Hitched by Erin Nicholas Read Free Book Online Page B

other emotions—love, of course, and the ever-present sense that she needed to hold on tight and absorb every minute because it might not last. She squeezed her eyes shut and breathed. She was not going to think about how it hadn’t lasted before, how she had to keep saying good-bye to him, how no matter what she did or how it felt, it wasn’t enough to keep him.
    She wasn’t going to think at all, in fact. This just curling up and sleeping for hours and hours seemed to be working just fine.
    “Gavin, what she needs is rest. Sleep. Her body knows that. We’ll get her some antibiotics. When you wake her up to feed her, have her take them. In a few days she’ll be fine. No one can sleep forever.”
    Well, she was going to give it her best shot.
    “And look at it this way. Obviously she totally trusts you and feels safe with you. That’s what she needed. A safe haven. Looks like you’re it, buddy.”
    That was exactly what she needed and exactly what Gavin was. What he’d always been.
    Even after they’d broken up and decided they shouldn’t see each other anymore—all three times—all she had to do was call and he’d stay up all night talking, or she’d tell him she needed to see him and he’d immediately book a flight to a city halfway between them so they could be together. Even if was just for a weekend.
    The only time he hadn’t been there was at her mom’s funeral…
    Allie stubbornly closed her eyes, shut down her mind and drifted off to sleep again. She was here now, with Gavin. He’d take care of her. That’s all she needed.
     
     
    “Detective Stone.”
    Damn. He’d been hoping for voice mail.
    “Hayley, it’s me.”
    “Have you lost your mind ?” she hissed in a sudden whisper.
    “No. And don’t tell me you’re surprised by this.”
    “That you showed up? No. That you kidnapped her? A little.”
    Hayley was probably the only person in Promise Harbor who knew all about him and Allie. And that he’d never really gotten over her.
    “I didn’t kidnap her,” he said, knowing it was unnecessary. Hayley wouldn’t have believed that of him. If she had, she’d have been all over his ass. She knew his address and she carried a gun. He wouldn’t mess with that. “She wanted to come with me. She asked me to take her away.”
    “This is crazy, Gav,” Hayley said, her voice still hushed. He’d called her at the station on purpose. She wouldn’t be able to yell at him in the middle of the Promise Harbor Police Department.
    “Maybe. Or maybe it makes complete sense.” He hoped the latter was true. He was still having trouble believing it had all happened too. “Maybe I’m a frickin’ hero. Because if I’d ever set foot in Promise Harbor again, she would have been cheating on Josh with me.”
    “Oh, you’re such a big talker,” Hayley said, finally laughing lightly. “You would have never done that.”
    She was right. Cheating was one thing Gavin absolutely didn’t tolerate. Even before he’d learned his dad’s dirty not-so-little secret, Gavin had thought cheaters were assholes. After finding out that his dad didn’t just cheat, but that he actually thought he had good reasons for it that should make it forgivable, Gavin couldn’t even be in a room alone with him.
    “Gav,” Hayley said, suddenly hesitant. “Um, speaking of scumbags, your dad was at the wedding.”
    Hayley knew that when he was sixteen Gavin had walked in on his dad in his office, screwing his best friend’s wife on the desk. Hayley didn’t know about the argument they’d had when Gavin confronted him or his father’s reasons for doing what he’d done, but she still hated him. The whole truth would have probably caused her to find a reason to Taser him.
    Gavin closed his eyes. His dad at the wedding meant his mom and probably his brothers had been there too. Well, of course they were. It was Promise Harbor and his family was a part of the community. Nothing big happened without their attendance, and