Read Watch Me Die for Free Online Page A

throat and she looked away. Was that his longing she sensed? Or was it her own?

 
    CHAPTER TEN
    Friday, August 12
    1:30 A.M.
    At Stacy’s scream, Malone came fully awake. He found her sitting up beside him, trembling so violently the bed shook. He sat up and gathered her against him.
    She clung to him and he pressed his cheek to the top of her head and rocked her slightly. “It’s okay,” he said softly. “I’m here. You’re safe.”
    As the moments ticked past, her trembling ceased and her breathing evened. Still, he didn’t loosen his grip.
    He couldn’t. When she relived the nightmare, so did he. His emotions ran the gamut from thankful to terrified. He closed his eyes, drawing in a quiet, steadying breath. And worried. Her nightmares seemed to be getting worse instead of better; they were coming more, not less, frequently.
    Stacy slipped out of his arms and drew the sheet to her chin, turning her head away. “Don’t do that,” he murmured. “Don’t shut me out.”
    “I can only imagine what you must be thinking,” she said, looking at him, eyes bright with tears. “The badass you fell in love with has turned into a quivering mass of … of girly goo.”
    “Girly goo?” He laughed and pulled her back against his chest. “What the hell is that?”
    “This. Me. Weepy and timid. Clingy.”
    “Look, Stacy”—he tipped her face up to his—“yeah, I fell in love with your swagger. But I also fell in love with the part of you that wants to save everyone and everything. The part that tears up during those chick flicks you make me watch. I fell in love with your unfailing honesty and fair-mindedness, your devotion to family and doing the right thing.”
    He rested his forehead against hers. “I love every part of you, Stacy Killian.”
    “Even the girly goo part?”
    “Even that.”
    She rubbed her nose against his. “I am pretty great, aren’t I?”
    He laughed again. “Did I mention your sense of humor?”
    “I wasn’t being funny.”
    “Oh, yes, you were.” He lay down, bringing her with him. He tenderly kissed the angry scar below her right clavicle.
    She stiffened. “Won’t I look charming in my strapless wedding gown?”
    “To me, it’s beautiful.” He trailed his finger lightly over its ridges. “You should love it, too. Show it off on our wedding day. Immortalize it in our photographs.”
    “You’re nuts.”
    He leaned up on an elbow and gazed down at her. “You probably saved that child’s life. You didn’t hesitate. You knew what you saw and acted on it. That child is alive and home with her parents because of you. I couldn’t be prouder of you or that scar.”
    She searched his gaze, struggling, he saw, with her emotions. “I keep thinking about that day. Wondering if I could have done something differently.”
    “What do you mean, do something differently? You saved a child’s life, Stacy.”
    “But I got shot. Almost killed. I had to take him out, right there in front of all those people … families with children. If I’d called for backup—”
    “That monster might have gotten that little girl into his van. You know the stats. Once the kid’s in a vehicle, probability of a recovery drops dramatically.”
    “I know. And I—” She shuddered. “Jane’s so traumatized by it she’s afraid of letting the kids out of her sight for a minute and wakes up half a dozen times a night to go check on them. The kids are having nightmares about their aunt Stacy bleeding all over the sidewalk. I hate that I exposed them to that.”
    He threaded his fingers through her hair. The blond strands against his fingers always reminded him of summer. “You didn’t, sweetheart. That sick son of a bitch is the one who exposed them. You’re the white knight.”
    She was silent a moment. When she spoke, desperation colored her tone. “Why me, Spencer? Why was it me who was there? Why, with so many people around, was I the only one who saw him snatch that little girl? Even her