Read Pursuit: Blood Bandits MC for Free Online Page B

attention to me, and my self-esteem suffered. Then, my freshman year of college, Eric showed up in my life as a teacher’s assistant. He’d been a grad student studying finance, and he must have sensed there was something in me that would respond well to something in him. Some wounded part of me. Like an animal sensing his prey.
     
    I pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex I’d called home for the eight months since I packed up Emma’s and my things and left while Eric was on a business trip. It was still the most daring thing I’d ever done. Sometimes I could hardly believe I was that person, the one who ran, who finally took charge of her life.
     
    I remembered every time I turned the key in the lock on the weathered front door to my apartment. Every time I entered the tiny little living room with its popcorn paint ceiling and paneled walls. The only thing I could afford on the little money I made at the diner, and a far cry from the cathedral ceiling of the entrance the condo Eric still insisted I loved so much. It had been all his idea, obviously, as everything in our marriage had been. I did miss the space, though. The only thing I missed.
     
    Mom was fast asleep on the couch, reruns of I Love Lucy playing at low volume on the TV. I considered turning it off, but instead sank into the beaten recliner beside the sofa and put my feet up. I let Lucy and Ethel take my mind off the myriad problems plaguing me. After an hour or so, I chuckled a little too loudly at a certain scene, causing Mom to wake with a start.
     
    “Jesus! You scared me to death!” She placed a hand over her chest, eyes wide behind big, round glasses.
     
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. Go back to sleep.”
     
    “No sense now,” she said, sitting up instead. “Besides, it’s, what, nearly six thirty? Emma will be up soon. I might as well get going. Unless you need me to stay and help? You just tell me what you need.”
     
    I smiled, about to tell her not to worry, but thought twice before I spoke. “Would you mind helping her out of her bunk when she gets up? My arms are very achy today.”
     
    “Achy? What happened?” Mom reached for me, and I winced. I should have known better than to bring it up.
     
    “Nothing, really. You try working a double shift with those heavy trays and see if your arms don’t kill you by the time you get home.” I tried to laugh, tried to keep it light. I failed miserably.
     
    “Let me see your arms, Kara Louise. You know you’ve worked many a double shift, and you’ve never winced when I tried to touch you.”
     
    I couldn’t argue with her. I raised one of my sleeves. Mom’s gasp wrenched my heart.
     
    “What happened? Oh my God, Kara. Did he come to the diner?”
     
    I nodded, tears filling my eyes for the first time since it happened. It was like a floodgate opening, and before I knew it the entire wretched story poured out of my mouth. Mom looked horrified by the time I finished.
     
    “Oh, thank goodness that man came in to help you. What if he had hurt you even worse?”
     
    “Mom, it’s okay. He wouldn’t have hurt me worse. Really. I’m fine, just very sore. My muscles are screaming at me.”
     
    “I don’t doubt it! You’ve said so many times that he’s so strong. I’m going to get some of those painkillers out of the medicine cabinet, and I’m going to watch you take one.”
     
    “Mom, really…” I didn’t want to raise my voice and wake Emma. I waited until she came back. “I can’t take one until Emma goes to preschool. It makes me too loopy. I can nap until it’s time to go pick her up.”
     
    “You’ll take it now, and you’ll go to bed, and I’ll take care of getting Emma to school today. You have to do something for yourself for once. Let me take care of you.”
     
    I wanted to protest, but on the other hand, I didn’t. It felt good having somebody fret over me. “You always take care of me,” I said, taking the pill from