Heavy Metal (A Goddesses Rising Novel) (Entangled Select) by Natalie J. Damschroder Read Free Book Online Page A

to Georgia and had never heard the name. She didn’t have the skills to find more than Sharla’s Facebook profile, but that wouldn’t stop her from trying. “What else is in there?”
    He flipped through a few bills, checked a couple of credit cards, and dug behind them to find some crumpled receipts. “Hokeland Motel and Exxon Mobil, both local. That’s it.”
    “How about him?” Riley waited while Sam retrieved the guy’s wallet. This one told them he was Vern Nurnan, also from Georgia. No credit cards, but a business card declared him an associate of a company called Millinger.
    Sam dropped the wallets on the ground and dug in their pockets again until he came up with one cell phone between them. He pushed a few buttons, then pulled out his own phone and stored some numbers into it. When he was done, he nodded at Riley. When she didn’t move, he wrapped his fingers around her wrist until she released Sharla.
    “I bet at least one of these numbers goes to their boss,” he told her. “He won’t be happy when we call him.”
    “Or she,” Riley added, watching Sharla. She didn’t react enough to indicate which was right.
    Sam hauled Vern off the ground and gripped both of them by the scruffs of their necks. “Call the police,” he told Riley.
    “You don’t want to do that,” Vern said with certainty, and zero concern.
    “Yeah, I think I do.” Riley glanced at the guard shack at the lot’s entrance. “In fact, the police are right there.” But she didn’t move, still reluctant to eliminate contact with the car’s metal. She knew the power filling her would fade as soon as she did, leaving her shaky and weak.
    “They’ll ask why you didn’t call them last night,” Vern said in a very reasonable tone. “And we weren’t doin’ nothin’ here. You attacked us. Threatened to do damage to some of my favorite personal parts.”
    Sharla snickered, earning a sour look from her partner that became smug when he turned back to Riley. “Look, call him over if you want. You can’t connect us to anything that’s happened to you before last night. Maybe we go to jail for half an hour before they realize they have no grounds to hold us. No biggie.” He shrugged. “But you think your life’s been difficult so far? Trust me, it can get a whole lot worse.”
    Riley backed away despite herself. “Weak threat when I don’t know who’s signing your paychecks.”
    Sharla leered up at Sam. “Our boss is well connected. He can get this guy arrested like that.” She snapped her fingers. “I mean, look.” She pried at his fingers on her neck. “I’ve got bruises, and they match his hands.”
    Sam didn’t move, but Riley slumped against the car. She couldn’t risk Sam getting in trouble, not when he’d tried so hard to help her. “Let them go.”
    “You sure?” When she nodded, Sam shoved them several feet up the aisle between rows of cars. They walked off, Sharla strutting and Vern moving with a bounce in his step that made Riley nearly regret the decision. Until she looked at Sam and remembered their threats. Not worth it.
    Sam settled against the car next to her. “So we’re back to the Society and the Protectorate option.”
    Riley suppressed a shudder. It was inevitable, she knew. She couldn’t resist going to Boston anymore, but everything in her held back, and she returned to one of her arguments from earlier. “We still don’t know if Sharla and Vern were sent by the Society.”
    Sam pressed fingers to his forehead, then dropped his hand. “If I can convince you they weren’t, will you go to Boston?”
    “I guess…”
    “Then come on. Let’s go to the library. You can follow me.”
    “The library?” She let him usher her into her car and automatically put on her seatbelt. “Why?”
    He leaned into the open door, putting himself closer to her than he’d been since their mutual doctoring session the night before. A wave of awareness swept over her, and she slowly breathed in his