Read Online Death Blow by Ashley Harma - Free Book Online Page A

the
whole thing casual. It was still missing something. She went to her dresser
and, for the first time in a long time, pulled out her jewelry box. She didn’t
wear jewelry often—it never seemed to go with her style—but she had a necklace
of her mother’s that she thought was just the thing she needed to almost fit in
at the Morans’. Sifting through the small collection, she found it: a thin,
delicate, gold chain, with a single, beautiful golden arrow charm.
    She’d never remembered seeing her mother wear this necklace,
although her memories of her mother were faded and fading. She did have very
clear memories of her mother touching this one a lot, when her dad wasn’t home,
draping it on her hands, running it through her fingers. When Deborah had died,
the very night that her dad had told her, in fact, Lila remembered sneaking
into their bedroom to find the necklace. Her dad had never been in a state of
mind to realize after that night anyway, but Lila never put it on around him,
just in case he recognized it. He’d pawned all her mother’s jewelry a few
months after the death, and Lila was sure he’d try to take it back from her if
he knew she had it.
    She slipped the necklace around her neck, fastened the
clasp, and took a look at herself in the mirror. It wasn’t perfect, but it was
the closest she’d get, so it would have to do. What time was it now? Good lord,
it was 3PM already. She needed to get going. She could catch her boss doing the
daily office work at the Dirty Pint, have that conversation, and get out in
time to get a bottle of something and get to the house by 5. She headed out of
the house, jumped in her car, and sped off.

Chapter Eight
     
     
    The conversation with her boss had gone badly. No surprise—Carter
was always an asshole, who employed a bunch of young, attractive women, paid
them poorly, and came onto them all the time, whenever he wasn’t yelling at
them. Lila hadn’t expected it to go well, obviously, but she also hadn’t
expected to stand up for herself as much as she did. She sort of let the boss
have it, gave him a piece of her mind, even if it was a small piece. He wasn’t
a man of reason, and she was quitting without notice and with a lot of shit to
say to him, so he’d just gotten angrier and angrier. They’d fought back and
forth for almost an hour, him trying to get her to stay at first, then refusing
to give her her last paycheck. Finally, he’d stomped over to the register,
pulled out her biweekly salary in cash, literally thrown it at her, and stormed
into the kitchen.  She collected the measly sum—it was a couple bucks shy of
what she’d made at Club Malevolence in a single night, and a training night at
that. She didn’t need to take another look around before she left. She’d hated
that place, and it had only just gotten her by. She had no fondness for it
whatsoever, and knew she’d miss absolutely nothing about its dark, dank insides.
    Outside, though, the Sheriff was headed to the doors of the
Dirty Pint. He caught her completely off-guard.
    “Hey there, girlie,” he greeted her.
    “Sheriff! Hi!” She was feeling a little raw, emotionally,
and she stepped right to him and threw her arms around his neck, giving him a
big hug. They’d hugged before, but it’d always been a bit more formal, a bit
more earned, a little less immediate. The Sheriff had seemed visibly shocked,
but he hugged her back tightly regardless.
    “Well someone’s positively glowing. And look at you, all
fancy in your heels and your—“ the Sheriff caught sight of her necklace and
froze, staring at it for a second. “What a lovely thing,” he said quietly.
    “Oh, yeah,” Lila’s hand flew up to touch it, blushing a
little.
    “Very pretty. Very pretty indeed.” The Sheriff’s voice took
on a strange tone for a beat, as if he’d gone somewhere far away. He sounded so
quiet and lost. Lila’d never seen him dip out like that. But in a split second,
he came right back,