Bloodstone Heart Read Free Page A

look of shock and disbelief; she looked scared, absolutely terrified, like he’d felt that night on the way home from her place.
    They stared at one another, Josh holding her gloved hand and her wrist, when she suddenly pulled away from him and answered the clerk who had been asking, "Are you okay?"   She smiled at the clerk and said, "I'm fine, thank you."
    Josh shook his head to clear the fog that had taken him over. He finished paying and turned back to Melanie. "I'm so sorry," he said, "you startled me."
    "I'll say, but the real question is, are you okay?"
    Astonished and defensive, he asked, "What do you mean?"
    She wrapped her gloved hand around his arm, pulled him away from the clerk, and whispered, "Something's happened to you. I'm here if you want to talk about it."
    "How could you know something's happened?"
    "Oh, I don't know, maybe it has to do with you jumping out of your skin and knocking me on my butt, but I dare say you are a bit jumpy.   A big guy like you doesn't seem the type to scare easily. Call it intuition if you like, but maybe a beer and a little conversation would calm your nerves.   We could go to my place if you like?"
    "Yeah. No. I shouldn't involve you."
    "But I've asked to be involved and you need someone ... I mean, I feel you could use someone to talk to."
    "What makes you think I don't have someone to talk to?" Josh said.
    "I'm sorry, Josh. I didn't mean to insinuate...you're right. You have my number if you need it." With that she smiled and left the store.
    What had he just done? What an idiot! He DID need someone to talk to even if it was just to check his sanity. Why was he being such a jerk?   He grabbed his groceries and headed after her.   If nothing else, he wanted to make sure she got home okay; he didn't want her running into anything like he had the last time they had seen each other or for that matter, the man he'd just seen in the alley.  
    "Lanie, stop. Wait." It was starting to get dark and he was getting very uncomfortable with that.   "I was a jerk. I'm sorry. I really could use a beer, if you are still offering?"
    She stared at him a long minute and then smiled. "Okay... Come on." She turned on her heels and he followed in step at her side, and though he didn't say a word the entire walk to her apartment in the big white Victorian house, he felt more relaxed than he had felt in almost a week, just being in her company.
    They arrived at her apartment just as it began to get uncomfortably dark for Josh. She unlocked the front door and they both slipped in and ascended the stairs to her apartment. She pulled off her jacket and tossed it over a nearby chair as she headed for the kitchen.   She said, "Make yourself comfortable, I'll get a couple of beers."  
    He looked around the apartment then headed for the window that looked out over the front of the house to see if anyone was lurking in the shadows watching them. His curiosity sated, he pulled off his leather jacket and sat on the couch.  
    Not only was this beautiful woman a comfort, her apartment was calming also. A smile slowly crawled across his face as he sighed heavily and collapsed into the pillows of the couch.   Just as he did, she appeared from the kitchen, turning on lights here and there as she made her way over to him.   With one gloved hand extended, she offered him an icy cold opened beer as she sat at the opposite side of the couch.   She took a long draw on her beer, as did he, and she said, "So Josh, tell me what's troubling you."
    "I really wouldn't know where to begin; besides, the whole thing is, well, unbelievable."
    "There's always the beginning."
    "Yeah. I just can't seem to believe it myself. I'm afraid if I explain, you'll really think I've lost it."
    "I doubt it. Sometimes when you try to explain something to someone else, the situation becomes clearer."
    "Well, there's always the fact that I'm not very good at sharing... I mean talking with..."
    "You mean your social issue? That's