Read Online Pure Hell (Seventh Level Book 1) by Charity Parkerson, Regina Puckett - Free Book Online Page B

was old enough to know the truth about my mother’s absences, my grandmother told me about the day my mother showed up out of the blue with a newborn in her arms.”
    He looked away again. “It was years before I knew why my baby brother cried all the time in those first few months. It seems my mother stayed away so she could prostitute herself out to support her drug habit. She probably had no idea who William’s father was. It could have been any of her johns.”
    “So William was born hooked on drugs?”
    Mark pursed his lips together and nodded. “Yeah. My grandmother had her hands full with the two of us, but we couldn’t have had a better person in our corner. She put the fear of God in us while letting us know she would die for us if need be. I owe her everything.”
    “Are you and your brother close?” The question slipped out without warning. She wasn’t even certain why she asked it.
    He squeezed her fingers. “You’re thinking about Kylie.”
    Tears filled her eyes and she bit her lip.
    “What happened between you two? No one here knew she even had a sister until we searched her apartment and saw the photo of the two of you.”
    Anne moved back to the couch and fingered the small diary next to her. She still hadn’t opened it. She was too scared. What if she did and discovered Kylie hated her? She couldn’t blame her if she did. She had never been there for her. Her baby sister had only been seven the night their parents died. How could she have turned her back on the only person she had left in her life?
    “Our lives were perfect. Kylie and I had the best parents in the world. They owned a small farm and while we didn’t live in a large house, nor did we have a lot of money, we were happy.”
    She sat back and crossed her feet at the ankles. It was her deep in thought pose. It wasn’t easy remembering the worst time in her life. “For Kylie’s seventh birthday, Mom invited several of our neighbors and friends over for cake. After the party was over, my best friend begged me to go home with her. Of course I wouldn’t let up on my mom until she agreed to let me go.”
    She sucked in a ragged breath before continuing, “The next day my friend’s mom woke me up to tell me there had been a bad fire at our house. She didn’t tell me about my parents right away, but I could tell from the expression on her face something was terribly wrong. They took me to our closest neighbor’s house. They had Kylie there with them. When I got there, they finally told me my parents hadn’t made it out of the fire.”
    Mark settled onto the couch next to her. “How old were you when your parents died?”
    Anne wiped a tear away before replying, “I was ten.”
    “Kylie must have been in shock. How did she make it out when no one else did?”
    Somehow, while she’d been telling her story, Mark had scooted a couple of inches closer without her noticing. Not that she minded. He was such a paradox. Outside he was all hard angles and toughness but once he let you see inside, he was so sweet and caring. She wanted nothing more than to reach over and touch his cheek. It personified him perfectly. It looked so soft with its smooth, rich mocha color but immediately below all his perfection, his chin was covered in black stubble. It was getting harder and harder to remember she was only staying at his house because he was concerned about her safety.
    Thinking about Mark was easier than remembering Kylie’s haunted look the morning after the fire. Had she been telling the truth all along?
    “She refused to talk to anyone else but me. When my friend’s parents finally took me to where Kylie was, she told me a dead man had carried her out of the house.”
    Mark rubbed at the stubble on his chin. “A dead man? Maybe with all the smoke, she only thought it looked similar to a dead man, or perhaps your father carried her out and went back in after your mother. Sometimes kids state things differently than an adult