Devil on Your Back by Max Henry Read Free Book Online Page A

blessing in one angry whirlwind of a disguise.”
    “I’ve been called worse.” She giggles.
    “I’m sorry for being such an ass.” I take a moment to simply stand and take her in: the crinkle at the corner of her eyes, the curl of her lips, and the way her hair naturally frames her face. Why the hell haven’t I tried harder to have her before now?
    Because I’m chicken shit. I’m scared of being rejected, or hurt.
    “You should smile more,” I tell her, stepping into her space.
    Her hands find my chest, and she ducks her head to the side as she gives me a small tap with her fingers. “I don’t often have a reason to.”
    “I bet I could fix that.” I grasp her face in my hands and lean in so my lips brush over hers. “Thank you.”
    Before I can pull back, she pushes up on her toes, pressing her lips to mine. I can’t say what possesses me to choose that moment to finally kiss her, but it feels so right, so expected . She drops back on her heels, and I lean forward to keep the connection. How could I have waited so long to do this? She has such velvety, full lips—more distracting than anything I would normally be doing on a Saturday night, and more satisfying than a quick fuck with any or all of the club whores. A man could get addicted. Maybe that’s why I kept my distance for so long?
    Tension strains in my jeans and I shift on my feet, trying to nudge the fella into a more comfortable position under the large buckle on my belt. Sonya breaks our kiss with a satisfied hum, and steps back. Her eyes flick to the source of my problem.
    “Oh . . .”
    “Yeah. Question is, what are you going to do about that?”
    She giggles, and then lets out a guttural moan, which has my cock even harder than I’d thought possible.
    “The things I could do,” she teases, stepping backwards towards the clubhouse. “But I guess you’ll have to prove it’s worth me showing you,” she calls over her shoulder, jogging up to the access door, and quickly disappearing inside.
    Hands on my hips, I stand in the middle of the abandoned lot, staring down the problem in my jeans.
    Damn it . At least she managed to keep me distracted, if only for a second.
    Alice. The shit he’s facing has my heart racing for all the wrong reasons.
    The bulge in my pants lessens, and my mood sours quickly. I feel ill—nauseous and weak. I want to deny what I know and crawl into bed with the slim hope that when I wake this will all be some strange dream.
    I resume my position leaning against the outside of the clubhouse and listen to the traffic hum once more, only this time it doesn’t ease the ill feeling permeating deep in my bones.
    What sickens me most is I’ve felt this way before.
    Right before they showed me Julia’s body.

“BABY, HAVE you seen my keys?”
    My wife flies through the house in a blur of color, excited to head out for her first girl’s night in months. Lord knows, the woman deserves it. She works tirelessly to care for us, her family, and often at the expense of her sanity. Whatever we need, she’s all ready thought of it, and she never asks for anything in return.
    Ever.
    Two of her old work buddies wait on our front step, having a smoke as Julia sifts behind the taupe cushions on our sofa, looking for her key ring. Candy phoned a week ago, excited about some new movie that’s out. After two nights of discussing it over dinner, and two nights of me giving Julia the gentle nudge she needed, she finally agreed to have a night off. It’s not that Julia has ever doubted my abilities to look after our son . . . but I get it. Alice is her life, her true love, even over me.
    And I’m fine with that, because some days I feel the same way.
    Just seeing her with him makes my heart melt every single day. The sight of her playing in the yard with him, building garages out of blocks for his toy cars, making ‘tunnels’ for his train track out of the dining room chairs—that never gets old. She adores that boy with every