Dark Side of Dawn: The Nightmare Chronicles by Kathryn Smith Read Free Book Online Page B

of her head, mindful of the bandage nearby. I couldn’t get past that bandage—it had become the sterile representation for everything vile in the world.
    My own eyes filled with tears as I held the trembling woman. Shudders wracked her slender frame and I felt her sobs dampen the shoulder of my blouse. I didn’t care.
    A soft sound caught my attention and I looked up. Noah stood in the doorway, a paper cup of coffee in his hand. It was for me—I just knew it. He had such a pained expression on his face—but there was more to it. And for the first time I realized that I wasn’t the outsider in our little triangle. Not this time.
    He was.

Chapter Four
    As usual, Noah and I didn’t say much on the way back to his place. Maybe it was because so much of what we talked about was personal, or just plain weird, that we didn’t want to chance anyone else hearing. Or maybe all the sights passing by were too much of a distraction. Or maybe we used the time in the cab to collect our thoughts. I know that’s what I did during the drive. We were still new enough in our relationship that we liked to think about what we were going to say to each other before we actually said it.
    Regardless, once we were in Noah’s large, open apartment with its big windows and gleaming wood floors, we began to speak. Noah first.
    “Is she going to be OK?” he asked as we entered the kitchen.
    No need to say who “she” was, of course. “I think so.”
    That seemed to give him some relief. What was it like to go through life feeling so much responsibility? I would do what I could for Amanda, but I had no emotional attachment to add weight to the burden.
    How much emotional weight did Noah carry?
    When he hugged me, I let him, but I was slow to put my own arms around him. I hated being jealous. I’d rather look stupid than feel this suspicion burning inside me.
    “Do you still love her?” I asked, tilting my head back to see his face.
    Noah stepped back, but he didn’t let go of me—that was good. His expression was surprised—that was good too. “Amanda?”
    I nodded. “Are you still in love with her?” That was better phrasing, because of course he loved her on some level, otherwise he wouldn’t be so concerned.
    He frowned. “No. Christ, why would you ask me that?”
    I shrugged. “I’m jealous.”
    The frown disappeared, replaced by an expression of male satisfaction that made me want to give him a purple nurple just to get rid of it. “I kinda like knowing you have a possessive side, Doc.”
    I rolled my eyes. “I don’t. And you didn’t answer my question.” I wasn’t really all that worried about whathis answer would be now that I’d seen how my jealousy affected him.
    “Amanda will always matter to me,” he told me with a shrug. As much as I hated hearing it, I admired him for it. “But if I loved her, I wouldn’t be here with you.”
    Did that mean he loved me? That was one question I wasn’t brave enough to ask. Besides, we’d only been together a few weeks. It was too soon for love.
    God, my heart was pounding like an idiot. I wasn’t going to try to analyze why. And I wasn’t about to ask him why he was with me. Honestly, it just made me sound needy, and even though I was, I didn’t want him to know that. I was so freaked out over facing the Warden tonight, despite my best efforts to remain calm, that I just wanted him to give me another hug and make everything all right.
    The scary thing was, I knew Noah would like nothing more than to do just that—make everything all right.
    His brow knitted again, pulling the black slashes of his eyebrows tight over his equally as dark eyes. “What’s wrong?”
    I really didn’t want to bother him with my problems. Honestly. I sighed and glanced over my shoulder at him as I turned toward the cupboard where he kept the menus. “Family stuff. Nightmare stuff. Professional stuff. You name it, it’s going on.” When his frown deepened, I tried to smile. “I’m