Big Girl Panties by Stephanie Evanovich Read Free Book Online

hear her screams. She calmed herself with the thought that even someone as strong as he was would have trouble disposing of her body.
    The next thing he did was weigh her. Holly’s smile instantly faded and the urge to scream bordered on overwhelming as he led her to an old-fashioned balance-beam scale, the only piece of equipment that didn’t look like it came from the space age. He probably uses it to make sure people stay face-to-face with their misery as long as humanly possible. The beginnings of his wearing you down and tearing you down until you’re so weak from humiliation and degradation that he can sneak in and finish you off, assassin style.
    â€œDidn’t anyone tell you these things come in digital now?” she said under her breath, thinking that at least a digital scale would be more like ripping off a Band-Aid. A few seconds and bang! The horrifying number slaps you in the face like an icy-cold mackerel. Holly bent down, beginning to untie her sneakers. Every ounce counts.
    â€œThese medical-type scales are much more reliable and easier to calibrate,” Logan told her calmly. “Not to mention, I don’t need a magnifying glass to read them. You can keep the shoes on; it’s not going to make that much difference.” Ouch.
    â€œMaybe the digital ones are harder to read because what they say is none of your freaking business,” Holly grumbled, standing back up. Still, she got on the scale, shaking her head in dissatisfaction the whole time, mostly at herself.
    â€œEveryone hates this part,” Logan said, trying to settle her as he nudged the needle farther and farther to the right. “But we need a starting point. It’s only a number, kid, it’s only a number. But if it makes you feel better, take a good look at it; it’s the last time you will ever see it.”
    Holly was seventy-eight pounds from the highest number considered acceptable, even to her.
    â€œHappy now?” She couldn’t keep the sarcasm from her voice. She hadn’t stepped on a scale in years and now she remembered why. What did she expect? That she was somehow fooling him and herself into thinking she wasn’t obese? That the scale was going to read one hundred and thirty pounds and they could both go home? A nervous laugh bubbled out of her, echoing throughout the room. A hundred and thirty pounds? Maybe if someone dug up her bones six months after she was dead and weighed them. She hadn’t seen one hundred and thirty since she was in junior high. “Guess you have your work cut out for you. I think I saw the term ‘no refunds’ in that thing you just made me sign. That goes for you, too, you know.”
    He continued, seemingly oblivious to her sarcasm, which only made her crankier. He wrote her weight down in her file. She refused to give in to the little voice in her head urging her to grab his pen and stab him with it.
    â€œDo you have any physical ailments I need to consider?” He looked up from the folder in his hands.
    â€œYeah. I’m really fat.”
    â€œDo you smoke?”
    â€œOnly when I’m on fire.”
    â€œDrink?”
    â€œWhenever I’m thirsty.” For emphasis, Holly opened her bottle of water and demonstrated, some water leaking out and dribbling down her chin onto her shirt.
    â€œAre you on drugs?”
    â€œI’m on the pill; does that count?” Holly felt the heat rise up to her cheeks, grateful he was too busy writing in her file to see it. A widow on the pill; it sounded like an announcement that she was open for business. “You know, to regulate my cycles. And your question sounds rhetorical. Are you going to pump me full of steroids?”
    â€œMaybe if you tell me you’re going to become an Ultimate Fighter, but one step at a time, okay?” He tossed down her file and gave her a wink, figuring it was time to try a different approach. Holly found his wink adorable but was