Deep Down (Sam Stone Book 1) by Janean Worth Read Free Book Online

him when the security guard had escorted him back to the table and explained that Laramy had been ‘tampering’ with a museum exhibit, conveniently leaving out the fact that he’d drawn a gun on Laramy.
    Laramy had tried to explain that he had not tampered with anything, but neither his mother nor the guard had listened to his explanation.  He hadn’t been tampering.  He’d simply gone in for a closer look.   Besides, what was the harm?  The case was obviously just a prop.  He knew from Science class that bacteria were only single-celled organisms, so it wasn’t as if he’d have been able to see “Ed” with his naked eye anyway.  Still, the slide had looked clean when he’d checked it out up close.   Shouldn’t there have been a smear of something on the slide if a living bacteria were on it?  Didn’t bacteria need to eat too?
    Laramy’s throat constricted suddenly with a stronger urge to cough, taking his mind off of the earlier scene with the security guard, but he held back the cough with effort and gulped down more water. 
    Man, I’m going to have to tell mom that I need different allergy pills as soon as she’s not so mad at me.  The ones I’ve been taking aren’t doing a thing for me tonight.
    Irritated at the failure of the pills, his urge to cough, and the whole darn situation, he gave up trying not to scratch, and vigorously dug his fingernails into the skin of his upper arm, scratching at the bone-deep itch that prickled invisibly just under the skin.  The whole evening had been a waste, as far as he was concerned.  He knew that his mom had wanted him to come and have a good time because she was always saying that they didn’t spend enough time together anymore, but, c’mon, a murder mystery Christmas-themed dinner theater?  Lame!
    He’d have rather stayed at home and played Oblivion with his online friends.  Not that the actor wasn’t funny – the guy was hilarious – but Laramy preferred online gaming to in-person performances.  And, besides, he’d almost beat level eight in the game, and sitting here with his mom wasn’t going to get him to level nine now was it?
    As he watched the actor pirouette around the room in a ridiculous looking tutu while continuing his parody of the Sugarplum Fairy, Laramy suddenly had the strangest urge to scream.  Not just figuratively, like people often said, but a real, out-loud, yell-at-the-top-of-his-lungs scream. He held back the urge that welled up in is throat and scratched at his itching skin hard enough to draw blood. 
    He felt that he either needed to scratch or scream, and since his mom was already mad at him for disturbing “Ed” and would be even angrier at him if he started screaming now, he continued to scratch, ignoring the blood.

Chapter Seven
    Stone tottered unsteadily ahead of her as they walked back to the table, and Jenny could tell that he was still weak from the strange coughing attack that had overcome him.  This telltale sign of his weakness frightened Jenny.  Stone was never weak.  Ever. It was one of the first things that she had admired about him.
      Stone was built like a bull, all thickly muscled chest and bulging biceps.  And they’d been dating long enough that Jenny knew the man had a constitution that matched the strength of his substantial muscles.  He could eat as much as he wanted and never gain weight.  He could venture into a sick room, yet never get sick.  He had no allergies or sensitivities to anything at all.  His eyesight was perfect.  His blood pressure was perfect.  He health was always perfect .
    When they’d first begun dating, this healthy perfection comforted her.   Jenny’s father had recently had to deal with a spate of heart problems, so Stone’s extreme health made her feel safe.   It was safe to love him as deeply as she did, because, with his extremely healthy constitution, there was no danger of him dying and leaving her alone and bereft without him.
    Now, as she