Abandon by Stephanie Dorman Read Free Book Online Page A

with her.   It was only confronted with his girlfriend that she realized all her dreams and expectations had suddenly been shattered.  Cort had moved on.  Cort was with someone else.  Cort had put her here, in the middle of nowhere, with his someone else.  
    The next emotion to rise inside of her was fury and she mentally started a countdown in her head from one hundred to calm herself.  She had to remain calm for at least tonight.  She couldn’t leave without at least getting them into the house safely and she probably shouldn’t drive all the way to Tennessee with this anger inside of her anyway.  She’d get them in the house, text Meredith and tell her she’d meet her sometime tomorrow.  It was only one night.  She could definitely make it one night.
    “So, how do we get into the house?” Cort asked, looking at Annalise.   Her hands balled up into fists at her side and she took a deep breath.  He wasn’t even going to introduce her.  He was just going to let her stand there looking bored, and let Annalise wonder who she was.  What a coward Cort was being.  It was infuriated her.  Just get them into the house, she reminded herself.
    “I’ll check for a key,” she responded walking towards the front door and looking for anything that would be an obvious hiding place for a key.  Looking for the key at least gave her focus on something besides the perfect blonde.  “There might be a st... ah ha!”  
    She found the stone that looked out of place, picked it up, and saw the compartment for the key under it.  Reaching in and pulling out the key, she stepped towards the door.  The house inside was dark like every other house they had seen on the way here but upon opening the door a rush of warm air hit her face.  The power must not have been off for long for the house to be so warm.  Taking a step inside, she pulled her phone out of her pocket to use it as a flashlight.  There were candles in the foyer and she reached for a lighter out of her pocket to provide them with a little light.  
    “Wow,” Jenna said after following Annalise into the house.  “This place is gorgeous.  I’m going to find the bedroom with the biggest bed.”
    Kevin chuckled as he stepped in behind Jenna, handing her a bag which was probably full of clothes.  “Might want to drop that in there to claim it.”
    Annalise moved towards what she imagined was the kitchen or living room, opening doors along the way.  There seemed to be two bedrooms on the lower floor by the front door, and she guessed the other bedrooms were probably upstairs.  Towards the back of the house, which faced the lake, there was a kitchen, a dining room, and a living room.  She immediately went to the kitchen to see what kind of stove it had.  Shining her flashlight into the kitchen, she smiled.  Gas.  Even if the power never came back on, they’d still be able to cook.  
    She heard heavy footsteps up the stairs and knew instinctively it was Jake searching for a room.  With the amount of nights she had spent at Cort’s house, in Cort’s bed, she would know those footsteps anywhere.  She stepped back to into the hallway to go out to her car and get one of her duffle bags, and ran right into the blonde.
    “Umph!  Watch where you’re going!” the perfect specimen exclaimed, taking two or three steps back, her heels making a clack every time they hit the hardwood beneath their feet.  
    “Sorry, it was dark, and I didn’t see you,” Annalise hurriedly apologized.  She stepped around the girl quickly, rushing for the door as fast as she could without looking like she was running away.  Stepping into the crisp winter air, she looked back to make sure the blonde wasn’t following her before running to confront Cort as he took stock of equipment in the back of his SUV.  
    She shoved him hard enough to knock him off balance and onto his ass in the driveway.  “You brought your fucking girlfriend?!” she whispered with as much