Soul Fire by Nancy Allan Read Free Book Online

are. I’ll stand by you, Ashla . . . no matter what. Just do what you have to do.”

Justin

CHAPTER NINE
    “I’m going to sue those people ta hell an’ back!” my dad’s face was purple with rage as he glared down at my mother. “Of all the ignorant, irresponsible . . .” He bent over to get his breath before continuing: “Their girl took our son’s legs, destroyed his career, and ruined his life. Hell, he’ll be lucky if he ever walks again—”
    “Calm down, Ned. We can talk about this sensibly,” My mother’s smoky voice quivered with anxiety.
    “Piss on that! I’m calling our lawyer, Susan, whether y’all like it or not. The ski resort confirmed that the run was open when Justin went down. Ski patrol actually talked to him. They posted the closure afterward. That girl should never have skied that dang run. If she’d used any kind of good sense, Justin would be on the ice right now. There’s no excuse for her kind of ignorance. She’s at fault and I’m going to make her family pay.”
    Hoping to remain unseen, I backed the wheelchair quietly from the kitchen annex and worked my way back toward my room. My father’s angry voice followed, every word penetrating the walls and very likely the entire neighborhood, even with vast distances between the estate-sized properties.
    I turned into my bedroom, closed the door, soaked up the new-found silence, and unclenched my jaw. The knot in my stomach softened and my collie, Bones, came out from under the desk. Never a brave dog, he was first to take cover at the sound of yelling. He nuzzled my hand, so I gave him a reassuring pat. “Hey. It’s not so bad. Well, I mean, it’s been worse, Boy. Much worse.”
    I was troubled by my father’s threat to sue the Cameron family. Somehow, I had to prevent that, as I knew that I was equally at fault for what happened. Instead of trying to be some kind of hero and catch the girl hurtling off the jump, I could have moved out of the way. Each time I tried to explain that to my dad, he flew into a rage. Like a locomotive roaring full tilt through a tunnel, nothing could change his viewpoint or objective once he set himself a course.
    While I was in the hospital, Mole had ferreted up information on the Cameron family. We were stunned to learn Ashla Cameron and I were both on the mountain that day as part of the school ski trip, which meant we attended the same school. I racked my brain trying to remember who she was, but I simply could not. How could I have missed seeing this beauty?
    Unfortunately, hard times had befallen her family in recent months. Mole had learned that Ashla’s father, an engineer, had lost his job at a local engineering firm and had taken two low wage jobs, so the last thing he needed was a frivolous lawsuit. Money doesn’t heal bones and our family certainly had enough wealth without creating more chaos.
    My thoughts drifted back to Ashla. The name fit the copper-haired beauty of my recurring dreams. When the going got tough, it was her gorgeous face that looked down on me. She had not only saved my life that day on the mountain, something everyone seemed to have forgotten, the lingering memory of her had carried me through the agony of recovery, through Father’s rages, Mother’s drunken stupors, and the never-ending pain.
    I felt ostracized, like someone who’d lost his place in the world. I missed the team, the game, and the camaraderie that came with it. But through everything I had held onto her image . . . the tilt of her head, the way the light had played on the explosion of copper hair, those sparkling green eyes, and the sound of her sweet voice promising me life. She had saved me that day and since then, it had been her image that had lifted me through the bad times and made life tolerable. There was no way I’d let my father hurt her or her family. I had to find a way to stop him.
    I looked down at the casts on my legs. The surgeon had inserted titanium rods, numerous screws and