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

up the stairs. Ignoring Ben, she tried to keep her tone civil as she said to Jack, “We talked about this last night.”
    Jack’s square chin jutted out another inch. “You talked. I decided to upgrade.”
    “What, you thought I wouldn’t notice when the security system I use every day has changed?”
    “Actually,” Ben broke in, “it’s designed to work seamlesslywith your existing system, so much so you wouldn’t have noticed if—”
    He broke off at Jack’s icy glare. “Wow, I sure could use a cold drink.”
    “I’ll get you something.” Rosario rushed past her, her cheeks already flushed as she basked in Ben’s lazy grin. Rosario wasn’t the first woman between the ages of eighteen and eighty to fall under the spell of that sexy grin and dark eyes, and she wouldn’t be the last.
    Talia clenched her jaw. “I realize all of this is coming from a good place, so I’m trying really hard to stifle my inner bitch right now. But you had no right to go behind my back and do something like this without telling me.”
    Jack folded his arms across his massive chest, about as giving as a block of granite. “It needed to be done. You weren’t going to let me do it. I found another way.”
    “You bulldozed right over me is what you did,” Talia said. Her throat tightened at the thought of how he saw her—weak, afraid, easily controlled by someone bigger and stronger. “Did it ever occur to you,” she said, choking past the lump in her throat, “that maybe going behind my back and installing a secret security system isn’t the best way to make me feel safe?”
    She held up a silencing hand when he would have responded. “I get it. I was in a bad place for a very long time and not far out of it the last time you saw me. But since David died, I’ve been taking care of myself and taking care of Rosie. I know you see me as someone who makes stupid decisions, but I’m not that girl anymore. You can’t just go behind my back and go against what I want just because you think you know what’s best for me.” She thumped her finger on his chest for emphasis.
    Jack flinched, his broad shoulders slumping under his jacket. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think—”
    But Talia was on a roll now, David’s control over her fresh in her memory after the nightmare. “Obviously,” Talia said, anger coursing through her. At Jack for going behind her back. At the way his presence brought everything bubbling back up to the surface, reminding her of the kind of person she’d once been. The kind of person he could never, ever see as an equal, worthy of his respect and lo–
    She cut the thought off and lashed out. “What’s next? You going to install cameras in my bathroom so you can watch me shower? Trust me, Jack. This”—she made a gesture to her body—“is not even close to what it used to be, all scarred up and—”
    “Shut up,” Jack bit out, his voice soft. He pressed his lips together and squeezed his eyes shut. When they opened, their familiar icy blue had given way to a stormy gray, dark and troubled. “I’m sorry. I never thought about it that way—”
    “No, of course you didn’t,” she said, the anger draining out of her as she realized her arrow had more than hit its mark.
    Jack didn’t deserve this. It wasn’t his fault she was damaged goods still trying to firm up her place in this new life of hers. “I’m sorry—that was a horrible thing to say. I had a really rough night after you left, and I shouldn’t take it out on you. Especially when you’re only trying to help. But you have to understand that all of this, being around you, having you do stuff against my wishes, it brings up stuff—”
    “I get it,” Jack said curtly. “I’m hard for you to be around.” His face was carved in granite, and a muscle throbbed in his jaw. “As soon as I’m done, I’ll make myself scarce.”
    Every cell in her body protested at the idea of saying good-bye again, but logically she knew it was for