The Kiera Hudson Prequels 2 Read Online Free Page A

only just met,” Tom said.
    “ More reason for me to remember,” I told him, not letting him off the hook. “I’m sure I would remember a complete stranger telling me I was pretty.”
    “ But we weren’t like complete strangers, we were friends already…”
    “ We’re friends now, but you said things have changed,” I reminded him. “So what has changed?”
    Tom took a deep breath as if steadying his nerves. Then, looking me straight in the eyes, he said, “What I mean is… look… when we first met… over the last few weeks my feelings…”
    Before Tom had had a chance to finish what he was struggling to say, the woman at the table with the man suddenly shot to her feet.
    “ You bastard!” she hissed. Raising her hand, she slapped the man across the face. It sounded like a gunshot.
    “ Ouch!” Tom grimaced, glancing back over his shoulder. “I bet that hurt.”
    The man sprang from his chair, nearly knocking the table and everything on it over. He gripped the woman’s wrist.
    “ Let go,” the woman screeched, her bright red lips rolling back in anger. Her lipstick was the same colour as her dress. Strands of her long blond hair covered her face as she tried to wrestle free of him.
    I made to get up out of my chair. Tom placed his hand over mine.
    “ We’re on a break here, remember?” he whispered. “We’re not meant to be getting involved.”
    “ But…” I started.
    “ But Phillips warned us to keep apart,” Tom said. “We don’t need to go getting ourselves involved in drunken domestic disputes.”
    With my eyes still on the couple on the other side of the bar, I slowly sat down again.
    “ You promised me you were going to finish with her ,” the woman spat. “You told me it was me you loved, not her.”
    I glanced at Tom. I wanted to say I told you so, but now wasn’t the time.
    “ Sit down,” the man hissed. “Everyone is watching us.”
    “ Good!” the woman yelled, yanking her arm free of her husband’s grip. “I want them to see what a lying cheat I’m married to. If you don’t tell Lorraine to piss off, then I will.”
    “ Please, just sit down, Melinda,” the man said. He glanced over at me and Tom, then back at his sobbing wife. He eased her back down into the chair. Part of me hoped she’d hit him again.
    “ Do you want a divorce…?” she cried.
    “ No,” he tried to reason with her.
    “ Good, because I would never give you one,” the woman snapped.
    “ Poor cow,” Tom said under his breath, turning away, now that the fight had calmed down.
    Then, in a flood of tears, Melinda pushed her chair back from the table and stood up again. Sobbing, she ran across the bar and up the stairs. The man shot Tom and me another quick glance, then left the bar in pursuit of his wife.
    I looked at Tom and him at me.
    “ What were you trying to say before that row started?” I asked him.
    “ It doesn’t matter,” he sighed.
     
    Tom
     
    Had the row between the man and his wife saved me from a world of embarrassment? I had just been about to tell Kiera that perhaps my feelings for her had changed – become confused somehow. It had been on the tip of my tongue to tell her that I thought I liked her more than just a friend. But the sudden argument between the woman named Melinda and her cheating husband had broken the moment. Cast away the spell the wine, good food and the warming fire had created.
    “ What were you trying to say before that row started?” Kiera asked me, her eyes never leaving mine. Kiera’s bright hazel eyes seemed to see right through me. As if she could see into my soul somehow. Sometimes it made me feel uncomfortable, as if she was reading me like she read a crime scene. Sometimes to be looked at by her was nice. But now it just made me feel uncomfortable. I looked away at the dancing flames in the nearby fireplace.
    “ It doesn’t matter,” I sighed.
    “ Tell me what you’re thinking,” she said, her voice soft.
    I couldn’t tell her.