Free Fragments (The Broken Series Book 2) by Carrie Cox Page A

wouldn’t be interested?
    I bristled at Alexander’s reproachful tone.
    “I’m here to help Jack, not to report on him,” I said, cooly. “I’m not your spy!”  
    Alexander’s eyes were glacial as he took a menacing step towards me.
    “You’d better hope he’s okay then.”
    I shook my head as panic churned my stomach. Alexander was right. I should have refused Jack’s request to be left alone. After all, with Jack’s history…
    I paused. As far as Alexander knew, I had no idea about Jack’s history…
    If Joanna hadn’t told me Jack had tried to commit suicide, I wouldn’t have found out. Alexander hadn’t deemed it necessary to tell me.
    Besides, Jack had told me that it had been an accident — too much alcohol and too many pills. He hadn’t really intended to…
    A creeping feeling of dread crawled over my skin… Perhaps Jack hadn’t told me the whole story.
    I wanted to scream at Alexander, to accuse him of keeping secrets from me, but I didn’t. He might act as though he was furious with me, but I knew that he was worried about his brother.
    So was I.
    If Jack wasn’t in his wing of the house, where could he have gone?
    A voice behind us caught all of our attention, and we turned back to the house.
    It was Maria. She stood at the back door, waving frantically at us.
    Alexander set off towards the house, and Lauren and I exchanged confused glances.  
    I felt sick. We ran after Alexander, following him back to the house, leaving all the garden stuff scattered about on the lawn.  
    When we got there, Maria was saying she was sorry over and over.
    “What’s the matter?” Lauren asked, putting a hand onto Maria’s shoulder. “Please, Maria, whatever is the matter?”
    “He’s taken two bottles of whiskey,” Alexander said in clipped tones, and he glared at me as if it was all my fault.
    “You can’t blame Kristina,” Lauren said. “That’s not fair.”
    Before Alexander could reply, his cell phone rang and he slipped it quickly out of his pocket and answered it on the second ring.
    Alexander’s face paled as he listened to whoever was on the other end of the phone. “Okay,” he said and hung up.  
    He looked directly at me. “Jack’s been seen on the edge of the cliffs.”
    He didn’t wait for us to reply. He set off running across the lawn in the direction of the cliffs.
    Cliffs.
    The word seemed to echo in my mind over and over.
    It didn’t mean anything. I tried to reassure myself. Jack was probably just out for a walk. So what if he needed a drink. It had been a hard day.
    No, I told myself again, it didn’t mean anything… but even so, Lauren and I chased after the distant figure of Alexander until my lungs were burning and I was gasping for breath.

15

    Alexander sprinted ahead. I tried my best to keep up, but it felt like I was wading through thick molasses.
    It reminded me about a recurring nightmare I’d had when I’d been a little girl. In the dream, I had tried to run away from a two-headed monster, but my legs would never move fast enough. This situation gave me exactly the same feeling of dread. I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop the inevitable.
    I willed my legs to move faster, but they felt so heavy and unresponsive.
    I couldn’t see Lauren, but I knew she was running too. I could hear the thud of her feet against the lawn behind me.
    Ahead of us, Alexander suddenly disappeared from view. I knew he was now making his way down towards the cliff edge. The lawns sloped steeply down to meet a stony section of earth and rock before the land dropped away completely.
    I said a mental prayer.  
    Please let him be okay. Oh, God, please.  
    I couldn’t stand it if…  
    I could hear angry voices. Alexander was shouting, but I was sure I could hear someone replying angrily. Was it Jack? I couldn’t make out what he was saying over the sound of the breaking waves.
    When I finally reached the edge of the grass, I stopped abruptly. The