could find another place to live.   And I wanted to let Josh know he was to
stay far, far away from me.
    But to my surprise, Josh sighed, then
looked down at the floor.   “Listen,
Charlotte, I’m really sorry,” he said.   “I didn’t mean to blow up your spot about Noah.”
    My heart raced at the mention of Noah’s
name.   “What?”
    “The police interviewed me about what
happened in the park that day, you know, when Noah came after me?   And I told them it was obvious you guys
were seeing each other.   I didn’t
know they were going to call you to testify until I talked to Professor
Worthington this morning.”
    “You’re going to be testifying at a
trial?” Julia asked, her eyes widening.   “What happened?”
    “Charlotte’s boyfriend got arrested for
murder,” Josh said to Julia.   “That’s the case I’ve been working on, baby.”
    “Oh my God,” Julia said.   Her eyes went down to my wrists, and I
pulled my sweater down, hoping Josh hadn’t noticed.  
    “He’s not my boyfriend,” I mumbled.
    The hallway descended into an
uncomfortable silence.   Part of me
wanted to yell at Josh for telling the police I was seeing Noah, to tell him
he’d wrecked everything for me, but I couldn’t.   I was too tired.   And it wouldn’t have mattered.   What was done was done.
    “Anyway,” Julia said finally, breaking
the silence.   She turned to Josh.
“Are you ready to go to brunch?”
    “Yeah.”   Josh glanced at me, a look of concern clouding his
face.   But I wasn’t buying it.   “Are you okay, Charlotte?   Do you want to go to brunch with us?”
    “No.”   I shook my head and put my hand on my open door, so they’d
get the message that I was about to shut it.   “I have a lot of reading to do.”
    They disappeared down the hall toward
Julia’s room, and I heard them talking in there for a while, probably while she
got dressed.   A few moments later,
the front door opened and closed, and a silent stillness dropped over the
apartment.  
    As soon as I was sure they were gone, I
shucked my jeans, crawled into bed, and fell asleep.

 
    **

 
    When I woke up, my bedroom was dark.   When I’d fallen asleep, it had been
light outside -- even with the drizzly weather, the sky had been light enough
to shine some brightness into my room.
    Now, the sun had dipped below the
horizon.
    It was eight o’clock.
    I’d slept for almost ten hours.
    There was a crook in my neck, and I tried
to work it out as I got out of bed and padded toward the bathroom.
    I ran a brush through my hair, cleaned my
teeth and washed my face, then changed into a fresh pair of jeans and a light
grey sweater.   I wandered into the
kitchen and opened the refrigerator, but of course there was nothing in there.
    Julia didn’t eat.
    I wasn’t hungry anyway.
    I was restless.
    I