Read Online Hitman's Revenge (a Forbidden Bad Boy Romance) by Emilia Beaumont - Free Book Online Page B

spend a few more hours in her company. But a few hours were too long now in his line of work. He’d already had to decline two jobs just to make the trip back home.
    “No,” he said, looking at Nixon. “I can’t.” Nixon nodded, understanding flaring in his eyes and Jack turned to walk away, his feet feeling like they were encased in lead the entire way. She would never understand that he was trying to protect her from his world, keeping her safe from the harm that could and would follow him.
    “Jack!”
    Turning around, he caught a flying Hazel in his arms once more, wrapping his arms around her this time.
    Nixon be damned.
    Jack was going to hold her at least once when she was in front of him. It had been too long since he had seen her; he felt like a normal person, though inside Jack knew he wasn’t fit to be in her company. She was going to go on and do great things in her life, and he was a killer, plain and simple. They just didn’t mesh.
    “Thank you,” she said against his chest, her warmth warming his soul. Her closeness made him uneasy as he tried to decide between throwing her over his shoulder and pushing her away. Hazel was the only real thing in his life, the only shimmer of good left in his dark soul. Damn, he should never have come. “Thank you for my necklace. I will wear it every day.”
    Jack inhaled her scent, trying to memorize it for the future, and forced himself to let her go, chucking her chin like he had when they were younger.
    “You do that. Goodbye, Hazel,” he said, knowing if he truly didn’t want any harm to come to her that this goodbye was forever. He turned and walked away, his heart heavy with regret.
    It was for the best.

Part Two

Thirteen

Hazel
Twenty Years Earlier
    “ Y ay ! I win again. I beat you, Jack!” Hazel smiled triumphantly as she slowly counted the pile of cards once more before presenting her matches to him. She loved having a friend on hand to play with whenever she wanted. Every time they played she beat him, and nobody was better than she was at Go Fish.
    “Good job, Hazel, you got me again,” he grinned, helping her stack the cards in a neat pile. Jack could always stack the cards so well. When she tried, they ended up all over the floor, and she was forced to clean them up once more. Daddy let her get away with a lot of things, but a dirty room wasn’t one of them. Everything was easier now that Jack had come to their house, helping her with all sorts of things she used to have to do by herself. Plus, he played with her.
    She watched, enthralled, as he stood and stretched his arms over his head, a yawn escaping his lips. Jack was tired a lot lately, spending lots of time in the basement with Daddy. She had tried to go down once, but her daddy had caught her and forced her to return to her room to watch her movie. She wanted to see what was downstairs that kept Jack so busy. “Jack?” she asked.
    “Yeah?” he replied, looking down at her with a smile. She twisted a lock of her hair around her finger, biting her lip in the process. “What does Daddy make you do in the basement?”
    “Aww, don’t worry your head about that,” he said, reaching over to ruffle her hair. “Hey, I’m going to fix a sandwich. You want one?”
    She nodded, it was always the same answer but grabbed his outstretched hand, wrapping her own around his.
    As they moved to the doorway, she forgot all about the basement, content to be just holding her friend’s hand.

Fourteen

Hazel
Present Day
    P ain .
    It was everywhere, in every joint and crevice of my body. I tried to move away from it, but the damn thing kept following me, haunting me and destroying me, inch by inch. With a groan I opened my eyes, adjusting to the dimly lit room where I had spent the last few days in literal hell.
    Or was it weeks? I didn’t know. I had lost all track of time, no outside window to let me know whether it was day or night.
    The same four walls greeted me as I sat up on the bed