Close: A New Adult Thriller by M.H. Young Read Free Book Online Page A

brushed cotton pjs I always wore when I was feeling sick or was super tired. Before I climbed into bed, I dug out the card Drew had left me. It was too late to text him. I fell asleep with it still in my hand.

 
    Thirteen: Drew
     
    I got back in my car, and kept driving. It was only a few minutes after I stopped by the side of the road that I realized where I was.
    I lowered the windows. I could the smell the salty sharpness of the surf. Bentley Harper’s beach house lay in darkness across the street. If it was possible, my being here was an even worse idea than turning up at Laura’s dorm.
    She was a victim, I kept trying to tell myself. Never mind that I would lose my job over getting involved with her. It was wrong. She had just experienced perhaps the greatest trauma a person can have. I was older, a person she had to be able to be able to trust, and I was breaking that trust. Except
    Except that’s not how it felt. We had a connection. It had been there when I’d held her. The way she smelled. The way her hair felt against my face as I had pulled her in towards me. The warmth of her body.
    Laura brought something out in me, or rather she amplified it beyond all reason. I had always feel the need to protect those closest to me. That was why I had struggled so hard after my sister had been murdered. It had been why I had decided to become a cop and then a detective, instead of a bunch of better paying careers like law or medicine. Cops put out fires and arrested people, but detectives could take dangerous people off the streets completely.
    Headlights flashed in my mirrors. I narrowed my eyes as the car slid past. It was Bentley returning home. I was pretty confident he hadn’t seen me. I waited while he slid the car through the garage doors. The doors slid closed. My hand fell to my service weapon. I got out of my car, and crossed the street.
    Further along was a set of wooden stairs that allowed public access to the beach. You wouldn’t have spotted them if you were driving past. You had to know they were there. It was the wealthy beach dwellers way of ensuring that they didn’t have to share with the great unwashed.
    I took the steps two at a time. The tide was coming in. A narrow strip of sand was illuminated by a silver rind of moon. I took off my shoes and socks and set them on the steps, then walked along the beach until I was directly underneath Bentley’s place.
    As I stood there, staring up at the house, I tried to let myself believe that I was here to check entry points in case we raided the place. There was a single staircase that led up from the beach to the house.
    Deep down though, I knew I was kidding myself. I had been drawn here by something dark and primal; a need to protect; a need to avenge. I wanted to hurt Bentley because he had hurt Laura.
    I felt a wave splash around my feet. It snapped me out of whatever murderous state of mind I in. I was already fantasizing about walking up the steps and into the house, pulling my gun and killing Bentley Harper. I could see myself do it. I could see the gun floating in front of me. I could visualize him begging for his life, and then the blood spattering all over the bright white walls as I paid him back for hurting her.
    As I glanced up, I saw him come to the window. He was stripped down to board shorts. He had a crystal tumbler of Scotch on the rocks in his hand. He was staring out over the ocean, the master of all he surveyed.
    Enjoy it while you can asshole, I thought.
    I turned and walked back down the beach. That was when I looked back up at the house and saw that Bentley wasn’t alone. Someone was standing next to him and I recognized them. The hair at the back of my neck stood on end as my hand fell back to the butt of my gun.

 
    Fourteen: Laura
     
    I’d spent that first night in fitful sleep, not knowing if I was dreaming or remembering the events of the previous night. The next day I had no classes and called in sick to work. The way