Foster Siblings 3: Brokedown Hearts by Cameron Dane Read Free Book Online

isn’t even really an inconvenience—for you.”
    Tension bled out of David, and he started to breathe normally again. “Fair enough. Then I accept you offer.” The size of Sam’s ancient double-cab truck got David’s wheels spinning. “But if I can buy you some gas every week or help out if you need repairs, you let me know, and I’ll be happy to do it.”
    Sam waved David’s concern aside. “No. I said it’s okay, and it is. Dropping you here isn’t sending me off my route, I swear. I’m not using any extra gas.”
    “Okay.” Humbled, David kept his mind racing, searching for a way to level the field. “But if I can ever do something for you, if you need me to cover a shift for you at the shelter or anything like that, just name it, and I will do it.”
    Sam’s face instantly split into a huge grin. “Now we have ourselves a deal. I’ll keep that in mind.” He eased to his side of the truck and called out, “Later.”
    David couldn’t help grinning too. “Bye.” He stepped away from the truck.
    Sam pulled back onto the road, waiting for an opening so he could merge with the traffic.
    David turned to head for the motel but stopped before taking a single step. A chill went through him. The back of his neck tingled, and the hairs stood on end. He spun around and zeroed in on where Sam had been in his truck, but Sam had already pulled into traffic and was a good thirty feet down the road. If he’d been looking at David, he would have had to have done it via his rearview mirror.
    Still, the sense of unease remained. With the odd sensation creeping down his back, David swung left and right, but other than traffic and a half dozen cars in a gas station a bit down the road, there wasn’t anybody around. After a long minute, David shook himself and began the short walk to the motel, but he rubbed the back of his neck again. He couldn’t get the goose bumps to settle.
    I swear someone is watching me.
    On the sticky, hot evening in early May, David shivered.
    * * * *
    Crap. Crap. Crap.
    Ben bobbed and wove his car through Interstate traffic, employing some serious maneuvering and racing tactics to get to the motel as fast as possible.
    As he’d done for the past few days while waiting for David to finish work, Ben had settled into his spot, a perfect little patch of grass between two huge, bushy trees. Today, after twenty minutes past David’s schedule, the guy still hadn’t shown at his bus stop. Ben had placed a call to the shelter under the guise of looking for a friend, only to find David had caught a ride home from a fellow employee.
    I didn’t figure on that happening at all, let alone so damned quickly.
    From observing David recently, in addition to what he’d learned of the man from talking with the warden, Ben had pegged David as introverted, insecure, and nearly terrified of his own shadow. At this point, Ben couldn’t see David resuming his stalking of Christian Sanchez—or in truth, even talking to the man again. David no longer seemed to possess the misguided passion often associated with a person who stalks with the rationale of being in love. Ben had mentioned this to Jonah Roberts in a phone conversation earlier in the day, but Jonah had insisted that given time, once the newness of being released from prison wore off, David would slip back into his old ways.
    “And since I don’t have anything to do anyway,” Ben muttered to himself as he eased onto the exit ramp to the road that led to the motel, “I’m gonna be grateful someone gave me some work to help keep my skills honed while I’m away from the job.”
    Right then, as Ben rounded a bend, a battered car swerved into his side of the road. The vehicle barreled straight at Ben at top speed just as, less than fifteen feet away, David darted into the street. Fucking shit.
    Adrenaline pierced straight into Ben’s chest and kicked his heart rate into overdrive. Jerking on the steering wheel, Ben careened out of the way of the