Read Darkness Falls (Darkness Series Book 3) for Free Online Page A

as my father had another beer. He drank a lot, and he hit a lot too. He said our cries made him mad. He hit everyone but Julia, and I wasn’t sure why. I hated Julia, but Jims made sure she was never alone with me. I guessed because she was so mean. The moonlight was bright enough so I didn’t need to waste the flashlight batteries. The comics were in a sack next to me. I chose my favorite and pretended I was Clark Kent until my eyes grew heavy.
     
    Gunshots from the TV brought me back to the present, but the feelings from my memory still weighed heavily in my chest .
    I turned off the TV, smoothed the bedspread back in place, and puffed the pillow to leave no trace of an intruder. I knew I shouldn’t, but I turned the picture frame around. Sometimes I just couldn’t help myself. I scanned the room, when I suddenly heard footsteps on the stairs. Shit! They must have come in when I was lost in my memories. I hurried across the room and in behind the huge velvet curtain that concealed my body perfectly.
    “I swear, Pete, if I come home to one more orgy—” I leaned to the side just enough so my left eye peeked out and saw Emily on the phone. She put him on speaker and tossed it on the bed. “I don’t care if you think it’s funny, people are going to think it’s me doing it.” She pulled her dress off over her head and kicked it to the side. I slid my phone out of my pocket and snapped a few photos. Emily was like a lingerie magazine; she always matched. Today she had a soft pink and black lace set that showed off half her perky ass. Her plump breasts jiggled as she laughed at something Pete said. She was a pretty little thing, and I knew why Seth was so damn protective. Any man with a dick wanted a piece of her. Didn’t help that some of the guys talked about how they screwed in the on-call room. She was a wild one in bed, and I knew she was up for anything. I knew because I watched all the time. She loved to give up control, loved to be completely dominated by him.
    I was hard, not for her, but for the idea of a woman giving herself over completely. I’d screw Emily, but it’d be like used goods. She belonged to Jims, not me. I took a deep breath and forced my control to come back. I couldn’t afford to lose it now. She moved into the bathroom and ran the shower. I stepped from behind the curtain, about to make my way out the door, when she came back into the room. She stopped three feet in front of me. I froze. Thank God her head was down, hair flung forward as she scooped it into a ponytail. I took two swift steps behind the closet door just as her head came back up. I was not seen. She grabbed her phone and disappeared into the bathroom.
    The edges of my mouth rose as the high spread through me. I got this rush. It happened a lot with Emily, almost daily. I loved to play with my pawns.
    A car door slammed, and I hurried to the window to see a FedEx truck driver on his way up the driveway. I hurried down the stairs and caught him at the door.
     
    ***
     
    I didn’t even notice I was at The Brick until I parked. I reached in my bag, double checked the thick envelope of money was still there, and recounted to be sure it still added up to a thousand.
    The building was an old warehouse in the middle of an abandoned part of town. If you didn’t have a membership and walked in, you’d think the place was a photography studio. That was the front the owner used, and no one seemed to question it.
    “Hey there, sunshine,” she said as she held the door open for me. I glanced down at her outfit. I wasn’t aware they made shorts that short, but whatever. “I’m doing well, thank you for asking.” She rolled her eyes and handed me my key. “I had a flood at my apartment, and my dick landlord wanted a blow job for payment, even though it was the guy above me who did it.” She rambled on, and I started to say something, but she was too lost in her story to notice I’d walked away and was punching in the