Read Unlikely Hero (Atlanta #1) for Free Online Page B

exercised and cleaned her apartment. This was about the same as every Sunday. This week, however, she was not a zombie during the process. She had life bubbling from within. Song lyrics sang from her mouth while she dusted, and joy danced in her feet — she put some of her favorite music on while she cleaned. Simple things like that were becoming more natural, even after only less than a week of writing.
    She knew writing was only part of the difference. Another part was the mystery of her writing companion. Even more, though, was from herself. She made the decision to let happiness in. Once she allowed that little crack in her wall, happiness was pushing through as fast as it could. She didn’t realize how strongly she was blocking out the good feelings in the world along with all the rest.

Chapter Three
    Sunday found Marcus bruised and sore from his fight against Skevly. He won the match by submission in the second round. As always, the ref had to pull him away from his opponent after the match was called.  
    Manners, like stop-before-you-kill etiquette, never mattered much to Marcus when he was in the cage. All he knew was this: enemy, hit/kick, take down, defeat. He didn’t see a lot of need to know any more than that. The morning after a fight, however, there were three completely different things he knew: ice packs, breakfast, and call sister.  
    Scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, orange juice, and three ice packs later, Marcus cleaned up his breakfast and stretched his sore joints and muscles. He poured himself a glass of tap water and was ready to call Cassie.  
    He called her every Sunday morning to see how she was doing. Cassie was his twin, just finishing a 2-year-degree in community college after 5 years of taking classes. Between getting away from their father and waitressing full-time to cover bills while she studied, she was set to graduate at the end of the summer session in August.  
    She would be a licensed medical assistant and already had a job lined up with a local pediatric clinic she did her internship with. Marcus was so proud of her and supported her the entire way. The money he saved by living as simply as he did always went straight to Cassie’s education fund. He would do anything for her. She was the one ray of sunshine in the darkness of his childhood.
    “Hey, Cass,” Marcus said when she picked up her cell.
    “Hey Marc! How was your fight? You still have a face?”
    “Yes, thank you, but I broke two toes on the guy’s head.”
    “Yikes. Don’t tell me about it. I don’t really want to know.”
    “Then you don’t want to hear about the knee-shaped bruise in my ribcage?”
    “Stop it! I don’t even know how you stand doing that.”
    “What can I say. All the sewing jobs were taken.”
    “Smart ass.”
    “Yep. So what’s new?” Marcus asked Cassie.
    She responded, “Started my last class this past week. LAST CLASS! I can’t believe it. The class seems ok, I’ve had the prof before and he’s decent. Shouldn’t be too big of a deal, and then I’m going to pass my exams and have a real job, Marc. A REAL job. I can finally stop schlepping drinks.”
    “That’s great, Cass. Seriously great.”
    “I know. Thanks for your help. I’m going to pay you back every cent,” she said
    “It wasn’t a loan, that was me helping. Just focus on getting yourself started,” he replied warmly.
    “And there’s the story of why you rock, Marc. So what about you? Anything new?”
    Marcus hesitated, and decided not to tell her about Erin Connor and the notebook. Cassie would probably yell at him for reading it and miss the whole point of making a connection with someone. So after a few seconds, he finally responded, “Nah, same old thing here.”
    “Whatever. I know you, Marcus. What’s on your mind? Are you ok?”
    “Geez, Cassie, you’re a pain. No, I just sort of met someone, well, not really met them, but got to know them.”
    “Huh? How does that work? Is this someone a