Night Is Darkest by Jayne Rylon Read Free Book Online Page B

their emotional intimacy. Then again, it could have been Mason caught in the line of fire just as easily as Rob. He refused to regret withholding his emotions if the unthinkable happened. Again. “We’ve been through so much together. I can’t imagine my life without you.”
    “You’re willing to sacrifice your friendship with Lacey? She means the world to you. To me, too. You know that.”
    “Then why can’t we tell her, Mason? You heard her yesterday, she wants us both. Please…”
    “No. I won’t make her the center of our freak show. She was a virgin for Christ’s sake! How would she cope with all the things I want to do to her? I’m no gentle lover. And no matter how I wish it were otherwise, I can’t deny what I need. She can’t handle me.”
    One part of Tyler agreed. Lacey wasn’t ready for the rough passion they both craved. But another fraction screamed they were making the biggest mistake of their lives. He’d claimed her yesterday. In the heat of her passion, some of his preconceptions had been seared away. More lay beneath the surface of Lacey’s calm exterior than she let on.
    Confusion, grief, longing and resignation swirled in his mind. He replayed their exchange this morning and her words reverberated in his mind.
    “I’ve been hearing the details of your sordid threesomes for years.”
    What would she think if she found out those were the least of their indiscretions?
    “You’re right, Mason. I know you are. I just wish…”
    “I know, Ty. I wish, too.” He sighed then asked, “Tell me, what was it like?”

Chapter Four

    Lacey paced a circuit that led from the living room through the dining room, which they’d converted to an office, to the kitchen then back again while daytime TV droned in the background. Three days of lockup had her poised on the verge of insanity. Compared to the hullabaloo of organizing Rob’s service and wake, the aftermath seemed eerily quiet when not occupied by endless tears.
    Distant friends and acquaintances had obtained their closure then gone back to the grind but, for her, the reality of the void in her life had just begun to sink in. Every once in a while she heard something—a car driving by, people chatting as they walked their dog or the sound of the mailman on the front porch—that made her think Rob was about to bound up the stairs and through the door before she realized all over again that he’d never come home.
    It wouldn’t be so damn obvious if she could pick up her regular schedule at the hospital but state laws mandated she remain out of action for a minimum of seven to ten days. The way her thoughts flitted from despair to vengeance and everything in between, she understood she would only be a hazard to patients in the ER—people who could still be saved.
    To make matters worse, the hairs on the back of her neck wouldn’t let her forget that either Tyler, Mason, or both, sat across the street in an unmarked car staring at the house. She’d tried to walk over and shoot the breeze with them a few times but they always drove off when they saw her coming. Chickenshit Ty hadn’t even had the decency to check up on her after he’d run out on their morning after.
    Their constant quasi-presence rubbed her face in all she’d lost by indulging her fantasy during a moment of weakness. Loneliness piled onto the grief threatening to paralyze her. What were they watching for if they wanted to avoid her so badly? The constant vigilance made her nervous.
    The phone rang, startling her from her morose thoughts. The damn thing had been buzzing non-stop. She figured she might as well make some lucky reporter’s day and answer their call. Rob had been regarded as an up-and-comer, a potential candidate who might even make it to chief one day. She’d responded to a few of the inquiries interspersed between the condolences and sympathies but, for the most part, she hadn’t felt like rehashing her misery for a lousy quote in the daily paper.
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