Forsaken by Sophia Sharp Read Free Book Online Page A

trustworthy.” Hunter patted the car’s roof affectionately. “She’s been with me for a long time.”
    “Did you buy it yourself?”
    “I saved up for it, yeah. I know it might not look it, but the car’s safe, trust me. I do the maintenance.”
    That didn’t offer much reassurance to Nora.
    “Come on.” Hunter unlocked the car. “We don’t bite.”
    A light drizzle started to fall, and Nora shrugged. As long as the car worked, it would get them where they needed to go. Besides, she looked around the half-deserted parking lot, it would offer protection from any rabid animals, as well. She walked around the front and climbed in.
    As she closed the door and pulled her seatbelt on, Hunter inserted the key and started the engine. To her surprise, it started smoothly, rumbling like a caged animal as he shifted into gear. “See,” he smiled at her, “I told you it’s well maintained.”
    “I was expecting it to barely turn on.” Nora laughed.
    “Ah, come on, it doesn’t look that bad.” Hunter laughed as he released the clutch, hit the gas, and shot forward.
    “No, I guess not.” The start of a familiar song played from the speakers, and Nora listened for a second to catch it. Then she got it. “Bob Marley?”
    “It’s a classic, yeah.” He flashed her a grin and shifted. “A CD of his greatest hits.” He leaned forward to turn up the song.
    She laughed. “Nice. Where are we going?”
    “There’s a lake around here, isn’t there? Lake Vancouver?”
    “Yeah, there is.”
    “We need to go there.”
    “How come?”
    “For what I want to show you, we need to be somewhere calm…somewhere serene. I’m sure there’s a lookout point at the lake, right?”
    Nora watched the scenery blur by as she tried to remember. “Yeah, I think there is.”
    “Good. Do you know the way?”
    “Oh yeah, definitely.”
    A few minutes later, Nora spoke up. “Hey, can I ask you a question?”
    Hunter took a left off the main road. “Sure.”
    “It’s kind of personal, and I don’t mean to pry, but I’ve been wondering this ever since last week.”
    “Yes?”
    “Um, when you took on the four guys in the school. You were like, amazing. Fast and agile, and you knew exactly what you were doing.”
    “You noticed,” he chuckled.
    “Well, I wanted to know, how’d you learn to fight like that?”
    Hunter spared a look over his shoulder at her. “ That’s your question?”
    “Yes!” To her surprise, Hunter burst out laughing. “What’s so funny?” Nora demanded, feeling her cheeks start to grow red.
    “It’s just the way you framed that,” Hunter said amidst his laughter. “Building up the question like that. Saying it was something personal. I was expecting something much worse.”
    “No, I…” Nora stumbled abashedly. It felt like he was laughing at her, and she began to feel awkward. “I just wanted to be polite!”
    “Well, after what I showed you this morning, I don’t think you need to worry about prying ,” Hunter said lightheartedly. Then he smiled at her. “Ahh, come on, I’m not making fun of you. I’ll answer your question, don’t worry. How’d I learn to fight like that? Well, you don’t know this, but I alluded to it earlier, when I said things from my childhood were dark and foggy. The truth is, I don’t have much of a family. I don’t have a family at all, actually.” He paused, staring straight ahead out the windshield.
    “I grew up in an orphanage and moved around a whole lot. Doing that as a kid, especially without a real family to back you up, you learn to stick up for yourself. I guess I just learned on the streets.”
    “Wow.” Something tugged at Nora’s heart, not pity, but…sorrow. “I’m so sorry. About your family. It must be tough not knowing who they are.”
    “I don’t worry about it much.” Hunter shrugged it off. “It’s not like I haven’t gotten used to it by now, anyway.”
    “I guess,” Nora said. “But I can’t imagine what that’s