Free Sacrifice by M.G. Morgan Page B

I wasn’t willing to go looking for Sam, no matter how much I wanted to. No matter how much I desperately wanted another chance at that kiss…
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER NINE
     
    Sam
     
    Watching Natasha run from the restaurant Sam tried to follow her. Something had passed between them. He had felt it and from the look in her eyes she had felt it too. It wasn’t like anything he had ever experienced before. And Sam found himself left with a deep fear that if he didn’t find her then he might lose that feeling forever.
    “Let me just get that for you.” Kimberly blocked his path from the booth, her hands filled with paper towels as she attempted to wipe down the front of him. She patted and pressed at him as Sam tried to dodge out past her.
    “Really it’s fine you don’t have to.” 
    “I know I don’t have to, I want to.” She smiled up at him, the look in her eyes only to clear on her intent. Sam let out a long sigh of frustration.
    “Kimberly, I’m sure you’re a lovely girl and I have no doubt that the right guy is out there looking for you. But I’m not him.”
    Several emotions seemed to flit across her face, hurt, disappointment, anger, before it circled back around to lust. Sam didn’t want to just push past her. The last thing he wanted was to humiliate her.
    Should have thought of that before you decided to pull your little stunt with Natasha.  
    The little voice was right but then it was always right. He had gotten himself into this mess. Kimberly didn’t deserve to be caught in the middle of something that wasn’t of her creation.
    Sam dropped a wad of notes on the table and hopped over the edge of the table effectively skipping past Kimberly. She watched him for a second before calling out to him.
    “She’s not worth it. Not if she’d just up and leave you.”
    Sam didn’t answer, he was far too intent on racing out the door. But Kimberly’s words resonated with him. The only problem was she didn’t know Natasha. She hadn’t seen the look in her eyes. Such longing, craving. Sam hadn’t known it before or if he had he had buried it as far down inside himself as he could but what he saw in Natasha he recognised in himself.
    Glancing up and down the street there was no sign of Natasha. She was gone. Slipped away while Kimberly had kept him occupied. How Natasha had done it was beyond him. Either she had a some sort of teleportation device or she was an incredibly fast runner. But then if he had spent his entire life running from things he’d be good at it too.
    His phone buzzed and he pulled it from his pocket. The number that flashed across the screen made him swallow hard. It was about time they checked in… The only thing he was thankful for was they hadn’t contacted him when he had been with Natasha. He knew he wouldn’t have been able to hide his reaction.
    Sliding his finger across the screen he pressed the answer button and lifted the phone to his ear. The faint sound of crackling was the only sign that there was someone else on the line. Until he heard his voice.
    “Hello, Sam, how is it going?”
    The voice was cold, practically devoid of human emotion, or at least that was how Sam liked to think of it. There was no way another human could do the things this man had done and still sleep at night. In Sam’s mind he had to be something else, something less than human. Purely evil.
    “How do you think it’s going?” He answered, his voice equally cold.
    The laughter grated on Sam’s nerves. Sweat dripped down the back of his neck. He remembered his first ever meeting with this Marcus. The big warm smile on his face as he had entertained guests and welcomed Sam… Welcomed him as though he hadn’t been the one to send his brother off to get killed… The memory was like battery acid on the back of Sam’s tongue. It made him want to gag.
    “Sam, anyone would think you didn’t want to be there?”
    “You know full well this