Red Rain: Lightning Strikes: Red Rain Series #2 Read Free Page B

him, hard, across the face—leaving a red welt.
    “So why did you come?” he said, both still staring at each other.
    “I saw you the other night, John.”
    His eyes didn’t flicker or dart away, but the moment she finished her sentence she knew that he knew what she meant. No signs, nothing that anyone observing could point to, but Alicia knew her brother—knew his soul, and he had never been good at hiding things. The alcoholism ( he wasn’t drunk that night, Alicia, don’t you remember? ) stood as a perfect example. The family found out in John’s twenties—many alcoholics kept the ruse of sobriety up for decades.
    “Where?” he said.
    “In Denton. That neighborhood you went to.”
    “You followed me?”
    She nodded.
    “Why?” He didn’t look bewildered at the thought of her act, only angry.
    “Because I wanted to know what was going on with you, why the whole family is worried. You missed Mom’s goddamn anniversary, John.”
    “Get in the car,” he said.
    “Why?”
    “Because I’m not talking about this out here. Get in the car.”
    Alicia turned and looked through the driver’s window. “How long are we going to be?”
    “Does it matter? Did you care how long it took you to follow me the other night? Or did you tell Mark you were working late?”
    She looked back at him, fire in her eyes as well as her heart. “I did it for you. I didn’t realize you were fucking someone and that’s why you’re acting so different.”
    John picked his bag up and moved past her, brushing her roughly with his shoulder. “Get in the car.”
    Fire in her heart … but was fear in her belly as well? Did she feel scared of John right now? Had he ever spoken to her like this before? She watched as he opened the door and put his bag in, realizing that if she wanted to continue the conversation she would have to get in the car.
    Alicia turned and walked to the passenger’s side.

    * * *
    J ohn watched Harry climb into the backseat just as Alicia opened her door.
    “She only thinks I’m having an affair,” John said, his eyes finding Harry in the rearview.
    “Is that right? I haven’t read the news today, but what are the odds they start talking about old Larry from Marketing’s murder?”
    Alicia shut the door and John started the car. He backed out of his parking spot and drove through the deck in silence.
    “Where are we going?” his sister said.
    “So, John, what are the odds, would you say?” Harry spoke from the back.
    John didn’t look to him or her, but kept his eyes on the road as he pulled out onto the street.
    “John?” Alicia said, her voice harsh yet a strand of worry running through it too.
    “You shouldn’t have followed me,” John said.
    “Good, good,” Harry said from the back. “Go ahead and set her up to not trust you. Great thinking.”
    “I had to understand what was going on. You wouldn’t tell me. You wouldn’t tell Diane. Everyone was scared, and now … I just can’t believe you would do something like this. You’re going to ruin everything. Did you even think about the kids?”
    John swallowed and brought his other hand up to the steering wheel, knowing that it would turn into a fist if he let it remain in his lap. “It’s not that,” he said.
    “Oh, Christ, what in the hell are you about to tell her? You going to tell her you actually went to the house to murder someone and not lay pipe? That your plan?”
    “Then why were you there? Who was it?”
    John could barely keep up with the two conversations and his own thoughts jetting through his mind like missiles in the sky. He couldn’t process it all and then come up with a plausible excuse. He simply didn’t have enough time, especially with both banging questions off him like body shots in a boxing match.
    “It was someone from work,” he said, still not looking away from the road, knowing that if he did make eye contact with anyone, the story would unravel before it even began.
    “I figured that much.