Let Him In (Let Him Trilogy) Read Free

smeared and cracked glass of the full-length mirror nailed to the back of the closet door, Lacey reluctantly peeled off her clothes. The removal of her bra made her nipples pop out like the temperature indicator on a turkey. As she pulled the pajama bottoms up and over her Winnie the Pooh underwear she wondered if they actually still came with those red button-like thingies. The last turkey she’d seen had been almost nine years ago, on the last Thanksgiving celebrated by The Chase’s.
    Amelia had hated anything remotely similar to manual labor, so Clint and Lacey had always prepared the holiday meal themselves. He’d cook while she fetched things for him, peeled and sliced vegetables, and opened cans. Once, after begging him, he’d put her in charge of the mashed potatoes, and even though they could have used the end product as mortar he’d gobbled them up with a smile and then asked for seconds after telling her they were the best he’d ever had. The comment had made Amelia storm out of the dining room after giving them both a look that could have instantly frozen boiling water. Clint had quickly followed, looking as excited and eager as a dog whose ball was about to be thrown.
    For two solid hours afterward, the single-story brick house had been filled with their raised voices, her mother’s shrill and her father’s thunderous as they yelled at, cursed and slapped each other. As bad as their fights were, the make-up sex that always followed was even worse. She could ignore the former, but only deafness could have enabled her to tune out the latter.
    Lacey cringed as she buttoned her pajama top. It should have been called ‘throw-up sex’ instead because that’s exactly what she’d felt like doing while being subjected to hour after hour of hearing her parents’ shrieks, grunts and dirty talk.  On more than one occasion she’d thought their stupid bed was going to burst through the damn wall and shoot right into her room. And Clint never looked happier than on the morning after one of his and Amelia’s freak shows, which only confirmed Lacey’s suspicion that the only reason her father had ever given her the time of day was to piss off her mother, who hated anyone else receiving attention or compliments while in her presence.
    It certainly explained why he had no use for her now.
    Lacey wished she could forget every good time they’d had together. She knew they were all fake and yet she yearned for them to be real, which made giving up such a difficult thing to do.
    But she would.
    If she kept focusing on all the bad times and every hurtful thing he’d ever said and done to her, eventually her love would turn to hate, and then she would finally be free. To do what, she didn’t know, and she didn’t dare jinx the future by making plans. But for now it was enough just knowing she’d have options that didn’t include spending the rest of her life chained out of love to a man who didn’t even love her back.
    That would be a fate worse than death.

Chapter 2
     
    “Alexis.” His sister’s name came out as a deep, rumbling growl of warning from between Zane Nikolas’ sneering lips. 
    What in the name of Blodbad had made him think a family outing to a county fair was a good idea? He could have thrown a starving fox into a hen house and been more surprised by the outcome.
    “Well it is,” Alexis replied before taking a deep, appreciative breath. “Mmmm...so many delectable options that I simply cannot choose merely one item.”
    Zane tightened his grip around the back of her neck even though the action was pointless; she could no more feel his hand than he could the wind ruffling the long hair cascading over her shoulders like a black silk cape. “Then you will go hungry.”
    “That’s baby brother’s schtik,” she scoffed, “not mine.”
    Zane eyed the seventeen-year-old boy standing several feet away from them. His head was down, hands shoved deep into the pockets of black skinny jeans that