Read Online Protector by Laurel Dewey - Free Book Online Page A

barked. “I’ll do it.”
     
    Mike stood in the doorway, wedging his body against the frame. “Sorry I’m late. Traffic, you know?”
     
    “Right. Traffic,” Jane said as she slid the last Polaroid off the floor and buried the bundle in the box.
     
    Mike looked around the room with an uneasy stare. His thick shock of blond hair fell over his eyes. With a nervous jerk, he flicked his head backward, forcing his hair in place. Although Mike was thirty, he still had that doe-eyed, innocent look, with a tinge of adolescent awkwardness. Even his body, with its soft muscular tone, seemed underdeveloped. “It feels weird in here. I mean, like, him not being here, you know?”
     
    Jane slammed the lid onto the cardboard box. “He might be horizontal in a hospital bed right now. But take my word for it, the bastard’s still here.”
     
    “You bring the Corona?” Mike asked, keeping his priorities straight.
     
    “Have I ever let you down?” Jane said, pointing to the six-pack.
     
    Mike broke into a wide, toothy grin. “I can always count on you.” He crossed in front of the television. “Hey, Janie, look! Chris is on TV.”
     
    Jane let out a long sigh. “Oh, God. Turn off the asshole.”
     
    Mike was drawn into Chris’ commentary. He was standing outside a home, a mass of microphones in front of him, addressing the media. “Hey, Janie. You know anything about that double murder last night?”
     
    “People get killed every day. Turn him off!”
     
    Mike poked his head into the kitchen. “Think that little girl saw anything?”
     
    Like an irate parent, Jane walked with purpose into the living room. “Jesus, Mike! Turn it off!” With that, Jane angrily slammed off the TV.
     
    Two hours later, the hall closet was empty of all the boxes. Jane pulled out a few classic crime scene text manuals for her home library and dumped the leftovers into garbage bags. The rest of the house would have to wait for another day. Besides, after she and Mike downed three Coronas each, there wasn’t much desire to continue.
     
    They sat outside on the cement steps that led from the kitchen to the workshop. The heat of the late May day had burned off, leaving a stippled layer of Denver pollution against the pink-stained sky. Jane lit two cigarettes, handing one to Mike. She took a swig of Corona and let out a low sigh.
     
    “Does your hand still hurt?” Mike asked.
     
    “I don’t know. I stopped connecting to the pain a few days ago.”
     
    Mike grinned. “Thanks to a fifth, eh?”
     
    “You got it,” Jane said with a half-smile as she took another sip of beer.
     
    There was a moment of silence between them before Mike spoke up. “Hey, I got news for you!” Mike said brightly. “I made a decision.”
     
    “Oh, god, you made a decision. And what would that be?”
     
    “I’m gonna ask Lisa to move in.”
     
    “Who’s Lisa?”
     
    “You know . . . Lisa. We’ve been seeing each other for two months. Well, technically, six weeks. But I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna ask her.”
     
    “Mike, that’s not a good idea. It’s six weeks. You’ve spent half of those six weeks at my place. So, technically, it’s three weeks and that’s not long enough.”
     
    “Janie, I think she’s the one—”
     
    “You thought Kelly—”
     
    “Karen,” Mike interrupted.
     
    “Karen. You thought Karen was ‘the one.’ You thought Lori was ‘the one.’”
     
    “Okay, yeah, at the time. But Lisa’s different.”
     
    “They’re all different. And then it falls apart, you get hurt and it’s a mess.”
     
    “Fuck, Janie. Sometimes you act like my warden.”
     
    “That’s my job, Mike.” Jane cast her eyes toward the ground.
     
    “Don’t you want me to be happy?”
     
    “Happy? Mike, the only happy people are the ignorant. Nobody with a functioning brain is happy. They know better.” Jane looked over at Mike who was sinking into himself. “I don’t want to see you get hurt. We’ve got each