You're Not Safe (Texas Rangers) by Mary Burton Read Free Book Online Page B

thoughts. Why would anyone want me? I’m worse than damaged goods. I’m a failure. A killer.
    In the darkest part of the night when her brain wouldn’t stop spinning despite an exhausted body, Greer still harbored those same thoughts about herself. A dozen years, and the demons refused to leave her in peace.
    “Take it or leave it. You’re not doing me any favors either way.”
    Her heart racing, she turned, dodged a couple of laughing guys, and moved toward the door. A bone-deep cold made her hands tremble, but certain Mitch was watching, she kept putting one foot in front of the other.
    “Damn,” she muttered as she pushed into the bright sunlight. She walked the half block to her truck and slid behind the wheel. Her chilled body soaked up the warmth and for a moment she merely sat. Finally she dug her purse out from under the front seat and from it fished out her cell phone. She dialed and the phone rang three times.
    “Did you do it?”
    “I did it.” She glanced at the two silver bracelets on her wrist.
    “I’m proud of you.”
    Greer leaned into the seat, letting the hot leather burn into her skin. Physical pain was a tried and true distraction. “Don’t be, Dr. Stewart. I didn’t issue the most welcoming invitation.”
    He laughed. “If you’d been nice, it probably wouldn’t have worked. He’s had his fill of nice.”
    “Well, then I’m the one for him because I don’t have a drop left to give.”
    “It’s going to be fine, Greer. This will work out for both of you.”
    “I’m not so sure.”
    “Why?”
    Her voice hitched. “He reminds me of my brother.”
    Silence snaked through the line. “Maybe that’s a good thing.”
    “How?”
    “Wait and see.”
    Greer fished out her keys and started the truck’s engine. “I’m pretty damn sure this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.”
     
     
    A spotlight shone on the picture hanging above the desk. It was a happy picture. Five teens, two boys and three girls, arms clasped, smiles bright. They were fresh-faced kids dressed casually. The clothes were carelessly wrinkled, splashed with water from the nearby lake, and smudged with dirt from the game of touch football finished mere moments before the picture was taken. A look beyond the wrinkles and the dirt revealed name-brand clothes costing hundreds and hundreds of dollars. One boy wore a family signet ring and all the girls wore jewelry, not the department store knockoffs but real gold and diamonds. But then only the most affluent families could afford Shady Grove Camp nestled thirty miles northwest of Austin.
    “You are always studying that picture,” she said.
    He kept his gaze on the image. Behind each of the smiling faces lurked wrenching pain. The boy with the signet ring had threatened to shoot himself. The girl with blond hair and the peaches-and-cream complexion had taken an overdose. Another had tried to freeze herself. Another cut her wrists.
    So much agony. So many lost souls.
    “They were a good group of kids.”
    “I never understood why you liked them so much.”
    “Because I understood them. Their pain.”
    Her laughter rumbled in his head. “If anyone should know pain, it’s me.”
    He winced. “Just stop talking.”
    “Why?”
    “I’m sick of your voice.”
    More laughter. “Tough.”
    He traced the images of the young blond girl. Elizabeth.
    “You’ve been fixated on her from the beginning.”
    “Shut up.”
    “It’s because she reminds you of me.”
    “Bullshit. She doesn’t favor you.”
    “No, we didn’t look alike. But she has my spirit. She’s a fighter. Won’t let go.”
    He could deny her assessment but he’d be lying. “Maybe.”
    “They all have such pretty smiles.” Shady Grove taught them to smile. Extra desserts, extra time in the craft center, extra phone calls home if they smiled. Shady Grove taught them all how to hide behind a smile.
    “What are you thinking?” she said.
    He didn’t raise his gaze from the photo. “It breaks