Free The Five Deaths of Roxanne Love by Erin Quinn Page A

newscaster had said registered in her expression. She’d been sidetracked by the story of Santo’s wife and obviously missed it at first. Now her jaw fell open as she thought about what had been said. She stared at him with hurt and shock that he could do nothing to change.
    Mired in another emotion he didn’t know how to parse, he waited for her wrath.

 
    R oxanne couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe him. He’d lied. About who he was. About what he was. He’d said he’d been sent by the police to help her. He’d told her he’d spoken with fellow officers just a few hours ago. He’d promised that someone would be in touch with Ryan and Ruby. She’d taken some measure of comfort from knowing that, whether true or not, her brother and sister thought she was okay. But he hadn’t done it. Any of it.
    He wanted her to run from the police. He’d flashed his dimples and shown her his badge— twice —and used both to manipulate her.
    And she’d let him.
    And now he expected her to run with him as if none of that mattered.
    “That reporter said you’ve been suspended,” she said, pointing at the television, hearing it again in her head. It hadn’t sunk in at first because she’d been so distraught about the story of his wife.
    Santo said, “Would I still have my badge and my weapon if he knew what he was talking about?”
    He reached in his bag and pulled out a holstered gun she hadn’t seen before. At her enraged look, he clarified.
    “They’d have taken them away if they’d suspended me.”
    “Then why is it on national news that they did?”
    “Why do they say things about you that aren’t true?”
    “That’s different.”
    “To you.”
    She stared from the gun to Santo again. “Did you have that last night? Why didn’t you use it? You could have saved—”
    “No. I didn’t have it. I left it in the car.”
    “Why would you do that?”
    “I planned to be in and out.”
    “You ordered a drink. You were there for almost an hour leering at me.” His brows went up, saying in the simplest terms that she wouldn’t know that if she hadn’t been leering at him, too. Roxanne felt her cheeks warm. “You were watching me.”
    “Yeah. That I was.”
    He didn’t say anything else, but his gaze movedover her features, unapologetically letting her know that given the chance, he’d do more than look.
    “I didn’t know what your brother was up to,” he told her. “I didn’t think I’d need to be armed when I went in.”
    She gave him a sideways look. “But you said you were here to protect me from demons .”
    “I am.”
    “But if you didn’t know about the demons, what did you think was going to happen to me?”
    Santo went still and watchful. She felt him weighing options, gathering and discarding statements, deciding what to tell her. What not to tell her. She waited impatiently, her anger flaring, tired of him editing his lies. She wanted to force the truth from him, but she didn’t know how, and she probably wouldn’t believe it anyway.
    “I was there because I knew you were supposed to die last night.”
    She gave an unladylike snort. “Is that how this is going to go? You’re just going to keep lying to me?”
    “I’m not lying, Roxanne.”
    “Is this fun for you? Kidnapping me and scaring the crap out of me by talking about demons?”
    Santo raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. Roxanne watched, equally vexed.
    “You saw what came through that kitchen door,” hesaid. “You know they don’t belong in this world. And you know I’m right. Your brother invited them in. If you want to pretend it was something other than that, knock yourself out. But we both saw Reece talk to him. We both heard the one with the mask call him by name.”
    She hated him for making her remember that. Hated the doubt that crowded in on her thoughts.
    “I know demons don’t fit in with your idea of normal, Roxanne. But even you can’t lie about what we saw last