Read Online Broken Illusions (His Agenda Volume 3) by Dori Lavelle - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Dori Lavelle
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God knew where I had left it.
As I dialed the number of the restaurant, I heard the faint sound of a key turning in the lock. My heart leapt. I had missed Dustin so much. He must have found his key.
But damn, he was early. I had planned to be spread out on the couch, looking all sexy, with candles everywhere, when he arrived. My gaze flitted across the kitchen, searching for a nice spot to lean against or even lie on. No problem. I had to make it work where I was. I’d just hop up onto the kitchen island and rest my feet on the stools, one on each. He would get a perfect view of the goods.
I heard his approaching footsteps.
I snapped up the kitchen towel that stood on the island, attempting to get it out of the way.
When I turned, my whole body froze. My mouth fell open at the same time the towel fluttered to the floor. My hand flew to my throat as I gasped for air.
“Honey, I’m home.” A smile split his face.
He looked different, almost unrecognizable. Half his face was smooth and looked the way I remembered, but the other half was bumpy and smudged and the eye on that side looked to be bulging out of the socket. No eyelashes in sight. His face looked as if it belonged to two different people.
My own eyes felt like they were about to pop out of my face and my heart hurt with each heartbeat.
He grinned. “Sorry I didn’t call. I thought it would be better to surprise you.” His gaze traveled down the length of my body. “Looks like you’re all ready for me.”
He walked further into the room and I skirted around the island, my legs shaking, knees almost knocking against each other. “No.” I shook my head first slowly and then vigorously, my hair sticking to the sweat on my forehead. “No, you can’t…”
“Be alive?” He looked down at his body, opened the top button of his black shirt. “This is all me, darling. I’m back. Did you miss me?”
I reached for the nearest thing I could get my hands on—a pan—but before I could hurl it at him, he lunged for it and tossed it across the floor where it clanked to a halt.
In the silence following the clatter of the pan, I heard the sound of the other shoe dropping.
Chapter Nineteen
Blood rushed to my head in a whoosh. I was so dizzy, I couldn’t hold myself upright. I collapsed to the floor, keeping my eyes on his. How could Jude be alive? How could he have survived the stabbing, the fire, the explosion? How could he possibly be standing in front of me?
“You’re not real.” The words were separated by ragged breaths.
He laughed, the sound raw and angry. “You thought I wouldn’t survive, didn’t you? You thought it was all over and you could start a new life with that home wrecker, Brannon.”
I swallowed hard, wanting to respond, but my lips were trembling too hard.
“You can’t get rid of me, sweetheart. Didn’t you get my letter?” He was nearing me now and my body screamed for escape, but I couldn’t move. I was glued to the floor by fear. “The letter I sent you two years ago, with a key to my childhood home? Remember that?”
Oh my God. The note we all thought he had written before he died had been sent by a living, breathing Jude. He had been alive all along.
“How did you…?” It didn’t matter at this point, but I had to ask, and I had to keep the conversation going to stop him from communicating with me in other ways.
He stopped approaching me and pulled out one of the kitchen stools. He sat and laid the knife I hadn’t seen he was holding on his thigh. His damaged face looked disfigured as he smiled again. “I have a better question you can ask me. Whose remains did they find in the fire? Aren’t you more interested in knowing who died in my place? The cops did find a body in the barn.”
“No…no it can’t be.” He didn’t need to tell me the answer because it hit me like a brick. “Nolan?” No wonder the cops couldn’t locate him. They were searching for a dead man.
“He was a great
As I dialed the number of the restaurant, I heard the faint sound of a key turning in the lock. My heart leapt. I had missed Dustin so much. He must have found his key.
But damn, he was early. I had planned to be spread out on the couch, looking all sexy, with candles everywhere, when he arrived. My gaze flitted across the kitchen, searching for a nice spot to lean against or even lie on. No problem. I had to make it work where I was. I’d just hop up onto the kitchen island and rest my feet on the stools, one on each. He would get a perfect view of the goods.
I heard his approaching footsteps.
I snapped up the kitchen towel that stood on the island, attempting to get it out of the way.
When I turned, my whole body froze. My mouth fell open at the same time the towel fluttered to the floor. My hand flew to my throat as I gasped for air.
“Honey, I’m home.” A smile split his face.
He looked different, almost unrecognizable. Half his face was smooth and looked the way I remembered, but the other half was bumpy and smudged and the eye on that side looked to be bulging out of the socket. No eyelashes in sight. His face looked as if it belonged to two different people.
My own eyes felt like they were about to pop out of my face and my heart hurt with each heartbeat.
He grinned. “Sorry I didn’t call. I thought it would be better to surprise you.” His gaze traveled down the length of my body. “Looks like you’re all ready for me.”
He walked further into the room and I skirted around the island, my legs shaking, knees almost knocking against each other. “No.” I shook my head first slowly and then vigorously, my hair sticking to the sweat on my forehead. “No, you can’t…”
“Be alive?” He looked down at his body, opened the top button of his black shirt. “This is all me, darling. I’m back. Did you miss me?”
I reached for the nearest thing I could get my hands on—a pan—but before I could hurl it at him, he lunged for it and tossed it across the floor where it clanked to a halt.
In the silence following the clatter of the pan, I heard the sound of the other shoe dropping.
Chapter Nineteen
Blood rushed to my head in a whoosh. I was so dizzy, I couldn’t hold myself upright. I collapsed to the floor, keeping my eyes on his. How could Jude be alive? How could he have survived the stabbing, the fire, the explosion? How could he possibly be standing in front of me?
“You’re not real.” The words were separated by ragged breaths.
He laughed, the sound raw and angry. “You thought I wouldn’t survive, didn’t you? You thought it was all over and you could start a new life with that home wrecker, Brannon.”
I swallowed hard, wanting to respond, but my lips were trembling too hard.
“You can’t get rid of me, sweetheart. Didn’t you get my letter?” He was nearing me now and my body screamed for escape, but I couldn’t move. I was glued to the floor by fear. “The letter I sent you two years ago, with a key to my childhood home? Remember that?”
Oh my God. The note we all thought he had written before he died had been sent by a living, breathing Jude. He had been alive all along.
“How did you…?” It didn’t matter at this point, but I had to ask, and I had to keep the conversation going to stop him from communicating with me in other ways.
He stopped approaching me and pulled out one of the kitchen stools. He sat and laid the knife I hadn’t seen he was holding on his thigh. His damaged face looked disfigured as he smiled again. “I have a better question you can ask me. Whose remains did they find in the fire? Aren’t you more interested in knowing who died in my place? The cops did find a body in the barn.”
“No…no it can’t be.” He didn’t need to tell me the answer because it hit me like a brick. “Nolan?” No wonder the cops couldn’t locate him. They were searching for a dead man.
“He was a great
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