Broken English (Broken Lives Book 1) by Marita A. Hansen Read Free Book Online Page A

overly loud and obnoxious as
usual, their attention fixated on a girl who was walking past. She scurried off
fast, heading in the worst possible direction: mine .
    Happy Meal’s eyes landed on me a second
later. A cruel smile pulled at his lips. I didn’t wait long enough to see what
he did next, because I was spinning around and running for my life.
    “Get that fucker!” Other shouts followed,
including death threats. The shit thing was, I was heading in the opposite
direction to my house. Even worse, I couldn’t keep up this speed all the way to
my cousin’s place. I was fast, but Happy Meal was faster, the bastard a winger
in Wera High’s rugby team, not to mention his legs were longer than mine.
    I glanced over my shoulder, spotting him
gaining on me, his mates not far behind him, those bastards also in his team.
Needing to throw some obstacles in their way, I cut into a property and
sprinted down the gravel driveway, my boots crunching against the loose
surface. I passed an old station wagon, aiming for the back fence, knowing I
could at least lose the prop, since he was too short to haul his stocky arse
over it.
    I leapt at the fence and grabbed the top,
pulling myself up and over it. I landed on the other side with a thud, then
sprinted past a woman hanging washing on the clothesline. She shrieked in
surprise, the sound turning into a scream as my pursuers cleared the fence. I
glanced back, spotting Happy Meal and one of his mates still on my tail, the
other, as expected, nowhere to be seen. I cut right, now heading towards my
house. If I got back in time, they wouldn’t dare enter my property. My pit
bulls would rip their throats out if they even tried. But I had to get there
first—and through the locked gate.
    Behind me, the pounding of feet grew louder.
I glanced over my shoulder as I neared the end of Balwyn Road, spotting the two
bastards closing in on me. The distance between us was decreasing at a rapid
rate, Happy Meal far too fast for me. If he hadn’t had his mate backing him up,
I would’ve spun around and taken him on, because I was just as good a fighter
as he was, if not better. But I didn’t have a chance against the both of them, plus
I was still hurting from the beating they’d given me earlier.
    I rounded another corner and sprinted down
the road. Even though my chest was burning like I’d swallowed a jarful of
jalapenos, I picked up speed, which only made my bruised ribs throb even more.
It felt as though my lungs were about to burst through them.
    In the distance I could see Phelia’s house,
its pink exterior reminding me of candy floss. I wished I’d accepted her
invitation, because instead of running, I’d be coming. I almost laughed at my
pathetic joke, but couldn’t expel air I didn’t have, everything inside of me
dying badly. In a moment of desperation, or stupidity, I considered banging on
her door for help, but quickly came to my senses, knowing it would infuriate
Happy Meal even more, especially since she was the reason all of this was
happening.
    I passed the pink monstrosity. A woman stopped
pushing her pram as I neared her, her scared gaze fixated on my pursuers. I
glanced behind me yet again, relieved that this time they’d slowed down enough
to stop gaining on me. Unfortunately, my glance seemed to light a grill under
Happy Meal’s buns. He picked up speed, the bastard once again gaining on me,
the bag on my back slowing me down. But there was no way I was tossing away
three grand’s worth of coke. If Happy Meal didn’t kill me, my cousin’s boss
would.
    I gritted my teeth and put in a final
burst of speed, hoping I could unlock my gate before he reached me. But, from
the sound of pounding boots behind me, I knew I wasn’t going to make it in time
for my dogs to take them out. And there was no way I could climb my wire fence,
since it was sky high and topped with barbed wire, something my father had been
ordered to take down since it was illegal.
    A car pulled