Read Sweet Justice for Free Online Page B

“Why?”
    “Because you’re bleeding. That’s why.”
    Her fingers touched her neck. Damn. The cut was worse than she’d thought. She figured she could at least make it to the chair a few steps away, but her legs had a different idea. With the suddenness of a falling rock, Honor keeled over. She heard Mossy let out a curse. As the thought flitted through her mind that she would rather he catch her than curse, she fell face-first onto the floor and the lights went out.
*  *  *

    Blinking awake, she looked up into her father’s face and smiled. When he didn’t smile back, she reached up to touch him and found only air.
    “Thank God you’re awake.” Her brother’s hoarse voice startled her. What was he doing here?
    “Nick?”
    “Yeah.” He came to stand over her and she was shocked to see tears in his eyes.
    “What happened?”
    “You almost bled out.”
    “I did?” She didn’t remember anything after she hit the floor.
    “Another couple of centimeters and it would have been all over.”
    She sighed. And on her birthday, no less. Good to know that she was keeping up the tradition of sucky birthdays.
    Already knowing, she asked anyway, “Mom here?”
    “Yeah, she’s in the hallway, talking to Aunt Jenny. Didn’t want to disturb you.”
    Aunt Jenny was loud. Get her on the phone and everyone within twenty feet could hear her.
    “Is Mom pretty upset?”
    “What do you think?”
    She grimaced. Beverly Stone was military, through and through. A former army nurse, she’d left the service and become the wife of an air force pilot and, later, the mother of a marine. She’d stoically seen her husband and son deployed again and again without complaint. She was so very cool about it all. However, when faced with a specific trauma, she had a tendency to hover and worry. Honor had a feeling she was about to get a major dose of mama-henning.
    “What’d the doctor say?”
    “Two more days after you regain consciousness before you can leave the hospital. Two weeks before you’re able to work.”
    And, no doubt, her mother would want her to come stay with her. Suddenly that didn’t seem like such a bad idea. She had some decisions to make. Being fussed over while she did that would please her mom and it would give her a chance to think seriously about several issues she’d been avoiding.
    Nick’s eyes, so similar to hers, watched her keenly. “Want me to detour her?”
    “No, I think I’ll go home with her. Think through some things.”
    “About time, too.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “You haven’t been the same since that bastard.”
    Anytime her brother referred to Seth, it was only as “that bastard.” If he and Seth ever met each other, Nick would probably—Hell, what was she thinking? They would never meet. Seth was never coming back to her. He’d made that more than clear. Crap, Stone, what does it take to get it through your head? The man didn’t want you. It’s been five years. Get over it already .
    Honor shook her head. “That’s not exactly what I plan to be thinking of.”
    “Still considering a job change?”
    She and her brother had no secrets. He knew all about Seth, had held her while she’d cried her eyes out and cursed him fiercely. And she’d been there for Nick when his best friend was killed in Afghanistan and when Marla, his wife, miscarried. Barely one year apart in age, she and her brother had been best friends almost since her birth.
    “I just don’t have the excitement and fire for the job like I used to.”
    “You still thinking about that rescue organization?”
    “Every time I talk to Noah McCall, he asks if I’m ready to come on board. I think I might be ready.”
    “What are you going to tell Mom?”
    With generations of military behind her, Honor was one of the few members of her family who’d bucked tradition and hadn’t joined the armed forces. It had been a personal, heartfelt decision to join the FBI. One that she had made when she