through cracks of thunder. Rain downpours in a heavy shower, thickening the tension growing with every uneven breath. The storm steals the silence, our words—anything we want to voice. Not that it matters. What’s the use of talking when trying to reason with a girl prepared to defy me at every turn? I stomp forward, sweep the hair out of her face and dance my hand around the back of her neck. I’ll get her attention the only way that seems to work. I squeeze the delicate column in my hands and lower my eyes to her so she can believe every word from my mouth.
“Never said you were stupid, babe. I know you’re not. Takes courage and strength to live through what I can only imagine you have and still be here today. But you’re caught up in a world that’s going to get you killed. That day might not have been today. But one day, Lucio will punch you one too many times. Or this…” I use my free hand to trace over the track marks on the inside of her arm, “…this will kill you first. You need to get out now while you have people to help you.”
A lump forms in my throat at the agony in her eyes.
She casts her head downward and away from me and whispers, “It’s too late for that.”
I shake her. “No, it’s not, Ali. You’ve just got to want it bad enough and be strong enough to put the past behind you.”
A tear rolls down her cheek, blending with the rain. “And what happens when Giuseppe finds me? What do you think Lucio will do to me as payback? I’ve tried to get out before, Roamyn. I tried to find you and it didn’t go so well. I also tried to get clean at one point and you know what happened? I ended up on a bridge ready to jump off just so I could feel some sort of relief.” Her voice rises to overcome the thrashing of Mother Nature. “When I’m clean, everything I’ve been through becomes a hallucination I can’t separate from reality. It fucking kills me to remember the pain, their hands on me. Inside of me. You don’t understand and I wouldn’t expect you to. But if I have to suffer through every damn day for the rest of my life, reliving the nightmares of my past, I won’t survive. Because that will kill me. You can judge me just like I’m sure everyone else does, but you have no idea what I’ve been through. The way I handle my life might not be healthy, and every time I escape might be a risk, but it’s the lesser of two evils for me…” she pauses, her eyes glossing over with anguish. “This was a mistake. I shouldn’t have called you. I’m sorry.”
I want to be mad at her. Yell at her. Knock some fucking sense into her, but I can’t because my lungs are constricting. It’s hard to breathe. Difficult to process everything she’s just said without wanting to rip my own damn heart out, serve it up to her so she doesn’t have to suffer alone. So she understands she doesn’t have to walk this path alone. Not anymore. I clench my jaw as a war wages in my mind. Right and wrong—I can’t leave her here. But taking her home to my place is just as much of a mistake. I run a hand through my hair, fighting a losing battle because what’s right and wrong in a world that’s not black and white? It’s chaos. Corruption. Gray.
I stomp forward.
Fuck right and wrong.
My step’s twice the size of hers, I’m on her in second, scooping her up around her legs and throwing her over my shoulder with ease because she barely registers as weight.
I shake my head. Still too fucking thin.
Rounding the corner a flash of black and chrome comes into view and I head for my car.
“Not that this view is anything short of amazing or anything, but what the hell are you doing? Put me down, Roamyn. Right now,” she demands and I give her leg a light slap to shut her up before someone notices us.
My palms bounce off her ass instead of her leg and she squeals. My spine stiffens.
Fuck.
“Did you just smack me?” Shock resonates in Ali’s voice.
I shift her up on my shoulder. “Yeah, I did. Now can you shut up for just one second so I can