Read Online Arms of Promise by Crystal Walton - Free Book Online

few more pieces of shrapnel added to the ones already spearing his heart?
    He withdrew his keys and faced her head-on. “I’ll drive.”

Chapter Six
    Barrier
    Megan tapped her shoes against the back of Evan’s seat in rhythm with the music coming from the stereo. Thankfully, he’d slipped out ahead of them and transferred his gear from the backseat to the trunk. Otherwise, she’d be annihilating it right now instead of his spine.
    A glance in the rearview mirror caught her smiling up at him with that cute freckly nose. Anna was right. Everything about Megan’s appearance screamed neglect, yet her face held nothing but joy.
    His stomach soured at the thought of what conditions they were bringing her home to. No one deserved a childhood like his. Especially not an innocent girl.
    In the passenger seat, Anna stared out the side window. Away from him. Hard to blame her. A charged awkwardness hadn’t stopped surging between them since their conversation about Marissa.
    No telling what Anna thought of him now. He’d essentially admitted to hiding behind having a fake girlfriend in order to handle facing her. His knuckles whitened over the steering wheel.
    “Up here on the right,” Anna said, still without turning her head.
    He pulled beside the curb and noted six cars lining the street in front of a shabby apartment complex with everything he’d expected written all over it.
    Clenching his jaw, Evan unlocked the doors. Thanks to his gut, he’d already secured his Sig in his concealed holster before the girls had made it to the car earlier.
    Megan skipped up a set of metal stairs on the side of the building while Evan and Anna trailed cautiously behind. The stench billowing from a nearby dumpster churned Evan’s already-uneasy stomach a little more with each step.
    After knocking, Anna twisted Megan’s hair into a braid from behind.
    The door creaked open, and a guy in an oversized black T-shirt and jeans hanging halfway off his butt let his gaze roam Anna up and down. A smug grin expanded beneath bits of greasy blond hair. “You didn’t tell me you called a friend,” he hollered behind him.
    Evan stepped into view, and the punk flinched backward.
    “Heather, what the—?”
    “I didn’t call anyone.” A young woman with sallow cheeks and red hair to match the rims of her eyes tottered up from the couch. A spoon and lighter clattered onto the coffee table. While scratching her arm with one hand, Heather wiped her nose with the other. She stumbled forward, glared at them, and tugged her daughter inside by the shirt. “It’s just her dance teacher.”
    Megan reached for Anna.
    Don’t say it . Don’t say her name .
    “Miss Madison,” she whimpered.
    Evan swore to himself. Now the loser had something to go on.
    The grimy creep traced a hand down Megan’s hair. “Aw, you won’t mind hanging out with Mommy and her friends tonight, will you?”
    Anna slapped the jerk dead across the face. “Don’t you touch her.”
    Vehemence darkened his bloodshot eyes.
    Evan swept her behind him. “Back down, man.”
    Grease Boy shoved him and went for the Glock in his waistband. “You the one who better back down.” He waved the gun in Evan’s face like he was posing for some hip-hop video. “What’s up now, punk? Not so tough with heat up in your grill.”
    Evan should’ve gotten a badge for restraining an eye roll. With a twist of the guy’s wrist, Evan disarmed him, released the magazine, and pulled the slide back to empty the chamber. He backed up to chuck the magazine off the railing outside and thrust the empty gun against the guy’s bony chest without wasting his breath on a response.
    Grease Boy shifted his glare to Anna and yelled over his shoulder. “Have my money by Friday, Heather, or you ain’t the only one who’s gonna pay.”
    Just what Anna needed on top of everything else. Some lowlife thug putting a hit on her. Evan barricaded her behind him so the punk couldn’t memorize what she looked