Pretty Little Dead Girls by Mercedes M. Yardley Read Free Book Online Page A

regret.”
    Regret. What an unusual choice of words. It isn’t wise to regret, not really, and it usually doesn’t do any good either. You regret things that happened and which you no longer have control over. You don’t regret the present, and you don’t regret the future. Bryony tended not to regret at all, it was just in her nature to accept all and carry on. But Eddie? She regrets being a bother to him? This made Eddie delightfully happy.
    “Bryony, there’s something that I have been wanting to give you—”
    Ah, but fate intervenes as it always does, and suddenly Bryony’s little flower station was overwhelmed with customers.
    She was forced to return to work before Eddie had a chance to give her the shining gift that he had carried around in his pocket for the last three days. Even more importantly, she did not get the opportunity to tell him that she had begun running the trail, which she found difficult yet delightful, and a new running hunger had been born inside of her. If Eddie had known this, he would have immediately been concerned for her safety and demanded to run alongside her.
    You see, the trail is where the murderer first spotted our Bryony.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
    I See You
    The girl caught his eye immediately.
    She was new to running, new to the trail, and her cheeks were rosy in the misty light. There was something about her, something special, a wobbling beacon shining up to the sky, only she wasn’t calling down the stars.
    She was calling him.
    And being a man of great appetites he obsessed to satiate, he knew he would answer her. Because, you see, that is the way it works, and has always worked, and this man somehow knew the girl’s whole life had been leading up to this moment.
    Wonderful. Simply wonderful.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
    Live A Thousand Years
    Rikki-Tikki and Syrina were watching a movie. They had reached that lazy part in their relationship where he was allowed to gain a few pounds and she was allowed to wear sweats, and occasionally go without makeup, and throw her hair back in a ponytail. All of this was perfectly acceptable and downright cozy.
    Although the term used was ‘watching a movie’, it would be more accurate to say a movie was on and they weren’t exactly watching it. They were dishing up bowls of ice cream and kissing in between strawberry spoonfuls, and Rikki-Tikki was telling Syrina about Samoa. He was also asking if she’d like come home with him sometime to meet his family, and Syrina was equally parts excited and nervous. What if they didn’t like her? What if she didn’t like Samoa? What if it all agreed with her so much that she never wanted to return home? How delightful! During this conversation, Rikki-Tikki brought up the subject of Bryony.
    “Syrina, she is going to die, and I think you just don’t want to accept it so much that you’re not even paying attention to it. I know it’s easier for you, but it isn’t fair to the girl. She needs our support, to know we’ll continue on after she’s gone, that we’ll remember her. She needs—”
    “Rikki, why do we have to talk about this?” Syrina interrupted. She was getting exasperated and edgy, and talking about Bryony’s fate really was quite out of the question and upsetting to her. Somebody so gentle shouldn’t have to die, not ever, not even when they are ancient. It seemed like a cruel prank somebody had been playing on Bryony all her life, and Syrina just wasn’t going to have it. It was her fiercely nurturing way, and she was ready to go the rounds with anybody who suggested Bryony might not be immortal, even if that person was her dearest Rikki-Tikki.
    “I don’t see any reason why she can’t live a thousand years,” Syrina said loyally, yet not altogether realistically. “She can live forever, if she really wants to. Who are we to say any different?”
    Rikki-Tikki sighed, and put his arm around Syrina, who really was dealing with this entire situation the best way she knew how.
    Syrina