Read Online And Then He Saved Me by Red Phoenix - Free Book Online Page B

are babbling about anyway.”
    Luckily, the train pulled up to the next stop. Cyril quickly jumped off and held out his hand for her. Lauren hadn’t planned on sticking with him, but she jumped into his arms without a second thought. She looked back at the gang of ruffians and stuck out her tongue. “Have fun playing with yourselves, boys.” The leader lurched towards her just as the doors closed.
    “Do you have a death wish?” Cyril asked and then immediately followed up with, “Yeah, of course you do.”
    Lauren felt slightly guilty. No matter how much she wanted to end her own life, she had no right to endanger his in the process. “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”
    Cyril gave a low barrel laugh that shook his whole frame. “It was worth seeing the look on their faces.”
    She smirked, “I couldn’t stop myself. I detest bigots.”
    “And he didn’t even get the race right.”
    Lauren looked up at Cyril and studied him carefully. “How old are you anyway?”
    “Thirty-three. What about you?”
    “Twenty-one.”
    “Whoa, that’s young.”
    “How old did you think I was?”
    “I don’t know. I hadn’t given it any thought until ‘Arian-nation’ said something about it. But I have to admit, you and I must look strange with me being so much older and obviously unrelated to you.”
    Lauren gave a snorting laugh. “Yeah, at first I thought he was trying to save me from you, but then I realized he had more sinister intentions.”
    Cyril stopped in his tracks. “I would never hurt you, Lauren. You know that, don’t you?”
    “Yes, your kiss was too sweet to be that of a killer.”
    The brawny Grecian’s cheeks reddened like a girl’s. It seemed adorably wrong. “I wasn’t expecting you to kiss me. I would never take advantage of you like that.”
    “You don’t hear me complaining, do you? It was…nice.”
    Cyril changed the subject. “My apartment isn’t far from here. I was thinking you could call someone to pick you up.”
    “No, that’s okay. I’ll just find my own way home.”
    He took her hand in his and started walking. “Yeah, I don’t think so. Your idea of home includes a hole in the ground and that is not okay with me.”
    Lauren mumbled something he couldn’t hear. When he asked her to repeat it, she ignored him. They walked for another fifteen minutes in silence. Lauren had to laugh at herself. Her original plan had been to run away the first chance she got. Instead, she was following Cyril home like an obedient puppy.
    His apartment was in an older neighborhood. The area wasn’t rundown yet, but it was easy to see that in a couple of years it would be. The rent had to be cheap, so she figured he must be barely scraping by – just like her. Cyril led her up to his apartment, a one room flat with a tiny kitchen in the corner, a bed on the opposite end and a couch and TV in the middle.
    He watched her expression as she examined the place. “Yeah, I know. It isn’t much but with just me, I don’t need any more. Rather save my money for the future, you know?”
    Lauren shrugged her shoulders. She didn’t really care what his place looked like, but she was grateful it was clean. Cyril pointed to the phone. “Go ahead and call. I’ll make us some coffee while we wait.” She grimaced and sat down on the couch rather than picking up the phone. Lauren was surprised to hear the squeal of a latte machine coming from his tiny kitchen area. Cyril brought a mug over to her with a self-satisfied grin. “Better than Starbucks. My little luxury.”
    “Your own espresso machine? Wouldn’t have guessed.” She took a sip of the smooth dark roast and smiled despite herself. “This is better than SB.”
    Cyril sat down next to her on his lumpy russet couch. “Why haven’t you called anyone yet?”
    Lauren twirled her hair tightly around her finger, cutting off circulation. Finally she answered, “There’s no one to call.”
    “Don’t you have family?”
    She groaned. Lauren didn’t