Sacrifice Read Free Page A

was he supposed to do? They had promised they’d help her, give her everything she needed if he just did this one thing…
    He wasn’t a religious man, but in this instance he couldn’t help but think that he had sold his soul to the devil. Before he had seen Natasha it had seemed easy. It was just something he needed to do in order to get what he wanted… But now…
    Shit. He punched the brick wall, the skin splitting with the force of the impact. The blood welled up across his knuckles mixing with the dust from the wall. It was a good kind of pain, a comforting one. One he needed. Maybe if he rang them, told them he couldn’t do this, told them it wasn’t right… Maybe they’d relent?
    He laughed as he started across the campus, pushing his hand into his pocket, hiding the injury from prying eyes. The last thing he wanted to do was draw attention to himself. He’d done enough of that already.
    His mind skipped back to the moment in the coffee shop. The moment they had shared. And her laugh. He grinned as he thought of it. The way the others had looked at her as though she had completely lost her mind. But he understood that. It was one thing in this giant mess that he could understand. Laughing at the most inappropriate of times was something he was known to do. His older brother had made the vast majority of his teenage years miserable because of that one little habit that he couldn’t seem to shake.
    The moment he thought of his brother he shut his mind down. It wasn’t a place he wanted to go. It wasn’t something he was willing to think about, not now, not ever if he had his own way.
    His phone buzzed in his pocket, pulling his attention back to the present and his surroundings. He didn’t need to follow her. He knew where she was going to be tonight… He would have plenty of time then to introduce himself.
    Pulling his phone out he stared at the screen. The private number flashed across the screen as the cell phone continued to vibrate in his hand. He ran his thumb across the screen and lifted the phone to his ear.
    “Sam?”
    Her voice was weak, frail in his ear but it still brought a smile to his lips.
    “Yeah, Mom, I’m here.”
    “Where are you? I haven’t seen you in over a week, it’s not like you at all…” 
    “I have a job, Mom, I told you I’d be away for a little while.”
    “I don’t remember…” Her voice drifted off and Sam took the opportunity to switch the phone to his other ear. A lump had formed in the back of his throat and the last thing he wanted to do was break down where she could hear him.
    “Have you seen the new doctor yet?” He asked, choosing to change the subject. It was the only way he knew to stop his emotions from swamping him. How did you cope and deal with the knowledge that a woman who had dedicated her life to looking after you. That a woman who just two short months ago was strong and well, was now suddenly bed ridden. It was beyond belief, but every time he saw her the truth was rubbed in his face.
    “Yes, he’s lovely. He has some bizarre notions about how to make me better…”
    “But does he think he can?” Sam couldn’t keep the hopeful tone from his voice.
    There was silence on the other end of the line but he could still hear her breathing so he knew she hadn’t hung up.
    “Well we’ll see. I’d be much happier if you were here. What sort of a job is it?”
    Her question caught him off guard and he hesitated. It was enough of a pause for her to pick up on and he could hear the distinct intake of breath as she jumped to her own conclusions.
    “Sam, no. You can’t be serious. You know what happened to your brother. I can’t lose you as well.”
    “Mom, it’s fine, really, it’s not what you think. It isn’t that sort of job.”
    “Then what is it?”
    “I can’t tell you, Im not even sure if I have it yet…” The lie came out easily. It just slipped effortlessly past his lips. It was a small price to pay to give her piece of