Read Online Barely Breathing by Lacey Thorn - Free Book Online

Griff’s hand was
back on her thigh. She glanced toward him but it was as if he was unaware he
was even touching her.
    “Right, sorry. I tried. I went into town. I tried to hang
out, to meet people, but I’m more of a computer person. I’ve never been real
great in crowds. I tend to get a little clutzy. And my mouth. It’s always
getting me into shit.”
    “I can imagine.” The way Jack looked at her made her realize
she was cussing. But hell, what did they expect from a woman who was raised
around a dad like hers and his motley crew?
    “I met Vince.”
    Griff shifted beside her and she let her gaze casually skim
over him. He smiled at her and gave her thigh a rub.
    “Is Vince the one chasing you?”
    “Him, and I suspect a few others. I overheard him on the
phone.”
    She didn’t have to admit she’d been close to having sex with
him. There was no way she’d admit that. She was going to sound foolish enough
as it was. “I met him in the pool hall. We had a few beers, talked a bit. I
gave him my number.”
    “Did you sleep with him?” The first time Chetan opened his
mouth and those words were what he asked. She wanted to kick him. Her eyes met
his and she would swear he knew exactly what was going on between her and
Griff. It was disconcerting to say the least.
    “No.” At least that was the truth. Kissed him. Heavy
petting. But he’d not seen her in her skin. Something had always held her back.
Now she understood what.
    “Go on,” Jack urged.
    “We were together. He went out back. I stepped out front and
was going to circle around the back to see if he was ready to go when I
overheard him talking to someone on his phone.”
    Jack leaned forward. “What did you hear?”
    “He said, ‘Nah. I’ve found his weakness. When I’m done
playing with her, she’s going to die nice and painfully. Let him see what it’s
like when you’re not around to protect the ones who mean the most.’ I wasn’t
sure who he was talking to at the time but I knew who the she was.”
Honor glanced up. “I have no intention of dying nice and painfully.”
    “I’m assuming he was the research you were doing.” Roman shrugged
his shoulders, which she interpreted as an I’d do the same thing kind of
comment.
    “Yes. I didn’t before and I’m kicking my own ass for it now.
But dad is constantly telling me I can’t put a file together on everyone I
meet. Funny, since I learned how to do them from him.”
    “Not everyone can be defined by a file of information,” Jack
said softly. “There are depths you can’t breach compiling facts.”
    “But at least it’s a start,” she countered. Had she just dug
a little into Vince, he would have never got close enough to access her
records.
    “I let him into my house. Invited him in.” There was no way
she was even going to try to hide her disgust over that information. “I’m
pretty sure he hacked into my system.” It still burned he’d been able to.
“Opened a few older files. I didn’t understand why. Those files were closed
cases. But I used them to do a little digging last night and I hit the
jackpot.”
    “Vince Towner is actually Vincenzo Antonio Giordano. Towner
was his mother’s maiden name. I found her in the files he’d accessed.
Twenty-five years ago she was shot and killed while her husband was gone,
working with my dad. Vince would have been just a boy then. They never found
out who did it. Seemed like a random act of violence. One of those wrong place,
wrong time kind of things. And my dad checked. Thoroughly. I read the file.
Apparently, Vince’s dad never recovered. He left my dad, took his son and
disappeared.”
    “And it would seem he blamed your dad for her death.” Roman
shook his head, looking sad. “Bad stuff happens. It sucks. But even the most
prepared can’t always stop it.”
    She nodded her agreement. “I heard the hate in his voice,
and trust me there was a lot of it. Reflected toward my dad and me by
association.”
    “Is this