TRUE BOND: Prequel Novella (Heart of Hunters) by Johnson Bella

Author:Johnson, Bella [Johnson, Bella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-10-02T22:00:00+00:00

James woke from a sharp jab in his ribs. Raising his head from the lumpy foam of the couch, he opened his eyes into the direct stare of a young boy looming above him.

“Jesus . . .” He sat up quickly, moving away from the child as he continued to inspect James. “You must be Josh.”

The boy raised his eyebrow beneath the tousled brown locks across his forehead. “How’d you know that?”

James rubbed a hand over his sleep-filled eyes. “Lucky guess.”

“Do you know my sister?”

James paused at the question. “Do random people normally sleep on your couch?”

“Sometimes.”

“Well I’m James.” He hadn’t enjoyed Josh’s answer. “And yes, I know your sister. I put her to bed last night.”

“Too much information.” The boy made a puking face.

“You can’t be more than eight years old, what do you know about too much information?”

“I’m actually ten.”

James looked him over. It was the long hair and worn clothes that made him look younger.

Josh crossed his arms across his chest. “Where’s Kara?”

“I’m assuming still in her room?” James said in a slow voice. Her brother was thorough, perhaps even a bit protective.

“You talk weird.”

“As I’ve heard,” James muttered and stood up, chucking the holey flannel blanket to the back of the couch.

“Whoa.” Josh’s eyes widened.

“What now?” James snapped, looking for where he’d put his phone down the night before.

“Your shirt. That’s awesome!”

James looked down to the shirt he had on, the one he’d thrown on while being consumed about the way Kara’s lips had brushed his before she’d gone to bed.

“D-do you play soccer?”

James reached for his phone on the coffee table as he answered, “I guess you could say that.”

“Kara never said she was friends with a soccer player. What do you play?”

Josh’s question distracted him from his loaded phone of text messages. “I’m a midfielder.”

The boy’s eyes widened with wonderment. “That’s really cool!”

James almost grumbled something uninspiring, but looking at the kid’s excited expression got to him. “What about you?”

“Oh, I’m not on a team, but I wanna be.”

James gave him a nod, reminded of the fact that he’d been on a team since he was four years old. The fond thought turned sour as he recalled the one year he’d been without football, due to the death of his parents. “Are you any good?”

Josh blinked at him. “I don’t know, want me to show you?”

James glanced around and grabbed his coat. “Alright.” He followed the boy through the house and out the back door into an overgrown backyard. Josh picked a nearby ball that was ragged and housed more than a few broken stitches and James noticed this as the boy tossed the ball to his feet in the tall grass.

“You probably play on really nice grass.” There was something heartbreaking about Josh’s tone and it made James think about how different their worlds were. This time it wasn’t about demon, it was about money. They were poor, had little rules and lived with what they had; he had appearances and a closet full of designer names.

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