Summer Of My Secret Angel by Anna Katmore Read Free Book Online Page A

Without
you. As I’ve done during the past twelve years.”
    “With the police fast on your heels and Abe
Smith holding a cell free for you?”
    It wasn’t so much Quinn’s bantering that
bothered me at this moment as it was Julian’s low chuckle when his
eyes met mine.
    “I’m not a half-wit as you all seem to
think.” I squared my shoulders, clenching the table cloth in my
fists. “And if it means I’ll have to wash dishes in a pub like this
ten hours a day to fund my future, then I dare say it’s the lesser
evil compared to the hell I’m going to be sent to tomorrow.”
    Tears stung my eyes. Finally coming after
being suppressed for half a lifetime, they couldn’t simply be
blinked away. My abrupt rise from the table knocked the chair
backward, and it landed on the floor with the piercing sound of
wood clattering to stone tiles. If the dragon and her friend
decided to finish their drinks of victory-over-Jona, I needn’t be
part of their celebration.
    I made a dash for the exit. The curious
faces that followed me from every table in the room lanced my
heart.
    Cool air outside slapped me in the face. The
door slowly closed behind me.
    Run , my mind screamed. But where
would I go? The brave speech inside was nothing but a betrayal to
myself. Hardly able to do the math of a senior high school student,
I didn’t think London had much to offer me. No one would hire me
for a real job just because I was able to recite Jane Austen by
heart.
    The sleeves of my sweater soaked up my tears
before they could roll down my cheeks. The solid wall at my back
provided mild comfort. I tilted my head back and studied the night
sky. It couldn’t possibly be my destiny to end up in one of Abe’s
iron-curtained cells one day.
    The door of the pub opened, and out stepped
a tall figure. Through the mist of moisture pooling in my eyes, it
took me a second to recognize Quinn.
    “Oh, there you are,” he said softly, as he
leaned against the wall the same way I did. “I almost feared I’d
have to spend the night on the streets searching for you.”
    After a few blinks, my gaze moved to his
face and back to the sky. “There’s no place for me to go. No one
wants to have me.”
    He took my hand. “I just met someone who
does. And I’ve heard of a handful more people who’d be delighted to
welcome you to their home. Kiddo, look past your pride for once and
see the great chance they’re offering.”
    “Why are you so willing to shove me down the
lion’s gorge? You heard all her false words,” I spat. “The only
thing this woman wants is peace for her soul before she kicks the
bucket.”
    “And is that really such a bad thing?”
    I jerked my hand out of his. “Damnit, Quinn,
whose side are you on?”
    “Yours, Jona. Can’t you see?” Without
warning he pulled me into an embrace that knocked the air out of my
lungs. “I’ve hoped for a twist like this ever since you first
strode up to my desk at the office and planted your butt on my
stack of case files. You were the cheekiest brat I’d ever come
across, but I saw the hurt in your frightened eyes when you tried
to mock us both with your snappy talk.”
    He brushed strands of my hair out of my
face. “Why don’t you give your mother and her family a chance to
meet the great girl I know must be hiding somewhere deep in there?”
The hint of a grin appeared on his lips while his finger stabbed
the spot between my collarbones.
    If there was any great bit of me, then I
would make a double effort not to let my goddamn mother get within
reach of it. “Want to know why I told everyone my mother died in a
car crash?” I sniffed.
    Quinn’s eyes held mine as he nodded.
    “Because I was too ashamed for them to know
the truth. That she abandoned me for the sake of her violent lover
who whacked the shit out of me anew every night. She gave me away.
She chose her sick boyfriend over her own child.” My throat
constricted as the words wrenched out. “I couldn’t bear