Painting in Acrylic by
Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12
Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15
Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18
Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21
For those of you who missed the post of the release, I briefly explained how the series began as an idea for a Young Adult novel, and that I had in fact written what amounts to a novella taking place the summer before REBORN begins, and I decided to release it here on steemit.
BORN
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Great, just great,” Anna shook her head.
“Yeah, I don’t think he heard the first part of what you said,” Jess made a face of sympathy, “Do you want me to go after him and tell him…
“I find Austin way more attractive, that’s what I was going to finish it up with!” She whirled around and ran down the path catching Austin just as he was walking through the gate.
She grabbed his arm and he threw it off violently.
“Don’t!” he shouted.
“It’s not what you think…
“I don’t want to hear it! The simple truth is that you only wanted to be with me because you couldn’t stand the thought of me with someone else, you didn’t want to fucking share!”
“That’s not true!”
He shook his head and backed away, “Enough, just go back to wherever you disappeared to…
“I wasn’t with Leo!” She yelled.
He shook his head one last time with a look that clearly said he was done, don’t follow, then turned and strode away.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she watched him go, a string of emotions from frustration to hurt to anger crashed through her leaving her breathless and exhausted. She turned and trudged back to the camp, ducking around the tents so she wouldn’t run into Jess or anyone else and climbed into the tent she was supposed to be sharing with Macey. Within seconds sleep mercifully came and claimed her.
**
The following morning she woke to someone shaking her gently. She cracked open her eyes to see Jess hovering above her, sunlight streaming through the opening of the tent behind her.
“’time is it?” she mumbled.
“Almost noon…I talked to Austin.”
Anna blinked, trying to clear the cobwebs out of her brain, “Yeah?” She asked wearily.
“I told him what you said before the part he heard and what you were going to say after.”
“And?”
Jess frowned, “He said it didn’t matter because you obviously don’t really want a relationship with him…
She drew in a breath and struggled to a sitting position.
…and I tried to tell him that wasn’t true but he basically said he didn’t want to hear it.”
Anna stared down at her lap feeling the tears prick at her once more.
“Don’t cry,” Jess said hastily, putting an arm around her, “I’m sure you can change his mind.”
Anna nodded without conviction and leaned over to grab an outfit from her duffel bag. She chose a pair of cut-off shorts that accentuated her curvy waist and cute butt while making her petite legs appear longer and a tight pastel pink and blue tank top that complimented her eyes while displaying her bosom to great advantage. She ran a brush through her silvery blonde hair and chewed on her bottom lip, trying to think of how she could convince Austin he was wrong without having to tell him about the shadow men.
She was still mulling this over, contemplating than discarding numerous conversation starters, when she walked through the gates an hour later. He’d already left camp by the time she’d motivated herself to leave the tent and Jess disappeared with Nate shortly after that. She’d wandered down the dirt road to see if there were any stragglers at the camp from the night before but it had been empty.
She played with her phone while she walked towards the main grandstand texting Jenna and Marina, and she was feeling shamefully sorry for herself when the shouting began.
Startled she looked up just in time to get out of the way of several guys running down the path, all of them being dogged by shadow men. Dogged wasn’t quite the word, it looked more like the shadows were riding piggyback. She watched in horror as they clashed with several other guys, and a vicious fight ensued not more than twenty feet from where she was crouched.
She noticed another bystander almost directly across from her and when he turned his head slightly she recoiled. Not so much from the eerie smile he was sporting as his inky black eyes-it was the guy from the other night. She should’ve turned away immediately but like a train-wreck it was impossible not to stare. And he must’ve felt the weight of it because he turned fully and stared right back.
She saw a couple of guys in her peripheral vision who also seemed to be watching the guy...hadn't she seen those two when she was lost? She didn't get a chance to dwell on it because at that moment he started toward her. She jumped from her crouch and ran full-tilt, hoping to God he wasn’t chasing. She chanced a look over her shoulder and ran smack into someone who grabbed a hold of her. She screamed.
“Hey, whoa, it’s me!”
She blinked her eyes rapidly and focused on Tyler’s concerned face than promptly burst into tears.
Tyler hugged her tightly, “What’s going on? Is someone chasing you? Anna talk to me.”
She shook her head and her knees gave out forcing Tyler to lower them to the ground. She couldn’t stop shaking and didn’t even notice when Tyler’s arms were replaced with someone else’s until she heard his voice.
“Shh, it’s okay, I’ve got you.”
She peered up at Austin, her lip still trembling. “I think I might be crazy,” she whispered, than buried her face in his chest and sobbed. He lifted her up and wrapped her legs around his waist then carried her to a clearing. He sat with her cradled in his arms in the grass, rocking her while she cried, murmuring to her that it was going to be okay.
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