Sudden Independents by Ted Hill Read Free Book Online

then Vanessa.
    Mark stood up in the middle of the swirling chaos with his napkin clutched in a knuckled fist. He spoke to Molly in a tight, strained voice. “I don’t want you to sit here with us anymore.”
    Molly’s eyes were gorged with sudden tears. Her lips trembled. She laid her hands on the table like she might fall if she lacked the support. “But, it’s only because…”
    “Molly, I don’t want to hear another word out of you.”
    Molly scanned the unsympathetic faces at the table. Then she looked around the dining hall. “Quit staring at me!” she screamed, and bolted out through the kitchen.
    Mark plopped back in his seat, spread his napkin in his lap and reached over for Vanessa’s hand.
    Vanessa’s face twisted as though somebody had kicked her in the gut. Jimmy slid his chair back. “Are you okay?”
    Her expression relaxed a bit after she puckered her lips and blew out a long stream of air like a deflating balloon. “It’s time. I think the baby’s coming.”
    Mark, Samuel and Jimmy jumped and their chairs crashed backward. Luis’s chair slammed over with him still occupying it.

I t was going to be a long night, and Scout already felt drowsy from a full day’s riding. His adrenaline burned out a while ago. Now he was running on will, and that tank was close to empty, too.
    Hunter slept, his chest rising with even breaths. At least he wasn’t snoring. All traces of his smirk dissipated after the wreck, obliterated by the pain.
    Catherine lay peacefully beside him. She exhaled and blonde strands of hair lying across her face billowed like a curtain in front of an open window.
    Scout completed wrapping Hunter’s arm in the splint with the clean shirt he’d torn into strips. He felt pretty good about setting the break, thinking he’d got it right, hopefully. Accidents and broken bones happened in the Big Bad, and Scout tried to counter them by always being prepared. In Hunter’s case, he was lucky Scout was along. Otherwise, the fool would probably be dead from a lethal combination of shock, exposure and stupidity.
    Now because of his brainless riding, Hunter had probably gone and messed up a good thing. Jimmy would be upset and worried, and he and Vanessa would blow the whole incident out of proportion forcing Hunter and Scout into the buddy system again. That’s what happened when parents died. The oldest sibling took charge.
    Unlike Hunter, Scout never complained. If it weren’t for Vanessa being strong for the both of them in those early years, he would be just another casualty. She was a trouper. They endured through so many days of no food and shelter when she made the difficult decisions that kept them both alive. Scout learned quickly to stick close to his big sister.
    But riding with Hunter again wasn’t something Scout wanted. They shared an amount of job-related camaraderie and even lived in the same house, but that didn’t mean they wanted to ride together. Sometimes, a little space was nice.
    Scout built up the fire to keep Hunter warm. Catherine stirred as light from the flames flickered across her face. She was a big mystery. Hunter had found himself a little girl surviving alone. At least that’s the story she was trying to sell, but Scout wasn’t buying. More than likely, she carried another story giving her nightmares, a story she refused to bring out into the light.
    He poked at the fire and Catherine stirred again, folding her arms together against the cool night air. Scout dusted off his hands on his pants and unhooked the sleeping bag from his motorbike. He zipped it open like a blanket and covered Catherine, who snuggled under with a contented smile.
    Then Hunter started snoring like a chainsaw ripping through a forest. Scout groaned, cringing with each thunderous inhalation, and within moments, tension throbbed between his shoulder blades. He snatched up the water bottles and scampered out of earshot.
    His eyes adjusted away from the fire, picking a path down to