Can't Bear To Run (Kendal Creek Bears, #1) Read Free

me at night.”
    She scrunched her face up, looking a little like a confused pug. “So? He’s a grown-up isn’t he? Can’t he deal with not having you around for a single night?”
    “I don’t know,” I said. I was biting my lip.
    She looked at me with concern on her face, but was too nice to say anything and put it all out in the open. “All right,” she finally said. “Well, we can do this again later, yeah? Friday maybe? We can all get back together again since Matt’ll be home.”
    “Er, yeah,” I said, forcing a smile. “Yeah that sounds good.”
    Even as I was speaking, I knew it would never, ever happen.
    The entire ride home, vibrations were shooting through me. My heart felt numbed, my mind like a Jackson Pollock painting, just colors everywhere with no sense of what’s up or down. Dan was sitting on the porch when the cab pulled up.
    “Where the hell have you—oh, hey Karen!” Dan said, his voice switching from harsh to almost saccharine in its friendliness. I could sense the tension in the back of his throat that said I was going to get a hell of a lecture when she left.
    “Hi, Dan,” she said, her voice tight. “We had a good time – Matt and I miss you guys. You want to go back to Finnegan’s on Friday? He’ll be back from his trip to New York and we can all belt old shitty old songs like we used to.”
    “Oh, wow,” Dan said. “Yeah, yeah that sounds great!” He took my hand when I went to his side, and squeezed hard enough that I had to concentrate on not squealing. “For sure!”
    I looked at Karen with desperate pleas in my eyes, though I didn’t know what the point was. It wasn’t like she could shoot him and take me away, and hell, it’s not like I wanted that anyway. The shock to my system would make me shut right down.
    “Okay,” she finally said, smiling a little. “I’ll give you a call with details, take care of yourself, Raine.”
    She gave me one final look that told me she knew what I was saying with mine. I nodded. “Yeah, of course, I always do.”
    She trotted back to the cab, gave us a final wave, and shut the door.
    “Where the fuck did you go?” he asked.
    “She told you,” I pulled my arm away. “Finnegan’s. We drank some beer and sang some songs.”
    He was staring at me hard. Those pale blue eyes drilled holes in my brain. “Don’t you know how dangerous that is? Don’t you understand what could happen? You know how much crime there is in the city, what would I do if something happened to you?”
    I shrugged. “Nothing happened. Nothing even almost happened. There wasn’t the slightest hint of anything happening except us getting a buzz and singing.”
    Dan grabbed my hand again, and again I jerked it back. “Stop,” I said. “That hurts.”
    “Not as bad as you hurt me,” he sneered. “You betrayed me, abandoned me, you—”
    “Oh my God, Dan,” I said. “I went out with my friend for drinks. Are you really that much of a baby?”
    His eyes went dark. Uh oh. Make a note – calling him a baby is one step too far. Or about three, really .
    “What did you just say?” He grabbed my arm harder, twisting it behind my back and pushing me toward the door. “Ask me again.”
    “Nothing,” I said, biting my lip to kill the pain in my wrist. Once again, I thought about the dark-eyed stranger. I didn’t think he’d act like this if I went out with my buddy. I shook my head to banish that stupid fantasy. “I didn’t say anything, Dan, I’m sorry, I’m a little drunk. You said you were coming home late—ah!” He twisted harder.
    “Open the door,” he said, his mouth near my ear. “Open it.”
    I did as he said. “What are you doing? Why are you hurting me?” I asked, almost pleading. “Please! Stop!”
    “You didn’t ask if you could go. How do you know I didn’t want to?”
    “You said you weren’t coming home until late. You told me to go to bed and not wait up. Stop!”
    He eased up a little – not enough to stop the