I Found You. Jane Lark

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ in my tummy slid to the point between my legs. I was sitting naked in a tub beside this guy. When had I decided to undress? I didn’t know him. Really, my head was stupid.

      Yes I did, he was Jason Macinlay, from Oregon, and he’d already given me more respect than Declan had done in the last year.

      “How old are you?” I asked.

      His brown eyes lifted and met my gaze again.

      He was feeling more relaxed, I could tell, his breathing seemed more normal and his muscles less tense.

      “Twenty-two. You?”

      “Twenty-one.”

      “That’s too young to want to end your life, Rachel Shears.”

      I shrugged, my lips compressing.

      Of course he wanted to know why I’d been there, but I didn’t want to talk and I couldn’t remember half of it anyway. His eyes said, ‘what happened?’ I didn’t answer.

      He smiled, not his stunning smile of a few moments ago, but a closed lip smile that said, okay, so you don’t wanna talk, I understand.

      No one understood me. I’d learned that the hard way.

      Mom would’ve said she did, when I was a kid. She didn’t, and I hadn’t even seen her in years. I didn’t even know why I was thinking of her today. I hadn’t thought of her in months. I hadn’t spoken to her since I was fifteen.

      Maybe I was thinking of her because I wished she’d been a proper mom and had taught me how to clean a wound like Jason Macinlay.

      “Drink your coffee, and don’t get that in the water.” He stood up, letting my hand go.

      I reached for the mug of coffee with my good hand. It was already lukewarm, like the water. I started to feel cold again, and shivered.

      “Run some more hot water. I’ll leave you to it.”

      He walked out then, and left me, shutting the door behind him.

      I used my bandaged hand to turn the water on.

      The bandage was neat and tight.

      I lay back in the water, and let the heat seep into me. But it wasn’t just the warmth of the water which was penetrating my body. I could fall for this guy, Jason Macinlay. That was another thing I was good at, jumping from one guy to another. It was what I did best.

      ~

      “Hey,”

      “Yeah, I know it’s late. I’m sorry, I…”

      I woke in bed, hearing Jason Macinlay whispering in the room next door.

      He’d changed the covers on the mattress while I’d bathed. The sheet and duvet cover smelt fresh and felt crisp.

      I’d rather he’d left the old sheets on, it would have felt more comforting. I’d missed his scent from his sweatshirt. He’d thrown that in the washer, too, like I’d marked it and he needed to wash me off it.

      Declan must have washed all the blood off by now, mine and his. I was gone from his life. That poisonous relationship was over.

      “Something happened, Lindy. I couldn’t call earlier. But I’m calling now.”

      The door was shut between the bedroom and the living space.

      “Yeah, I know.”

      I rolled over and listened more intently, I could even hear him breathing between the words.

      He sounded defensive.

      “Look…” The pitch of his voice dropped. “I found a girl on Manhattan Bridge, Lind. She was trying to jump. I couldn’t just leave her.”

      There was silence for a moment as he breathed. I imagined this Lindy speaking at the other end.

      “I brought her home.”

      Silence.

      “Yeah, well, I didn’t know what else to do.”

      “Lindy, leave it, she’s no risk.”

      “I’ll be fine.”

      “Yeah, honest, I’ll take care. I can look out for myself.”

      “I know this is New York.”

      “Yeah, right.”

      “Look, I’m going to go. I don’t want to wake her.”

      “She’s sleeping in my bed. I’m sleeping on the floor.”

      “She won’t.”

      “I won’t.”

      “Look Lindy, I’ll call you tomorrow, normal time. I’m going to go now, and don’t worry.”

      “Yeah, I love you, too.”

      “Yeah, tomorrow.” He sighed, like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

      I needed a drink. I threw the covers back and got up, then knocked on the door leading back into the living space.

      He didn’t answer; he couldn’t have heard, but I didn’t like to just walk in. I knocked more loudly.

      “Yeah?”

      “You decent?”

      He laughed. It was low and heavy. “Yeah.”

      I opened the door.

      He was sitting on the floor, gilded by the moonlight streaming through a floor to ceiling window which lit his living room. His arms were about his knees as one hand still gripped his cell and his head was bent a little forward.

      He looked defeated.

      “Sorry.” I didn’t even know why I apologized, I just felt as if I was intruding.

      “It’s alright. Did I wake you? Sorry.”

      “I want some water.” I moved to the kitchen counter and watched him as I ran it, waiting for it to run cool. He was wearing a loose t-shirt now, with boxers. His forearms and his shins were dusted with dark hair. I could see it even in the blue-black light in the room.

      The clock on the TV flashed eleven-thirty. I didn’t feel as though I’d get back to sleep, and my hand was hurting like hell now; it was throbbing with the beat of my heart.

      “Is she your girlfriend?”

      “Lindy? Yeah.”

      “She’s back in Oregon?”

      “Yeah.”

      “Bet she СКАЧАТЬ