Child of Recklessness (Trials of Strength Book 2) Read Free Page A

face was sunken, and my
dirty-blond hair stuck to my head, wet. My eyes lingered on their
green reflection before I shook myself. Changing into the clean
clothes I had brought in, I turned the shower water off and joined
Anna in the bedroom. She sat drying her hair on the bed closest to
me. Her fiery red curls and electric-blue eyes were beautiful, and
her Cupid’s bow mouth and button nose only maximised her beauty.
Anna was twenty-one, one year older than me. I felt a rush of pride
that took me by surprise. If there was anyone in the world, even
with our current situation, that I wanted to have a child with, it
was her.
    I sat
next to her, and she turned and smiled. I bent over and kissed her,
lingering for a few seconds and then pulling away.
    ‘ Anna?’ I said.
    ‘ Yeah, I know, I’ve packed what we have into our bags,’ she
replied. ‘I’m just waiting for Chris to call up and we’re good to
go.’
    ‘ No, that’s not what…’ I started, but I had no idea how to
continue.
    ‘ What is it?’ Anna said as her face creased in
concern.
    I stared
into her eyes.
    I’ll just be honest. I’ll always be honest with
her.
    ‘ You’re pregnant,’ I whispered.
    She
continued to stare for a second, her face frozen, and then she
laughed. It caught me off guard and I jumped.
    ‘ What?’ she snorted. ‘What are you talking about?’
    I
swallowed.
    ‘ Anna, honey, I’m telling you you’re pregnant,’ I
said.
    The
smile on her lips slowly faded and fear took its place. She placed
the towel beside her and opened her mouth to speak, but whatever
she was going to say died on her lips, and she looked at me for an
explanation.
    ‘ I can hear the baby’s heart,’ I answered the silent question.
‘I can hear it along with yours.’
    I placed
my hand on her stomach and she placed hers over mine. We sat there,
unable to form words to describe our feelings. Anna was no doubt
going over the same questions I had, the main one never leaving my
mind: Could we do this?
    Before
any of us could speak again, the room’s wireless phone rang, and
Anna slouched off the bed and over to its place by the television.
She picked it up and answered.
    ‘ Yeah, Chris, give us a minute would…’ she started but
stopped.
    Her eyes
grew wide and she looked over at me.
    ‘ What?’ I panicked.
    ‘ It’s not Chris,’ Anna replied.

The Sanctuary
     
    ‘ Who is this?’ Anna said.
    I waited
with baited breath. The only person other than the hotel with our
room number was Chris, and we’d asked the hotel not to contact us,
at all. Finally, Anna nodded and laughed, she visibly relaxed,
looked at me and winked. I remained silent and listened in, the
miniscule voice on the line picked up as I honed in on
it.
    ‘ Yeah, how did you get this number?’ Anna asked.
    ‘ I’ll tell you later,’ a man’s voice came back, it was
familiar, but I couldn’t remember a name. ‘Right now, Anna, I need
you to turn on your television.’
    Anna
frowned, but grabbed the remote and sat back on the bed.
    ‘ What channel?’ she asked.
    The
voice replied, and Anna turned the television on and punched in the
channel. At first we sat there, staring at the screen, waiting for
the images on it to make sense. Then my stomach dropped, and the
hairs on my body stood on end.
    ‘ This is the site of a gruesome murder scene in the city
centre,’ a female news reporter chimed. ‘Earlier today, an
unfortunate accident turned into a horrible nightmare. A man lost
control of his vehicle and crashed into an electronics store,
narrowly avoiding three unknown individuals. Please be aware, that
the following images are disturbing.’
    A
collection of image stills, probably from a CCTV camera, began on
the screen. They showed the truck ploughing into the side of the
store, us just making it to safety, and then we disappeared inside.
Watching the screen my eyes widened. A few minutes later we
re-emerged onto the street, our clothes soaked in the dead man’s
blood. To