Jenny Undead (The Thirteen: Book One) by J.L. Murray Read Free Book Online Page A

now,” Jenny said. “Please. You're
really going to regret it if you don't.”
    “A threat?” he said, looking into
her face. “From you?”
    Nothing was worth this. Jenny smiled sweetly.
“It's not a threat.”
    He scowled and squeezed her wrists harder.
“You're going to regret your insolence,” he said.
    “I don't think I will,” she
said.
    He let go of one of her arms to grope at her
skirt. He was pulling it up and grappling around her thigh.
Luckily, too low to feel the holster strapped there. Jenny rolled
her eyes. She'd had enough. “Have it your way.” He
thrust his hips toward her and she brought her knee up as hard as
she could with a grunt. Joshua froze for a minute. His eyes went
wide and his mouth opened as though he couldn't catch his breath.
He staggered back, clutching his groin, then he turned and vomited
beans onto the floor with a splash. Jenny wrinkled her nose at the
smell.
    He was doubled over, but raised his face to look
at her. “How. Dare. You,” he said breathlessly.
Blinking furiously, he stood up straight. It was as though he was
trying to use his anger to ignore the intense pain he must be
feeling. He deserved so much worse.
    “I tried to warn you,” she said. She
was trying to sound reasonable. But inside she was coiled springs.
She was showing such restraint. Now was the point where Joshua
would run away, his tail between his very sore legs and in the
morning he would be well enough to tell everyone in the Underground
that Jenny would be leaving. But by that time she would be gone
anyway.
    But he didn't turn to leave. She didn't expect
the slap across the cheek, so she jumped a little when it came. It
wasn't that it was particularly hard – more like a bee sting,
really – just a surprise. And then he had his hand on her
throat, holding her out at arm's length. Like he was a pirate with
a sword.
    “Before this night is over you are going
to beg for my forgiveness,” he rasped.
    Jenny laughed. She didn't mean to, but the whole
thing was slightly hilarious. His hand around her neck was weak.
She didn't even think he could crush her windpipe with those
fingers. His hands were soft and feminine. But he was shaking with
rage. And you never knew what someone was capable of when they were
that filled with hate.
    “Look,” Jenny said. “If you
just walk away right now, I won't tell anyone. I won't tell them
what you tried to do. I won't tell them what you did to Lily. I'll
be gone by morning if you want. But you can't win this.”
    “You're just a woman,” he said.
“You don't get to win anything.” He squeezed. And as he
squeezed, Jenny leaned into his hand. She felt the skin of her
knuckles split as her fist made contact with Joshua's face. He went
down like a sack of bricks. She had never seen anyone go down that
quickly. It was like he'd never been in a fight. Which was baffling
to her, given the state of the world.
    And that's how Lily found them. Joshua on the
ground clutching at his bleeding face with one hand, the other
between his legs, and Jenny standing over him, cradling her right
hand. Lily shouted for help, and help came. Three men lifted Joshua
delicately, as if he were a broken kite, inspecting him, throwing
her wary looks.
    “I asked him to stop,” Jenny said
simply, trying to look doe-eyed. She distinctly saw one of the men
throw Joshua a disgusted look. When they had carried him out, Lily
was staring at Jenny like she'd never seen her before.
    “We should get this cleaned up,”
Jenny said, nodding to the vomit on the floor.
    “How did you do that?” said
Lily.
    Jenny shook out her hand. “Do
what?”
    “Jenny...”
    “I just clocked the guy, okay? It's not
rocket science. He choked me, I punched him.”
    “But how?” she said, looking
perplexed. “He was bleeding everywhere. And when you grabbed
me before you left bruises. Why are you so strong?”
    Jenny shrugged. “I've been on my own for a
while.”
    Lily frowned, then shook her head.