The Recovery by Suzanne Young Read Free Book Online Page A

searching until he found them.
    After breakfast, Realm checked out of the hotel and walked across the parking lot, the sun shining and a soft breeze to cut the heat. A perfect day. Realm threw his bags in the back of the Escalade and got in the driver’s seat.
    The passenger door opened, startling him, and Realm turned quickly. Dallas Stone dropped onto the seat and slammed the door shut. Realm sucked in a breath, not only stunned to see her again, but also completely confused as to how she got there.
    “James called me in Florida yesterday,” she said, hitching up one eyebrow. “He gave me this address and told me he didn’t want you to be alone. I asked him why the hell he was calling me.”
    “What?” Realm said, his surprise turning to annoyance.“James called? Dallas, I—”
    “Save it,” she replied. “James was right. You shouldn’t be alone. I didn’t want you to be alone. And before you start arguing, I’ve already ran through all of your excuses on the way here. None of them are good enough. Here’s the thing, Realm. If you’re going on this recovery tour, I’m going with you. I have my own guilt to face.”
    “You have nothing to be sorry for,” Realm said without hesitation.
    Dallas smiled. “Don’t be sweet,” she teased. “It won’t get you out of this. You need a partner and I’m great at tracking people. Better than James Murphy, at least.”
    “James is pretty good.”
    “I’m better.”
    Realm smiled to himself and ran his gaze over Dallas, noticing her knee-high boots, her off-the-shoulder T-shirt. She would certainly be a distraction. But more important, he didn’t want to drag her into this; he didn’t want to lead her on, either. He’d done that too many times before, unable to stay away even when he should have.
    “You can’t come with me, Dal,” he said quietly. “It’s not fair to you.”
    “So we can’t be friends?” she challenged. “What if I were Sloane? Wouldn’t you give just about anything for her to be your friend again? Do you really think it’s any different for me? Stop doing what you think is best for me, Realm. I’m a big girl. I make my own decisions. And one of them is that I don’t think you’re as terrible as you imagine you are. So I’m going to be your friend. And we’re going to change some lives. That’s the kind of recovery I’m looking for.”
    He knew she was right—that he would want Sloane to be his friend, just like Dallas wanted to be his. He wasn’t sure someone could be friends with a person who loved them. But more than that, Realm wondered how he’d stop himself from loving her back.
    He looked at her, and her mouth pulled into a wide smile.That disarming smile that hooked him the first day she talked to him on the way to the locker room. No, he couldn’t push her away anymore. He didn’t want to.
    “Fine,” Realm said, starting the SUV.
    “Good,” Dallas replied easily. They were both quiet for a long moment, and then Dallas turned to stare straight ahead. “Hey,” she said. “What was that nickname you had for me when we were dating?”
    A flash of embarrassment crossed Realm’s features and he lowered his eyes. “Sweetness,” he said quietly. It was an endearment he’d later used when talking to Sloane.
    “Yeah, that’s the one,” Dallas said with a nod. She turned to him and grinned. “Don’t ever fucking call me that again.”
    Realm choked out a laugh, and agreed. He’d forgotten how much he adored Dallas’s bluntness. How much he adored her.
    “It’s getting late,” he said, glancing at the sky. “We should head out. Can you grab my bag in the back? There’s a list in there and we need to find where Asa is staying.”
    “Nope,” she said. “The first one is mine.” Dallas took out her phone and clicked into the notes. “There’s someone we have to go see.”
    Realm narrowed his eyes. “Who?”
    “We’re going to see about Casanova Gutierrez.”
    Realm’s mouth flinched with a