Child of Recklessness (Trials of Strength Book 2) by Matthew R. Bell Page B

almost dark pit-like eyes. ‘Yes, Brian managed to
locate where the files were hacked from.’
    ‘ It’s a building on-’ Brian started, he looked relieved at
being able to speak, but Chris cut him off.
    ‘ Not now!’ he barked. ‘As soon as you tell him, he’s going to
march straight up to the front door and get himself
killed!’
    ‘ I’d just like to remind all parties in attendance right now
that, yes, yes I am still standing here,’ I said.
    Chris
softened a little.
    ‘ Let’s just relax okay?’ he pleaded. ‘Anna’s counting on
this.’
    I sighed
and nodded. He was right. As soon as Anna mentioned Brian had found
a location, I had started mapping out multiple ways of attack. The
door to the room opened and Paul stepped inside carrying bags of
food, and beer.
    Beer?
    I eyed
Anna curiously, and she shrugged.
    ‘ Best form of de-stressing I’ve ever knew,’ she said. ‘Don’t
get your knickers in a twist, I’m not having any.’
    Chris
and Paul worked to move a large table into the middle of the room.
Both of them protested my help, preferring to show off their own
strength. Anna and I poked fun at them, and Brian laughed from the
kitchen. It turned out, along with his insane computer skills,
Brian was also a good cook, and the smell of chicken wafted over
and heat up the room. Anna had decided on the dinner, saying that
she wanted to have a late Christmas. She’d even made Paul pick up
gifts, gifts she’d ordered over one of the computers so we wouldn’t
know what they were.
    The sun
set and the moon took its place. Anna dimmed the lights and lit
some candles. It cast a pleasant glow around the room, and I
inadvertently found myself enjoying the night. Everyone relaxed,
Chris and Paul, usually the most highly strung of the group were
laughing and clinking beers. It brought out a smile I couldn’t
remove, even if I’d wanted to. If you took away everything that
happened, Chris and Paul were just two guys, who showed they would
get on; Anna and I were a couple, happy to be with one another,
with a miracle on the way; and Brian was the super-smart sarcastic
one, who pulled the group together by being likeable and
level-headed.
    ‘ This was a great idea, Anna,’ I said sincerely. ‘Thank
you.’
    She
smiled, and Brian brought over a large plate with a huge cooked
chicken on it. My mouth watered, I couldn’t remember the last time
I’d had something that good.
    ‘ To us,’ Brian lifted his beer, ‘we will catch the bastards who
did this to us, and we will come out on top.’
    ‘ Hear, hear,’ we all cried.
    The next hour was bliss. We laughed, drank, ate. Chris
steadily became drunk, and started a wonky tune of Kelly Clarkson’s
‘ My Life Would Suck Without
You’ , drawing more laughter from the
group.
    ‘ No it’s true,’ he continued once he’d stopped. ‘You guys, you
guys are mine family. Mine family, my fami…’
    We all
clutched our sides in laughter. Chris’s face crunched into a frown
as he sat there, contemplating his words.
    ‘ So, Lucas,’ Brian said from the head of the table, ‘what was
your life like before all things went to hell, and you turned into
a quivering little madam?’
    ‘ Ohhhhh,’ Anna laughed, tears forming in her eyes.
    ‘ Madam?’ I chuckled.
    ‘ Yeah, come on,’ Brian teased. ‘You were a little bit
whiny.’
    ‘ No he wasn’t,’ Anna defended half-heartedly.
    ‘ I guess your humour is an acquired taste, huh?’ I chuckled
then shrugged. ‘You’re wrong. I wasn’t a little whiny at
all.
    ‘ I was a lot.’
    Anna and
Brian cackled, and we chinked beers. Anna sipped on a glass of
coke.
    ‘ Before, well, it was nothing spectacular, I lived with my
folks, went to college. Hung out with friends, you know normal
stuff.’
    ‘ What did you do at college?’ he followed up.
    ‘ Computers,’ I smiled, ‘studying them, hardware and software,
yada yada.’
    Brian
brightened at the mention of the thing he was brilliant
at.
    ‘ How good