Read Online 9 Hell on Wheels by Sue Ann Jaffarian - Free Book Online

Hopefully Steele would let me get in and out without too much chitchat or annoyance. If he wasn’t going to tell me about Perris, then I saw no reason to stick around and be late for the meeting with Rocky. I’d called Greg before leaving the office to let him know I had to see Steele first, but I only reached his voice mail.
    Even though I had a key to Steele’s condo—something he’d stashed in the office in case of emergencies—I rang the doorbell and waited. A few seconds later I was let inside by Cruz.
    “How’s he doing today?” I asked when I entered.
    In response, she waved her right hand, palm down, back and forth. “Sometimes good, sometimes not so much. He doesn’t like to take the pain pills.”
    “Is his mouth still swollen?”
    She nodded. “I drove him to the dentist today. His teeth are going to be okay. A little loose, but nothing broken.”
    “That’s good news.” I stopped her when we were halfway down the entry hall and whispered, “Has he mentioned anything to you about it? The accident, I mean?”
    “Not a peep. But,” she said, whispering back and shaking an index finger in the air, “those injuries are not from a car crash. I know a beating when I see one.”
    Without confirming her suspicions, I asked, “Have you asked him about it?”
    “Yes, but he threatened to fire me if I asked again.”
    “Oh, please.” I rolled my eyes. “He’d never fire you any more than he’d fire Jill or me. We’re his support system—his gals Friday who make his life run smoothly—his Charlie’s Angels without the glamour.”
    She smiled. “I know, but I respect his privacy, and you should too, Odelia.” She patted my arm in a motherly way and winked. “One day we’ll know. It just won’t be today.”
    When we got to the dining room, I noticed a couple of beautiful floral arrangements on the table. “Where did these come from?”
    “The big one is from the firm,” she explained. “The other one is from the Washingtons. It arrived just a few minutes ago.”
    Leave it to Zee to be speedy on sending get-well wishes, putting the rest of us to shame on good etiquette.
    I found Steele sitting on a chaise longue on his terrace, a long balcony that could be entered from either the den or living room. As soon as I stepped outside, I could hear the sound of the waves and call of scavenging gulls from the beach below. Steele was wearing sunglasses and his head was tilted down, making me wonder if he was napping. In spite of the chill in the late afternoon air, he was shirtless. I’d seen Steele without a shirt before when he’d shot hoops with Greg or when we’d gone to cheer him on in some of his races. He was well developed but much more slender than he appeared in his suits, almost to the point of being thin. He had more chest hair than Greg, and I suspected he practiced regular manscaping. What I’d never seen before was the wide pattern of bruising going down the left side of his torso. It looked like a map of the Great Lakes. A gasp escaped my lips before I could stop it.
    “You keep staring like that, Grey,” Steele said without moving his head, “and you’ll have to stuff a couple of dollars into my briefs.” His words weren’t as slurred as they’d been the day before, but they still weren’t as crisp and clear as usual. He pulled up the light throw covering his legs until it reached just under his arms and hid the bruising from my sight.
    I put the expanding folder of documents down on the small round glass table next to the chaise. “Should you be out here without a shirt? It’s kind of chilly.”
    “I should go in. I’ve been out here quite a while already, but the sun felt so good earlier.” He moved his head to look at the ocean full on. “I’ve lived here almost ten years, and I never tire of the view or the sound of the sea.” The words came out of his mouth slow and deliberate, like he was testing each one first for pain. “Sometimes I come out here and sit