Read Online Marker of Hope by Nely Cab - Free Book Online

few times on impact. I walked over to
him.
    “Looks believable enough.” David wiped the
sweat from his brow as he studied his handy work. “Now, let’s go
tell your mother how a tree fell on her car, and we’re having a
baby.”

CHAPTER 9

    As we drove across town, heading to my house,
David asked me about my diet. I told him I’d been eating a lot of
vegetables and not much of anything else.
    “Have you tried eating raw animal meat to
curb your hunger for human flesh?” he asked.
    “I hadn’t thought about it.”
    “Well,” David said with raised brows, “you
may want to try it before I end up being your first kill.”
    “You scared of me?” I teased. “Don’t worry.
That won’t happen. With everyone else, I have to restrain myself.
Keep myself in check. I try to avoid physical contact unless
necessary. But you don’t have the same effect on me. I don’t know
what it is, but you’re the only person I don’t want to bite a chunk
off.”
    “Good news for me. Bad news for the rest of
the world.”
    David parked the car on the curve. I stared
at my house from the car window. The demons hadn’t been able to
kill me, but I was sure Claire was about to finish the job for
them.
    “Hey, you know what? I think we should hold
off telling my mom about me being pregnant for a few more days. At
least until we tell your parents. Or maybe…” I bit my thumbnail. “I
think if we tell them at the same time, we have a better chance of
surviving. Drawing up some sort of escape plan would be sensible,
too. What do you think?”
    He rubbed a side of the steering wheel with
one finger as he considered my suggestion.
    “I can see it now…” He squinted his eyes. “My
father would end up insulting your mother and you, and your
mother…”
    “Oh, my mom wouldn’t stand for it,” I said.
“Someone would end up getting punched in the mouth, and I’m willing
to bet my mom would be the one throwing the punches.” I sighed.
“Okay. Bad idea. I guess there’s no easy way to do this.”
    “I’m afraid not.” He pursed his lips. “It’s
show time.”
    ***
    Claire was in bed lounging in her nightshirt,
munching on popcorn and reading a romance novel with a muscular,
sweaty guy on the cover.
    “Hey.” She looked up from her book. “How’d
the drive go?”
    “It went…a little…um… You know.” I
shrugged.
    She looked me up and down. “Were you wearing
that shirt when you left?”
    “What?” I glanced at the new shirt. “Oh,
this. No, I went over to Galilea’s house. She gave me an early
Christmas present. Insisted I wear it.”
    “That was nice of her.” She stuffed a handful
of popcorn in her mouth. “Did you two make up?”
    “Yes.” I tucked my sweaty hands in my back
pocket, and rocked on my heels. “Mom, can you come downstairs?”
    “In a minute. Just let me finish reading one
more chapter.”
    “A whole chapter? Will it take long? We have
company.”
    “Who?” She smiled and cocked her brow. “Is it
Eros? That boy has a thing for you. It’s so obvious. He may be a
little old for you, though. Don’t you think?”
    “No. I mean, yes. I mean, it’s…it’s…someone
else. Can you just please come downstairs—please? I really, really
need you to come downstairs. Now . Please.”
    “Okay?” Claire gave me a peculiar look. “Let
me put some pants on, and I’ll be right down.”
    “Okay,” I said.
    “Okay.”
    I lingered at the door. “Okay.”
    “Yes, okay. Okay ?” She set her book on
the nightstand. “You’re acting so weird.”
    “No, I’m not,” I said, defensively. “So
you’re coming down now?” I asked again, and she frowned at me.
“Yes, you are. Right. Okay.” I nodded. “Great. I’ll be
downstairs…waiting for you. So… Yeah.”
    I closed the door to Claire’s room and
hurried down the stairs to the living room. David was sitting on
the couch with his elbows resting on his knees.
    “She’ll be down in a minute.” I took a deep
breath as I sat