Run From Fear by Jami Alden Read Free Book Online Page A

Jack had carried her, bleeding, from Nate Brewster’s hideous torture chamber.
    She breathed deeply, reassuring herself there was no trace of the cloying gardenia scent in the air.
    She swung her feet to the floor, groggily shuffled to the bathroom, and tried to sweep away the lingering images of David Maxwell from her mind. She couldn’t remember the last nightmare she’d had about him, but clearly last night’s scare had called one of her primary demons from the depths of hell to torment her.
    You don’t feel safe, do you?
    No. She hadn’t from the instant she realized she’d given her love, given herself to a monster. And now, even with him dead, it seemed she would never escape the cloud of fear he’d cast. She resisted the urge to spend the day behind a locked door and forced herself to keep with her regular routine.
    She’d come too far, worked too hard to get her life to some semblance of normal. No way was she going to let a stupid raccoon send her back to that place where she could barely go to the grocery store without having a panic attack.
    It helped that Rosie didn’t have class until the afternoon and had offered to hang out this morning. The factthat her sister was unfazed by the nighttime visitor made it easier for Talia to get herself out the door to the boxing gym.
    And the fact that Jack Brooks was somewhere in the vicinity, ready to drop everything to come to her rescue at a moment’s notice…
    No, no way, you are not going there. Jack has done more than his fair share to save your ass. You haven’t been a pain in his side for nearly two years and you’re not going to start up again now.
    Two hours later, Talia was feeling immensely better after an intense training session, energized from both the workout and the bucket-sized lattes she and Rosie had picked up on the way home.
    But her postworkout euphoria vanished when she saw an unfamiliar car parked in front of her garage. Unbidden, irrational uneasiness consumed her. There was no reason to freak out, she told herself, just because there was a strange car in her driveway. Maybe the landlord sent someone over to do a repair, though he’d never sent anyone over unannounced before.
    If that was the case, Talia would have to have a word. She didn’t care that she was merely renting. She didn’t like strangers, and she didn’t like being caught by surprise.
    She parked on the street and walked up to the car and peered into the driver’s side window.
    Empty.
    “Who—”
    She raised a hand and cut Rosario off as she walked up the path to the front door. Her stomach leaped to her throat as the door swung open just as she was reaching for the handle.
    The realization that it was Jack, followed closely by a tall, muscular man Talia had met but whose name didn’t immediately come to mind, didn’t do much to quell the impending heart attack. She staggered back, hand up to her chest as Jack looked down at her.
    “Shit. I was hoping to have this finished before you got back,” Jack said.
    “Have what finished? What are you doing?”
    “Jack wanted to make a few modifications to the security system.” His friend offered his hand with a flash of white teeth that might have charmed the pants off a normal woman. “I’m Ben Moreno. I don’t know if you remember me,” he said as his big hand swallowed the one Talia automatically offered. “We met a couple times at Suzette’s, when I came in with Derek and Alyssa.”
    Talia nodded. “I remember now.” Every female in the place—besides herself, of course—had been tittering and buzzing around the table. Immune though Talia was, even she had to admit that between him and Alyssa’s husband, Derek, they’d provided quite the display of eye candy. “You work with Gemini, too, right?”
    Moreno nodded and released her hand. “Since I just finished upgrading all of the employee residences, I told Jack I’d give him a hand with this.”
    Talia gave her head a frustrated shake and hurried