Read God of the Dead (Seasons of Blood #1): A dark paranormal crime thriller novel for Free Online Page B

the bones in her hand break she thought, just for a moment, that they were going to beat her to death. She rolled over on her back and held her arms up in front of her face, blood streaming from her nose, face covered in blood and tears, her hand starting to swell like a cartoon hand, that fast.
    Clover shook the memory from her head, that and all the others, of the church deacon they had taken her to--a man that had been an Army doctor during the war in Korea--to look at her hand because they knew he wouldn’t report them to child services. She tried to forget the memory of the look in their eyes on that long, silent drive home, when she realized they knew they had gone too far, of the tearful reconciliation effort on her mother’s part that had seemed genuine at first until she had insisted they get on their knees and pray at the end of it, of the ever-widening gap growing between them that had still not closed.
    Clover wiped a tear from her eye and took a deep breath, and went to get ready for her breakfast date.
    * * * * *
    AJ walked the few blocks from the light rail station to the restaurant she had told him about, the exercise feeling good, like he was being cleaned out after the amount of time he’d spent in the last few days sitting in bad chairs and smoking in tiny rooms.
    He stopped before going in as he spotted Clover, sitting at a small table near the big picture window in the front of the diner. She was reading a book and sipping a cup of coffee and, as he watched, she tucked a stray lock of hair behind her right ear, her hair like white fire in the beam of sunshine in which she sat, unassuming, unknowing that at that second, right then, she was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. AJ shook his head a little, forcing himself out of his reveries, and walked into the diner, the little bell above the door dinging.
    She looked up from her book when the bell dinged and, when she saw him, smiled, and he felt that smile bloom like a rose of happiness inside his chest, his heart, his soul. Is there anything better for a young man in his early twenties than for a pretty girl to smile and be happy when she saw you? AJ wasn’t sure what it was or how people would be able to stand it if there was.
    She closed her book and stood to greet him when he approached the table. He was spared the awkward moment of not knowing how to greet her—handshake? kiss on the cheek?—when she leaned in and hugged him.
    “How are you?” she asked, pulling back from the hug and motioning to his chair.
    “I’m good. Tired, more than anything. I didn’t sleep much.”
    “Ugh, I know,” Clover said, the two of them sitting down across from one another. “It was brutal. I’m so glad you suggested breakfast, though, I’ve been going a little stir crazy, sitting at home.”
    “Yeah, I know what you mean. It’s been a weird day so far, you know what I mean?”
    Clover laughed. “Uh, yeah man. Since midnight I’ve been to the store for cigarettes, got assaulted, spent four hours in a police station, had a fight with parents, and had to explain everything to my ADHD roommate.”
    AJ felt her foot against the side of his for just a moment.
    “I also met a guy,” she said, looking him in the eyes from over her cup of coffee.
    “Oh yeah? What’s he like?”
    “Wellll, he’s a cop,” Clover said, the two of them laughing.
    “Zzzzing!” AJ said.
    She smiled at that too but then the smile left her face, except her eyes, and she looked into his. “No, really, though, he seems nice. He’s brave, and funny, has the same weird sense of humor as I do.”
    Her foot against his again, under the table.
    “I told you I’m married, right?” AJ asked as she took another sip of coffee. She laughed and almost spit her coffee back in the cup, kicking him in the shin under the table as she coughed and got herself under control.
    “Fuck you ,” Clover said. “Ugh that was awful .”
    “Hey I wanted to tell you something, too,” AJ