Read Online Blood Shadows by Lindsay J Pryor - Free Book Online Page B

lowered to hers.
    She wiped the dampness from the corner of her mouth and scanned the darkened lounge to regain her bearings. She lifted her head to check the windows. They had been brimming with the dull light of day the last time she’d looked, but were now opaque with dusk. She twisted her wrist and squinted at her watch. It was just after five in the evening. She’d only been asleep a couple of hours at most and now both her head and body achingly recognised it.
    The buzzer rang again.
    Her socked feet met carpet as she moved into a seated position and rubbed her neck from where she’d fallen asleep at an awkward angle amongst the sofa cushions. As the buzzer rang for longer this time, more impatiently, she staggered across to the intercom. She pulled her sloppy, oversized sweater back up over her shoulder, the hems of her jeans scuffing on the carpet. By this time she was usually already at work but now HQ felt like nothing more than some distant, alien concept. She took the intercom phone off the hook and held it to her ear. ‘Hello?’
    ‘Caitlin, it’s me.’
    Her knees weakened at the sound of the voice, her grip tightening on the handset as she stood stunned to silence. Rob. The man who’d abandoned her when she’d needed him most.
    ‘Can I come up?’ Rob asked.
    She rested her palm against the wall, repressing every urge to hang up. ‘What do you want?’
    ‘I need to see you.’
    She took a deep steady breath, her finger hovering over the door release button.
    ‘Caitlin, please.’
    After a few more seconds, she pressed the release. She smoothed down her hair, readjusted her sweater and opened the door. She stood in the doorway waiting, her clenched hands tucked in the sleeves of her sweater as she folded her arms. She hadn’t even showered since last night’s events. She should have cared, but surprisingly she didn’t.
    The slow, steady scuff of boots against the stairs filled her with long-suppressed memories. It was an even greater blow to her stomach as he emerged from around the corner. Rob looked at her with those all-too-familiar pale-blue eyes, his sandy hair still as ruffled as it had been when she’d been in love with him all those years ago.
    Before he’d left her.
    ‘This is so transparent,’ she said, her glare fixed on his as she guarded the threshold to her home. ‘I assume you’ve been talking to Max?’
    ‘Can I come in, or are we going to do this out here?’
    She kept her arms folded as she leaned against the doorframe.
    He stepped up to her, amusement in his eyes. ‘You always were tetchy when you’d just woken up.’
    ‘Don’t you dare,’ she warned.
    ‘I’m not denying I deserve the cold treatment but you can at least give me ten minutes, Cait.’
    ‘Sounds like ten minutes too long to me.’
    He kept his gaze steadily on hers. ‘I still care about you no matter what you think. So, yes, Max did send me here to talk some sense into you, but it didn’t take a lot of persuading, trust me.’
    ‘Trust you? That’s a joke.’
    He sighed steadily, squeezing through the doorway and past her.
    She closed the door behind them but stayed rooted to the spot. It shouldn’t have felt so strange having him in the apartment, but every facet of her slipped into defence mode. She’d once loved this man, adored him, would have done anything to get him back six years before. But now his presence felt oppressive, uncomfortable even. And it irritated her as he appraised the state of her apartment.
    ‘I’ve had other priorities,’ she said in defence of the mess.
    ‘So I hear.’ He wandered over to the coffee table to where Kane’s picture lay amongst the pile of paperwork. He lifted it up, his eyes cold as he stared down at it. ‘The infamous Kane Malloy. You sure know how to pick them, Cait.’
    ‘My job has nothing to do with you. And neither does the VCU anymore, remember?’
    He looked across at her. ‘You must know what you’re contemplating is insane?’
    ‘Max