Read Online Hushed by Kelley York - Free Book Online Page A

in.
    “Hey, Archie. What’s up?”
    Civil. Polite.
    Archer forced a strained smile. “Is Viv home?”
    “She’s kind of indisposed at the moment.” He glanced over his shoulder as he said it, then stepped into the hall and drew the door shut behind him. “Look, I’ve been meaning to talk to you…”
    Archer’s eyes narrowed.
    “All these calls to Viv, they’re just upsetting her.” Mick inclined his head, looking far too pleased and not at all like he gave a shit about Vivian’s feelings. “You guys had a fight, and you really hurt her. I think it’s best if you just leave her alone until she feels like talking.”
    I didn’t mean to hurt her . He wanted to shove the door open and demand that Vivian tell him to his face she didn’t want to see him.
    He made eye contact with Mick and held it, refusing to back down. “Somehow, I think it wasn’t her decision at all not to talk to me. What’d you do, Mick? Take her phone away? Ground her from communicating with her friends?”
    Mickey’s smile faded slowly. “You’re walking a thin line. She’s my girl. You got no business forcing yourself on her when she’s still tore up about Brody’s death. I’ll take care of her, so get the hell out of here.”
    Archer pursed his lips. Nodded. If that was how it would be…
    He grabbed Mickey’s shoulders and slammed a knee into his stomach. Mick doubled over with a breathless groan.
    “How’s that for fucking indisposed. ” Archer stepped past him into the apartment. Vivian sat at the dining table, running her fingers around the rim of a coffee mug. She saw him and startled, rising to her feet.
    “Archer—”
    He tossed the flowers onto the table. “What’s going on, Vivian?” You hurt her, Mickey had said. How dare he? How dare she? Out of all the men she knew, who’d been the one who never once raised a hand against her? Never forced her into bed? Never pushed her into any decision she didn’t want to make? “So, you aren’t interested in talking to me?”
    Vivian’s eyes darted past him. He could hear Mickey regaining his composure, stomping through the living room.
    “It’s not like that. I just—please…”
    “He’s making you do it, then. Cutting me out of your life because God forbid you have a life outside of him.” He spoke quickly. Mickey wouldn’t be caught off-guard again, and he was coming at them. “Or maybe he doesn’t want me reporting to the cops all the bruises he leaves behind, is that it?”
    Vivian clamped a hand over her mouth in horror just as Mickey grabbed a handful of Archer’s hair and wrenched him away from her. The back of his skull cracked against the wall and for a moment, his vision whited.
    “Leave him alone! Mick, don’t hurt him, stop it !”
    Mickey hefted him up by the front of his coat, and he was only vaguely aware of being shoved out into the hall again, onto the floor, to the opposite wall. His head spun. When his vision cleared, Mickey was leaning over him.
    “You ever come near her again, I’ll fucking kill you,” he hissed. The door slammed a moment later.
    Silence.
    A lump was forming on the back of his head even as he made his way to the car. No surprise if the impact had cracked the plaster on the wall.
    He was shaking again.

Monday, October 6 th

    Dr. Romero shut the exam room door behind her, flipping through his charts. All doctors seemed to do that, even when there was nothing to look at. She lifted her head and smiled. After seeing her for everything from colds to a sprained ankle, she still smiled at him like he was a kid. He never really minded.
    She took a seat on the stool nearby, his folder in her lap. “Well, I can tell you that you’re not dying.”
    He hadn’t assumed he was, but, “Good to know.”
    “The shaking, by the sounds of it, is stress-related.” She leaned back, observing him. “Which isn’t surprising. Moving out of your house and living on your own, going to college… Very stressful things.”
    Living