Read Online Alone by Marissa Farrar - Free Book Online Page B

I’ll
pay.”
    She climbed in, relieved she wouldn’t have
to attempt the long walk back or catch a bus. This way, she would
be home in twenty minutes or so. Sebastian slid in beside her.
Serenity hesitated and then slipped her hand into his.
Instinctively, they moved together, her head rested on his
shoulder, his head rested on top of hers.
    The driver glanced at them in the rear
view mirror and asked where they wanted to go. Serenity gave him
her address.

    When they pulled up
outside, darkness shrouded the duplex. Common sense told Serenity
that Jackson lay in a bed at the hospital, but she couldn’t help
thinking he’d been calling home to find she wasn’t there and now
lay in wait for her in the dark. She tried to formulate excuses
about where she’d been but nothing even remotely plausible came to
mind.
    “ Don’t get out,” Serenity
told Sebastian.
    She trembled beside him.
    “ It’s okay,” he told her.
“He’s not there. He’s at the hospital.”
    “ How do you
know?”
    “ I just do. If you’re
frightened, let me come in with you.”
    She shook her head. “No. Maybe this time
he wouldn’t hurt me. I’m sure he’s too much of a coward to confront
another man but he would pledge his life to catching me and making
me pay. You can’t protect me all the time, Sebastian. I wouldn’t
let you waste your life doing that.”
    “ It wouldn’t be a waste,” he
sighed. “Anyway, he’s not home, I promise.”
    “ A neighbor might see you, and
tell Jackson.”
    “ They won’t see me,
Serenity. I have a way of not being seen.”
    She couldn’t argue with him, though she
knew she should question how he managed to go unnoticed. For some
reason, she couldn’t bring herself to ask the questions. Always a
coward, she didn’t question Sebastian for the same reason she put
up with how her husband treated her, because she was
scared.
    Instead, she climbed out of the cab,
allowing Sebastian to pay the driver. She traversed the short
distance to her front door and fished her keys out of her pocket.
Putting the key in the lock, she turned her head, seeking out
Sebastian. To her surprise, the cab had already pulled
away.
    He’d left!
    Despite her request, her heart dropped
out of her stomach. Filled with disappointment, Serenity turned
back to find Sebastian standing beside her in the
doorway.
    “ Jesus!” she exclaimed,
jumping. “I hate it when you do that!”
    “ Sorry,” he said, though he
was smiling. “I thought you didn’t want me to be seen.”
    She hissed air out between her teeth
in playful exasperation and pushed him through the open
doorway.
    Her heart pounded in nervous
excitement. What was she playing at bringing another man into her
husband’s house? What the hell did she plan on doing with
him?
    The thought made her cheeks flush and
she couldn’t look at him.
    “ Coffee,” she offered,
trying to hide her thoughts.
    He was behind her in an instant, his
arm wrapped around her waist, his face buried in her
hair.
    “ Don’t pretend this is
normal,” he whispered.
    She shook her head, a tiny, almost
imperceptible motion. “I don’t know what normal is any
more.”
    “ You know more about life than
most women. More than you should ever have to.”
    “ Not about you,” she said,
turning into him. “I know nothing about you.”
    He didn’t answer. Sebastian placed his
forehead against hers and she closed her eyes, relishing every
sensation being close to him brought.
    “ I can’t do anything with
you,” she told him, unable to meet his eye, self-conscious at even
the suggestion of something happening between them. “I’m
married.”
    “ I’m not asking for anything
physical, Serenity. All I want is to be near you.”
    They curled up on the couch together;
Serenity tucked into Sebastian’s lap, child-like, as he stroked her
hair.
    At some point she slept and, not long
after, felt herself being moved, his strong arms lifting her and
carrying her to the bedroom. Serenity