Crashing the Net by Samantha Wayland Read Free Book Online Page B

than keep Alexei awake, he slipped into a deep sleep almost immediately.
    Hours later, he woke with a jolt. The silence in his bedroom was absolute.
    Then he heard an anguished cry for help.

Chapter Six
     
    A loud crash yanked Mike out of his nightmare, his hoarse cries still searing his throat. He bolted upright in his bed.
    Oh Jesus. It was just a dream. Just a dream. Just a dream.
    He scrubbed his hands over his face and tried to slow his pounding heart as reality slid back into focus.
    And reality was his bedroom doorknob imbedded in the brand-new wall and Alexei hovering by the bed, silhouetted in the light from the hallway.
    Shit.
    “What the fuck happened?” Alexei asked, searching the room for some unknown threat.
    Shit. Shit. Shit. “Nothing. Christ, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
    “Wake me? What the fuck? Are you okay?”
    “Yeah, I’m fine. Bad dream.” Mike turned on the bedside lamp, hoping Alexei didn’t see how his hand shook. He needed to chase the last of the shadows away.
    Alexei searched his face. “A nightmare?”
    Mike considered making up some shit, but the lie got stuck in his throat.
    “Yeah,” he admitted, then realized he was lying after all. “Actually, no.”
    “Not a nightmare?”
    “It was more of a memory. Kind of a flashback, I guess.”
    “A flashback?”
    “Yeah. I guess I should have warned you, but I really thought they were gone.”
    “This has happened before?”
    “I’m sure it’s just the new place and the playoffs fucking with my head. This is the first time I’ve moved since…Well, anyway, it was probably a one-time thing. I’m sorry.”
    “ Stop apologizing .”
    “Okay.” What else was he supposed to say? Alexei sounded really pissed, but Mike couldn’t tell if it was about the apologies or having been woken up by him screaming at the top of his lungs.
    “What were you remembering?” Alexei asked gently.
    Mike shook his head and raked his fingers through this hair, not surprised Alexei had asked but reluctant to reveal the details. Especially since those came with that long-overdue confession.
    He held himself rigid when Alexei sat beside him and laid a comforting hand on his thigh, acutely aware that he was only wearing his boxer briefs and Alexei was only in pajama bottoms. He thought he should probably move away, but since most of him wanted to burrow into Alexei’s warmth and stay there, like maybe forever, holding still seemed like a decent compromise.
    He couldn’t help but wonder if Alexei wouldn’t touch him like this if he knew the truth. That more than anything made the decision for him.
    “Quebec City.”
    Alexei stilled beside him, presumably unaware of how hard he was suddenly gripping Mike’s thigh.
    “Four guys jumped me. Out of nowhere.” He swallowed against the bile rising in this throat. “It’s not like I haven’t been in a ton of fights, but—it’s different on the ice, you know? I didn’t even call for help at first, just protected my face. My head. Mostly. How stupid is that? I don’t even know how long it lasted. How many times they hit me before it finally clicked that no official was going to step in before it got too bad and I shouted something. Thank god someone scared them off.”
    He stopped to catch his breath, having spit most of the story out in a single rush. More than just the beating, not knowing how far they would have taken it had someone not heard him was what haunted Mike the most. He hated that some of the details were still hazy, that he could barely remember their faces, but he couldn’t forget that two of them had been wearing hockey jerseys. That detail had always remained crystal clear.
    The hand on his leg tightened, hard enough to leave bruises, but Mike was grateful. It kept him anchored in the present.
    “Why would they do that? Were they trying to rob you?”
    And here was the rub. “No.”
    “For fun?” Alexei asked with disgust.
    Mike swallowed again. Hard. “They