Read Online Plain Fear: Forgiven: A Novel by Leanna Ellis - Free Book Online

held open the latch, placed the book in the opening, but couldn’t release it. For one long moment, she clung to the book as if it was all she had left of Samuel. Maybe she should keep it, just for another couple of weeks, in hopes that Samuel would return.
    But then she’d be waiting for him.
    “How’d the book work for you?” a male voice said, startling her.
    She spun around, the slot clanking at her quick release. Pressing the book against her abdomen, she stared at a guy not much taller than her. He stood near the driver’s door of a Ford pickup truck. “Do I know you?”
    “You’re Andi, right?”
    Her gaze narrowed. Her heart thudded. Had this guy followed her from the club?
    He didn’t advance toward her but kept several feet between them. Slowly, he flipped a set of keys around his index finger. He kept his gaze on hers, not looking down the way most men did. Maybe he was gay. He had that buffed and polished look. “Don’t worry, you don’t know me,” he said as if he’d read her mind. “I only know about you because of Samuel.”
    Samuel . He knew Samuel? She released a pent-up breath, but her brow remained puckered. “How do you know him?”
    “I was helping him do some research here at the library.”
    “I see.” A nerd, but a nerd who knew Samuel. And a decent looking one at that. “I’m not sure if the book helped or not. Samuel had to leave town.”
    “Good thing about the library, he can always check ’em out again.”
    She didn’t care. Yet she held on to the book and walked back toward her car, fingering her own set of keys. Maybe this idiot could be upbeat about the whole scenario but she couldn’t. Not yet.
    Then he stood beside her, not brushing against her, not touching her in any way, yet there. Only slightly taller than her, he still outweighed her by much more. Not that he was overweight. She could see the bulge of muscle through his shirtsleeves.
    “I’m Brydon, by the way.” Up close, he had a nice smile, straight teeth, and decent clothes. For a nerd. “Let Samuel know that if he needs anything else…”
    But she blocked out the rest of what he said as an idea occurred to her. The book she carried turned out to be about laws. Written by someone named Crowley. Was this a business book? A judicial one? Why was Samuel reading this? The cover looked worn, the text and binding from another time, and yet it appeared from the plastic-coated cover as if few had checked it out. Not a bestseller. When she’d first gone out with Samuel, he hadn’t been much of a reader. Why now? Did it have something to do with his dead brother? If there was a trail, then maybe she could follow…or even lead, if she could figure out what he was searching for.
    The librarian took a step toward her, and she gave him a slow once-over meant to intimidate. He had a way of standing, a slouch really, dipping one shoulder as if he didn’t have much confidence. She suspected he was harmless. “Maybe we could both help Samuel.”
    “How’s that?” he asked.
    “Do you know anything about this, Bryon?”
    “Brydon,” he corrected her, emphasizing the last syllable. “I might.”
    “So you wanna have a drink and discuss it?”
    He gave a noncommittal shrug. “What’s in it for me?”
    “We’ll figure something out.”
    Nodding, he said, “No use taking two cars.”
    She gave him her most beguiling smile. “I’ll drive.”
    A few minutes later, the silence in her Toyota Yaris was unnerving as she felt Brydon’s gaze stuck on her—even when she jerked the wheel and switched lanes. Nervous, she stirred her thoughts for something to say. Just above his collar peeked the jagged edge of a white, lumpy scar. “What happened to your neck?”
    Only then did he look away from her. He rubbed a hand over it. “Car accident.”
    “Some accident.”
    “You should have seen the car.”
    Awkwardness unsettled her stomach. She punched in a CD to fill the silence and “Stairway to Heaven” blared