Love's Embers (Canon City Series) by Lauren Marie Read Free Book Online Page B

blinked. She put in her code and listened to the message. It was from Thomas.
    “Hi, babe. I just wanted to make sure you are okay. You didn’t sound like yourself earlier and I just want to hear that you really are fine. I’ll be out tonight, but I’ll have my phone. Call me when you get the chance. Love you.”
    Lark hit the memory button with his number and listened to his answering message. When the buzz came she started, “Hey Thomas. I’m sorry I missed your call. I’m just in work mode too much, but all is well. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” She cut it off and threw the phone onto her bed.
    When she’d first started to go out with Thomas, he seemed like a nice man. He was five years older than she and when he gave her advice about starting a new business, he acted as though he cared for her. After six months, things changed. Thomas’s weird tastes began to rear up. His bedroom games were sort of fun at first, but then he wanted to handcuff her to the bed or behind her back and strange sex toys began to appear. It interested her at first. She’d only slept with one other guy when she was in college, so she didn’t have much experience.
    One evening, he’d started talking about going out to sex clubs, and that was when she put her foot down. She didn’t want to experience anything with a bunch of strangers standing around and watching. He’d let it go for a while, but the subject came up from time to time.
    As the last year started, Lark felt more and more uncomfortable with his antics and started making excuses to not see him when she’d travel to Denver. When he’d proposed marriage, she was happy, but always felt a nagging pain in her head that said this wasn’t a good idea. They’d been engaged for two years and finally agreed to have the wedding on New Year’s Eve.
    In June, she’d experienced the most horrible night of her life. It haunted her dreams and she’d withdrawn into herself around her grandmother and friends. She knew she couldn’t marry that man, but now felt scared of him and how he might react.
    After she brushed her teeth, she crawled back under the covers and tried to settle down. She thought about the evening’s events. She felt, logically, that Charlie’s apology should be accepted and she should let the past go. She should be able to let all the old feelings go and think about how she was going to deal with Thomas. She found she couldn’t bring herself to move on, though and didn’t know how to let go of the hurt she’d felt for so long. She just wanted her question answered. What had she done to make him write that hateful letter?
    Lark was the type of person who wanted all the details from start to finish. Charlie didn’t say what the problem was back then and that became a needle that stabbed her in the neck. She wanted him to explain what happened and make it clear to her, but she found it hard to consider being in the same room with him long enough for any explanations. When she looked at him all she wanted to do was cry over the lost time.
    Around two in the morning, Lark woke up from a terrible nightmare. She found herself upright in her bed with tears rolling down her cheeks. She’d had these dreams off and on over the last six months, but not like this one. Charlie appeared in the dream and he laughed at her and said something, but she couldn’t remember what came from his lips. It was impossible for him to be in these dreams, he wasn’t here in June. She gave up the notion of getting any sleep and got up. She felt exhausted, but couldn’t get her brain to shut off.
    She went down to the kitchen and put the kettle on the stove to warm water for tea. She got a decaffeinated bag out of a cupboard and waited to catch the kettle before the whistle blew. Her stomach rumbled and she remembered she didn’t eat dinner. She opened the refrigerator and pulled out the cheddar cheese. She put it on a plate and found some crackers in the cupboard.
    She carried the