Shrouded in Darkness (Shrouded Series) by H. D. Thomson Read Free Book Online Page A

damned hot. Always so eager to please.”
    When his index finger slipped past the scooped neckline of her sweater, she grasped his wrist and pushed vainly at his hand. He leaned into her, pressing up against her until she found herself shoved up against the wall.
    “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Don’t I turn you on anymore?”
    “Don’t.”
    Nausea burrowed into her stomach. She was not going to let him play with her head. She was done with being frightened and manipulated. Never. Ever again.
    As Malcolm lowered his hand even further over her body, Margot pulled harder on his arm, trembling violently with the effort, but she couldn’t match his strength or stop him when he covered her breast with his palm.
    Margot sucked in a breath, raised her other hand and slammed her fist into Malcolm’s face. His head jerked back. A mottled red flush crept up his neck and into his face. He lifted his hand from her breast and roughly slid it up to circle her neck. Using his body, he squeezed her harder up against the wall, digging his fingers around her throat. A black film seeped into the edge of her vision.
    Margot struggled for breath.
    She’d done it. Pushed him over the edge.
    Corded veins stood out against his reddened neck as he gritted out, “Don’t ever—”
    Suddenly, Malcolm flew backward. She caught his stunned expression as his body twisted in the air and tumbled to the ground.
    Malcolm slid across the floor and hit the back of his head against the wall with a loud whack.
    Gasping in a lungful air, Margot stared back in shock. How? Who? Flattening both palms against the wall on either side of her, she glanced around, but no one else was in the room with them.
    Fear etched across his face, Malcolm scrambled to his feet, touched the base of his head, and backed slowly down the hall to the front entrance.
    There was no way she’d managed to shove Malcolm off like that. It was almost as if he’d had some type of crazy spasm or someone had grabbed him from behind and thrown him across the room. But that was ludicrous.
    “What—what happened?” Margot asked in a voice gone harsh and raw.
    Still touching his head with one hand, his face a sick, pasty white Malcolm edged closer to the front door, caution in his every step and look. He sneered back at her. “You figure it out.”
    He disappeared out the door, leaving it open for a frosty breeze to blow into the house and brush against her skin. Shivering, she stepped around the forgotten garbage bag and closed the door after him. She leaned against the wood paneling, unable to stand properly without having her legs give out from under her.
    “Is that you, Johnny?” she whispered.
    She waited.
    No answer.
    But then, Margot never really expected one. For a moment, though, she’d hoped. Hoped? When was the last time she’d hoped for anything? After too many years of too many unanswered wishes.
    It had to be her brother, though. How else could Malcolm suddenly fly through the air like that? But that was so crazy and so unlike Johnny. He’d been such a mild-mannered man. A man of science, a man who worked with his brain and not his hands. Then again, he’d been protecting her. Something she knew he wouldn’t hesitate to act on.
    She needed a drink. Bad. She pushed off the door and hurried into the kitchen. With fumbling fingers, she uncorked a fresh bottle of red wine and poured herself a healthy glass. Closing her eyes, she drank, drank until the shaking stopped, drank until a numbness settled over her body, drank until she didn’t care about hope, about her ex threatening her, about her meaningless life...about ghosts.
    Then Malcolm’s words rang in her head.
    You figure it out.
    What could he mean? What was it that she needed to figure out? Obviously, it was something he thought she should know. Or maybe not. Maybe Malcolm was just being his usual snide self. But then why had he shown up today?
    You figure it out. Something about her? Miltronics? Jake? Or