Read Online The Season of Sin (Peace In The Storm Publishing Presents) by Stacy-Deanne - Free Book Online Page A

drove with a heavy foot, threw beer cans on the floor and cursed out anyone who gave him shit.
    She loved everything about him.
    Her body stiffened at the sound of footsteps.  She couldn’t see anything in the dark hallway. She’d found her way from memory.
    What was she doing here anyway?
    “Bruce?”
    Someone wrapped their arms around her.
    “Mmm! Let me go!”
    “Quiet!” Bruce covered her mouth.  “Shut up please.”
    “Bruce?”
    He tossed her into his bedroom and turned on the light.
    “Asshole!” She swatted him. “Scared me half to death!”
    “You’re the one in my house.” He massaged his temples. “I’m the one that should be scared.”
    “Doesn’t give you the right to sneak up on me!”
    He covered his ears. “Just stop shouting please.” His eyes were droopy and red with thick pillows.
    “Bruce what the…”
    He turned the lamp on by the bed.  “Jesus.” He flinched when he sat down.
    “Are you all right?”
    “I’ve been better.” He stretched on the bed. He didn’t have on a shirt or socks. His jeans were unfastened.
    She crawled in beside him. “You look terrible.”
    “I feel like two trains are racing in my head.”
    “What’s wrong with you?”
    He buried his head in the pillow. “I feel horrible.”
    “You look it. What’s wrong?” She touched his forehead.  “You have a fever? Think you got the flu or something?”
    “No I got a stomach virus or a touch of food poisoning. Woke up with a migraine and been throwing up.  Got the runs too. Can’t keep anything down. This morning I could hardly move.”
    “I’m sorry. How did you get food poisoning?”
    He licked his dry lips.  “Think I got it from that twenty-four hour deli I stopped at on the way home last night.  Got an egg salad sandwich.”
    “Oooh.” Dylan grimaced.
    “I woke up feeling like this.”
    “You need to go to the hospital.” She put her hands under his head.
    “No I’m getting better. Besides you know I don’t have insurance. My neighbor got me some stomach medicine. I’ve been in the restroom so much that I should have the bug out soon. I got a question.”
    “What?”
    “What the fuck are you doing in my house?”
    “I was worried about you.”
    He dragged his hand over his face.  “Oh yeah?”
    “Yeah. I went to the junkyard earlier. They said you hadn’t shown up.”
    “I bet Swag’s pissed huh?”
    “Hmm, I think that’s putting it mildly.”
    “Ahh, shit.”
    “Why didn’t you just call in and say you were sick?”
    “My cell needed charging. And the house phone got cut off.”
    “What?”
    “Yeah I didn’t have the money to pay the bill.”
    She had no idea he’d fallen on such hard times.
    She caressed his hair. “I wanna be mad at you for making me worry but I can’t.”
    “Oh?” He managed a tiny smile. “Why were you worried about me?”
    “I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to you.”
    He leaned up on his elbows. “Nah, it’s more than that isn’t it?”
    “Just because we’re not together doesn’t mean I’m not concerned about you.”
    “Because you still love me right?”
    “Don’t start.”
    “How you get in here again?”
    “I still have a key.  You want it back?”
    “No. I’m surprised you still have it. Still haven’t told me what you want.”
    “I wondered if you might know something about Mom that could help me figure out why she was killed.”
    “What the hell would I know that you don’t?” He put his hands over his eyes.
    “I need to know what went on between you two. Why she hated you so much.”
    “Dylan.”
    “You don’t hate someone like she hated you for no reason.”
    “She never liked me from the beginning. She thought I was some thug who was gonna ruin your life.” He dipped a rag into the bowl of water on his end table.  He held it on his forehead.  “That’s all.”
    “It’s more than that. I know Mom never cared for you but it got worse after I’d gone to NYC for Zoë ’s