Tangled Fates by Carly Fall, Allison Itterly Read Free Book Online Page B

through his veins, he wasn’t
    about to pass that down.
    However, he did have some compassion, and he couldn’t imagine being a parent and
    having your kid go missing. The degree of agony and worry would be off the charts. His mother
    had always told him that he would only understand how much she loved him when he had his
    own children. That wasn’t going to happen, but he did know his mother had loved him very
    much.
    Twenty minutes later, everyone finished eating, Blake had paid the bill, and they stood
    outside. The snow had stopped, and the air was frigid yet still, as the wind had calmed down.
    “What do you say we see about getting you home?” Blake said.
    “How are you going to do that? Laura asked.
    “Let’s get you to the airport and get you on a plane out of here,” Blake said, pulling his
    phone out of his pocket to call Noah about getting Laura on a plane home.

Chapter 6
    “See, Neptune? That’s what I’m talking about.”
    Cohen stroked Abby’s huge black cat that seemed to have attached itself to his lap the
    past few days. At first, he had tried to get the feline out of his quarters, but the cat was having
    none of it. Finally, Cohen just accepted that the big guy was here to stay. He had to admit, it was
    nice having someone to talk to that didn’t talk back except for the odd howl now and then, and a
    lot of purring. He was trying not the think about Annis and Blake in New York, and Neptune and
    the MMA match on TV was a nice distraction.
    “That guy should’ve countered that roundhouse kick with an uppercut. This match would
    be over by now if he had.”
    Neptune meowed.
    “I knew you’d see it my way,” Cohen said, sipping his Captain Morgan.
    He loved a good MMA match, and the one on his big screen didn’t disappoint.
    There was a knock on his door, and Cohen looked down at Neptune, who was curled up
    in his lap. “Do you want to get that?” he asked.
    The cat closed his eyes as if to say he wasn’t going anywhere.
    “Me neither. Maybe if we ignore them long enough they’ll go away. What do you think?”
    Neptune just purred, and the knock came again. Cohen didn’t move, and the knocking
    turned into pounding.
    “Or maybe whoever that is will just stand there banging on the door until we answer,”
    Cohen said. “It’s too bad Rayner took my guns or we could just shoot them.”
    He picked up Neptune and set him on the ground. Neptune let Cohen know of his
    displeasure with a loud howl, but then ran over to the door and sat down.
    Cohen followed him and opened the door to find Hudson and Noah standing there.
    “What’s up?” Cohen asked, not inviting them in.
    “Where’s your manners?” Hudson asked, pushing past Cohen, and Noah followed.
    “Hey, Neptune,” Noah said, scooping up the cat. “Abby’s been looking for you.”
    “He wouldn’t leave,” Cohen said.
    Neptune pushed against Noah and hopped down to the floor. He made his way to the bed
    and nestled among the tangled sheets and comforter.
    “Get dressed,” Noah said.
    Cohen looked down at himself. He had forgotten he was hanging out in his boxers for the
    day. He didn’t have plans to go anywhere. He hadn’t had plans to go anywhere for a long time.
    “How come?”
    “When was the last time you were out of the silo?” Hudson asked.
    Cohen struggled to pinpoint that time, but he couldn’t. He shrugged in ignorance.
    “It’s been a couple of months, Cohen,” Noah said, placing his hand on Cohen’s shoulder.
    “Let’s get you out of here for a couple of hours, okay?”
    Cohen sighed. He really didn’t want to go anywhere, but he didn’t have the energy to
    argue with Noah either.
    He slugged back the rest of his rum. “Fine. Where are we going?”
    “To a gun show,” Hudson said.
    “That’s funny,” Cohen said, “Neptune and I were just talking about guns.”
    “Really?” Noah said.
    “Yeah. I was saying how I’d like to shoot whoever was banging on my door, but Rayner
    took my guns