Reading Online Novel

Corded (Corded Saga #1)(32)

 
"A child?" Ethan's eyes grew even bigger. "Are you serious?"
 
"Yes."
 
"Are you a Breeder too?" He looked at me with new eyes.
 
"I don't know." I looked down. "Obviously. You heard my conversation with Mason."
 
"You might be." A combination of excitement and fear crossed his face. "That decides it. You have to get out of here."
 
"Yes, because I have to save Quinn and Bailey."
 
"Breaking a breeder out of Central is impossible. And they'll keep the kid too. The system isn't producing like it used to." He wrung his hands. "And they'll take you. See if they can make you breed. You don't want that."
 
I was glad Bailey could also be a boy's name. I couldn't trust Ethan. I couldn't trust anyone. "Then please leave me alone."
 
"Do you really think Mason is going to help you?" Ethan put one of his hands in his pants pocket. "When he finds out what's really going on … " Ethan started to sweat. "Either he's going to turn you in, or I don't even want to know."
 
"Right now he's my only option. And he's not going to turn me in. I'm valuable to him."
 
"He's messing with you, Kayla. You have to trust me. He was never going to help you."
 
"But he has a reason to help. If he can get Quinn … "
 
"She's a breeder …  Central is going to raise hell if he tries to get her. A girl isn't worth that trouble."
 
"But she's blond. Like me."
 
 
 
        
          
        
         
 
"He has you. That makes her less important. And that's all assuming he doesn't give you away to save himself trouble. If Quinn sends Central here … "
 
"She won't. She doesn't know I'm here. This plan came much later after she was kidnapped." I didn't have the heart to tell him about his cousin. I still wasn't ready to accept that the one person who'd been so willing to help me was likely dead. "Besides, isn't a Breeder worth something? If she had babies … " My skin crawled thinking about what she'd have to do to have those babies. But I needed to believe there was a reason for Mason to help.
 
"What's he going to do with a baby boy? Sell it to Central? Still not worth it."
 
But Bailey wasn't a boy. And that information might be my ticket. "Either way I need to take the chance."
 
"But you'll get no other chances. You don't want this life for yourself. You deserve better."
 
"Better than the girls here? The ones you use?"
 
He frowned. "I don't use them. And they're different."
 
"Of course you're using them. You say I'm stupid, yet you're being intentionally blockheaded." I was done playing nice. I'd laid my cards on the table, and he still wasn't willing to help.
 
"Blockheaded?" He cracked a smile. It seemed foreign on his aged face. "Is that a new word of yours?"
 
"You know exactly what I mean." I glared at him. "I came here for your help, but you won't give it."
 
"I won't help you do something completely impossible. Don't make it out to be something it isn't."
 
"Fine. Then I'm going down to the Hydros."
 
"Why? What's the point?"
 
"I want to. These are probably my last few days of freedom. I want to use them the way I want to use them."
 
"Please, don't do this. I can still get you out." He put his hands on my shoulders.
 
"I need to save them, Ethan." I sighed. "I'm not sure how to explain it any other way, but they are a part of me. I can't let anything happen to them."
 
He nodded solemnly. "Fine. I will do what I can to protect you, but you need to do your part. No more hurting members of the Circle."
 
"You know what he was going to do to me." My skin crawled at the thought.
 
"Yes, but you shouldn't have been alone with him to begin with."
 
"Then come with me to the Hydros. You want to help, that's a way to do it." It wasn't, but I wanted to get rid of the strangeness between us. We'd never go back to what we were, but he was from the Rurals. Even years away could not erase the childhood we spent together.  
 
He pressed the button, releasing the elevator, but we didn't move. Instead the door opened, and Mason stepped inside. "What is going on here?" He glared at Ethan.
 
"Nothing." Ethan stepped away from me. It was still strange watching him so beholden to another. "I am escorting Kayla down to the Hyrdros."