Trust by Sherri Hayes Read Free Book Online Page A

felt the movement.
    “Where are you staying while you’re here?”
    “At a hotel not far from downtown.”
    “You’re going to be here a while?”
    “Yeah. I need some time to figure out what I’m going to do.” She paused. “Plus, I really do want to be here for you, Stephan. I don’t know about this woman, but I know you.”
    I hugged her, grateful for her friendship. “I’m going to call Lily. She can go back to the hotel with you and get your things.” She glanced up at me, confused. “You’re here to see me, right?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then you’re staying here. I have a guest room upstairs now. It might as well be used for something useful.”
    “Stephan, I can’t—”
    “I don’t recall asking.”
    Sarah opened and shut her mouth several times. “Thank you.”
    “You’re welcome. Let me call Lily and see if she’s free. If not, I’ll take you, but considering the number of reporters following me around, it would be better if they didn’t see me going into a hotel with you.”
    I took out my phone, and she shifted nervously from one foot to the other. “I don’t want my staying here to cause problems for you.”
    “You’re staying.”
    She didn’t argue, and after selecting Lily’s number, I placed the phone to my ear. Lily answered on the third ring. “If you’re not busy tonight, I need a favor.”

Chapter 5
    Brianna
    I nervously glanced at the clock for the twelfth time in less than ten minutes. It was almost four. Cal was normally home before four, especially on Fridays, which was why when Emma had called, saying she needed to talk to both of us, I’d told her four o’clock.
    Looking again, I realized the clock hadn’t changed. Why wasn’t he home yet?
    At the sound of a car in the driveway, I whipped my head in that direction, even though I couldn’t see the front of the house from my room. Glancing down, I noticed that I’d pulled several threads loose from my jeans. When I heard someone open the door to the house, I dismissed my observation completely. I held my breath as I waited.
    “Anna, I’m home,” Cal called out from the main room.
    I released the breath I’d been holding.
    That first week I’d moved in, Cal took off work. It was awkward, but knowing he’d been in the house had helped. Cal had installed a security system, as well as setting up what he called a panic button. There were several of them around the house, and he said if anyone tried to break in and hurt me, I could hit one of those buttons and it would send a signal directly to him and to the police. Even with all the added security, I tensed and waited for Cal or Jade to call out to me when they came home, letting me know it was them.
    Knowing Cal was here, and that Emma would be coming any minute, I knew I needed to force myself to get up from my bed. My legs didn’t want to cooperate. It felt as if I had metal rods in them as I moved. What seemed like several minutes had passed before I reached the door that separated my bedroom from the main house, and once I got there, I paused with my hand on the knob.
    You can do this. It’s just Cal.
    Turning the knob, I slowly opened the door. It made no sound, but as I stepped into the kitchen Cal must have seen movement out of the corner of his eye, because he turned around abruptly and knocked a bread roll he had lying on the counter to the floor.
    When he realized what he’d done, he sighed and bent down to pick it up. I plastered myself against the wall next to my door.
    He glanced in my direction as he tossed the dirty roll in the trash. “Is everything okay, Anna?”
    I nodded.
    Cal frowned but went back to making his sandwich. He used to try and approach me at times like this, but he didn’t anymore, especially when Jade wasn’t around. I didn’t mean to freak out on him, but too often he would get frustrated with me and raise his voice or move his body a certain way, and I’d hit an eight or a nine within seconds.
    The first time it