Read Online Acolyte by Seth Patrick - Free Book Online Page B

Annabel. She smiled and waved. Jonah returned the wave and looked back at Never.
    â€˜Shit,’ Jonah said.
    â€˜Probably better if you don’t say that to her. And in hindsight, let me apologize for getting you quite so drunk. Also, don’t get talking about, you know, your relationship. While drunk.’
    â€˜I hear you.’
    â€˜Good, because that’s the only time I
ever
talk about that shit, and you’ll note that I’m conspicuously single. Good luck.’
    Jonah got out and braced himself, wondering if the smile he was trying to force would look real enough to be convincing. But as he walked towards her and saw her up close, he realized his smile wasn’t fake. He was scared of losing her, but by God it felt good to see her again.
    â€˜Where the hell were you?’ she said, smiling. ‘I’ve been calling you since I landed.’
    He thought of his phone, switched off and left in his apartment. ‘I was waylaid. Drowning my sorrows.’ A sudden thought hit him. ‘Besides, I was trying to call
you
all day.’
    Annabel smiled. ‘Yeah, sorry about that.’ She hugged him. ‘When I got your message I thought you might need company so I grabbed the first flight I could. Probably would have given it away if I spoke to you from an airport, and I wanted to surprise you.’
    â€˜You did,’ Jonah said, holding her. Part of him knew damn well that sooner or later they’d have to have that talk and sort things out.
    But right now things felt good.

9
    The next morning Jonah woke on the couch with a full-tilt hangover. It took him a few seconds to get his bearings and recall what had happened the night before.
    Once he and Annabel had got into his apartment they’d shared a long kiss, but he was dead on his feet. Annabel had made some coffee and he’d told her all about the David Leith revival, but the coffee wasn’t nearly enough to keep him awake. She’d laid him down, his head on her lap, stroking his hair as he talked about what had happened. And that was the last thing he could remember.
    The room was bright enough to make him wince; Annabel must have pulled back the curtains to wake him. He sat up, a blanket around him, feeling guilty. He thought of all the ill-feeling towards Annabel’s absence that had been brewing within him, yet the moment she was actually
here
, he’d conked out for the night.
    It was still early, just after 9 a.m. He went to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water, then sat at the table.
    â€˜Morning,’ said Annabel, appearing at the kitchen door. She’d already dressed, and was watching Jonah with distinct amusement. ‘I left you on the couch and took your bed for myself.’
    â€˜Sorry about last night,’ he said. He lifted his glass up. ‘Five more of these and I’ll be human again, I promise.’
    â€˜You want some coffee and toast?’ she said. He nodded, watching her as she moved about the kitchen.
    He knew it was unfair of him to be so jealous of her time.
    Annabel’s investigations focused on the workings of Michael Andreas’s various companies, and into the backgrounds of the group of Afterlifer-inspired terrorists who had caused the fire at Reese-Farthing. Her work was an attempt to come to terms with everything that had happened, and with one thing in particular: Annabel’s father had been an early victim of those Afterlifers.
    So while Jonah wanted to try and forget about it all, Annabel travelled to wherever the leads took her, and she kept herself as busy as possible. She’d inherited a considerable amount of money from her father, meaning that not even the distraction of a job interrupted her goal.
    Jonah understood, or at least he tried to. She thought she owed it to her dad, to be the best journalist she could be. She needed time, she needed space.
    But it was over now, the danger passed. Eventually Annabel would come to