Read Online Beautiful Malice by Rebecca James - Free Book Online Page A

devastating as mine. Alice and I have more in common than I’d imagined, and I’m suddenly certain that this all adds up to a coincidence so extraordinary that it can be explained only as some kind of sign: a sign that Alice and I were fated to meet, that it was our destiny to become friends.
    “What a mess,” I say.
    “Yep.”
    “Life can really suck sometimes,” I say. “Poor Alice.” But what I really mean is Poor us . All three of us have had terrible things happen—murder, cancer, abandonment—and for the first time I’m tempted to tell Robbie about Rachel. It’s not sympathy I want but the credibility that comes with having faced and lived through something tragic. I can say that I understand, and I do, but to Robbie and Alice—who know nothing of my past—my words would sound hollow. The soothing but uncomprehending words of the fortunate.
    But I’m terrified I may regret such an indiscretion in the morning. I say nothing.
    I wake early the next day and despite the late night, I feel refreshed and happy. Sun is streaming through the window onto my bed, and I lie there for a while with just the sheet over me and enjoy the warmth of the sunshine on my skin. I can hear the deep rumble of the ocean, and I can hear Robbie and Alice talking quietly and laughing in their bedroom.
    I get up, put on my robe, and go to the kitchen. I make a cup of tea and take it to the deck. I lean against the railing and stare out at the beach. The ocean is a beautiful, clear turquoise, and the waves break gently on the shore. With my mug cupped in my hands I step off the deck and walk toward the water. I finish my tea, put the empty cup on the sand, look back toward the house and up and down the beach to check that no one is watching. I undo my robe and let it slip to the ground. I run into the water, and when I’m deep enough I dive beneath.
    The water is so calm that I’m able to float comfortably on my back and swim a smooth and easy freestyle. When I’ve been swimming for a while and am both tired and refreshed, I get out, put my robe on again, and head back to the house.
    “Katherine?” Alice calls out as I step inside. “What are you doing?”
    I go to their room and stand in the doorway. Robbie and Alice are sitting up in bed, their legs tangled. When he sees me, Robbie pulls the sheet up to cover himself and smiles sheepishly. I grin at them happily. “It’s a beautiful morning,” I say. “Beautiful . I’ve been swimming and the water is perfect. You two should go. I’ll cook us some breakfast. Eggs Benedict, if you like.”
    “You’re going to make me fat with all this gorgeous food.” Alice yawns and stretches her arms up over her head. “Fat like my monster adoptive parents.” She looks at me and raises her eyebrows. “Speaking of which …”
    “Yes,” I say, and for some reason I’m embarrassed, as if I’ve been caught doing something I shouldn’t. I think it’s the way Alice is looking at me—like an angry mother waiting for her child to admit to a crime she already knows of. “Robbie told me about … that you’re adopted. I hope you don’t mind.”
    But the cold expression has disappeared from her face, and I’m suddenly not sure whether I imagined it. She shrugs indifferently and yawns again. “It’s not as if it’s a big secret. I just never got around to telling you. It’s nothing really, anyway. Hardly worth talking about.”
    I notice a frown cross Robbie’s brow, an almost imperceptible pursing of his lips. He sighs and rolls his eyes. “Of course. It’s nothing. Like everything else to you, eh, Alice? Nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Your favorite word.”
    “Hey, Robbie,” Alice says, her voice hard and cold, the expression on her face chilly, “if you don’t like the way I live my life, if you disapprove of the way I think about everything, then what are you doing here? Huh? Robbie? What exactly are you doing here?”
    “I don’t disapprove of the way you