Read Online Dark Debts by Karen Hall - Free Book Online Page B

the first time since we’ve known each other that we’ve both been single at the same time?”
    Randa hadn’t thought about it. “Yeah, I guess it is.”
    Cam picked up his fork, then put it down again. He looked at Randa, then shifted to face her. When he spoke, his voice was different, almost tentative. “Have you ever wondered what we’d be like . . . you know, as a couple?”
    Randa had to remind herself to breathe. “Yeah, I’ve wondered. But I thought you . . .”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI thought you didn’t think of me, you know, like that.”
    â€œI thought you didn’t think of me like that.”
    They both smiled at the irony.
    â€œSo what do you think? How would we be?”
    â€œI think . . . we’d be great.” Randa said it in a quiet voice, wondering if that was the answer he had expected. Cam smiled, and reached down and took her hand. She didn’t have the presence of mind to feel awkward about it.
    â€œSee, I think the reason I keep getting into these stupid relationships is that I don’t care who I’m with if I can’t be with you.” He smiled self-consciously. “I never said anything because I was afraid of what your reaction would be.”
    Randa heard the words, but she kept waiting for the punch line. This couldn’t possibly be real.
    â€œCam,” she managed to say, “tell me this isn’t a joke.”
    â€œOf course it’s not a joke.” He reached up and pushed a strand of hair away from her face; she felt the back of his hand brush her cheek. He kissed her, before she even had time to wonder if he was going to. Then he smiled and said, “God, I’ve been wanting to do that for so long.”
    â€œMe too,” she whispered, afraid saying it out loud might jinx something. She could have happily died on the spot. Many times since then, she’d wished she had.
    The scene in Randa’s mind vanished suddenly, as if the film had snapped in the projector. She couldn’t bear to think any further than that. The tears she’d been holding back broke through and slid down her face; they felt like an invasion, but she couldn’t bring herself to wipe them away.
    She sat in her car for a long time, watching the ocean, trying to lose herself in the waves that rolled onto the sand one after another, effortlessly, as if this were any normal day.
    N ick Varella answered the door with a scotch in his hand, very obviously not his first of the day. He had two days’ growth of beard and his dark hair looked as if he’d just been in a strong wind. Randa had heard about Nick for years, but had never met him or even seen him before. He was the best friend Cam had, but not in a conventional way. They only got together about four times a year, but Randa knew that Cam told Nick things he never told anyone else. (Probably because whenever they met the main objective was to see who could consume the largest amount of alcohol in the shortest amount of time.) Even though their careers were roughly parallel—Nick’s science-fiction novels were as respected in that genre as Cam’s crime novels were in theirs—Cam considered Nick a mentor. Or maybe a surrogate brother. At any rate, Randa had heard about Nick until she felt she knew him. At least, she had until he answered the door and she was faced with having to explain her presence.
    â€œI’m sorry to bother you. I’m Randa Phillips.” She saw no reason to beat around the bush.
    â€œOh. Wow. Hi.” He was staring at her, his eyebrows arched in a way she couldn’t interpret. Maybe it just had to do with being thrown a curve when he was too drunk to handle it. Or maybe no one ever dropped in on him; he was a notorious hermit. She could hear loud music coming from the back of the house, and it suddenly occurred to her he might not be alone. That possibility hadn’t