your heels with your knees bent. It helped to keep your balance. And if you did lose your balance then you’d just straighten your legs and launch yourself again. I looked like a goofy kangaroo going down the steps, but there was nothing goofy about what would happen if I didn’t make my daring escape.
I opened the front door at the bottom of the steps but didn’t use it.
Instead, I ran through the house to the back door.
I was outside and mostly free as I ran through the backyard and just kept going.
I couldn’t think about anything else.
I just had to keep going.
So I did.
From my backyard through the neighbor’s yards, at least a block or two before I cut to get to the sidewalk. That’s when I stopped running and changed to a normal walk. I didn’t want to look suspicious to anyone.
As I took deep breaths to calm my nerves a little, I smelled something.
It was stinky.
It made my nose curl.
I heard a squeaky giggle.
“Hello?” I called out.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck. We’re busted, man.”
“Shit, Abel, calm down,” another voice said.
Straight ahead, someone popped out of the bushes.
I saw something in his hand as I gasped and hurried to stop.
“Amelia?” a voice said.
I crept closer and smiled.
It was Josh.
He somehow appeared again just when I needed someone.
“Guys, fuck off,” he ordered. “And take that crap with you.”
“This is my crew, homey,” one of the guys said.
“Murph, you’re high as a kite,” Josh said. “Go away.”
“Let’s go float in the stars, man,” another guy said.
“Listen to Nash,” Josh said. “I’ve got this.”
Josh slipped his hand into mine. It made me gasp and I shivered with this strange heat I wasn’t sure about.
“Oh, damn,” Murph said. “Josh picked up on something here.”
“Don’t kill it for me, brother,” Josh said. “Now. Go.”
The three guys charged out of the clearing and disappeared into the night.
The smell was really weird. It wasn’t cigarette smoke, that was for sure. I knew that smell. This was… different.
“Sorry about them,” Josh said.
“Were they… were you…”
“Doesn’t matter now,” he said. “What are you doing out here alone like this? You have to stop coming this way, Amelia. It’s dangerous back here. You were lucky I was here, again.”
I stared at Josh and nodded.
Like a stupid fool, my head just kept bobbing up and down.
And I didn’t stop either. I couldn’t stop.
“Whoa. Hey.” Josh gently touched my shoulders. “Amelia. Stop moving your head.”
But I didn’t stop.
He shook me. “Hey. What’s wrong? What happened to you?”
I snapped back to reality.
I looked into Josh’s eyes.
They were dark and evil.
But I had seen worse.
And something about Josh just felt… good.
“Amelia,” he said. “Say something. Do something.”
I burst into tears.
Chapter 13
Sneakin’ Around
THEN
(Josh)
She was a fucking wreck.
I never saw a girl cry so hard in my life.
I wrapped my arms around her and just let her cry. I didn’t know what else to do. I stood there in the middle of the night, half stoned, wondering what had happened to Amelia.
Better yet - who had hurt her? Because whoever had done this was going to get their face smashed in. I wanted to know who did it. Which boy messed with her heart. She was too young to feel this hurt. So, if some punk wannabe thirteen-year-old asshole decided to mess with her, I was going to make sure he never did it again.
Hell, I could call Murph to call up the others and we’d bring in an entire crew from the Lower Valley and then things could get real nasty.
When Amelia sucked in a breath and suddenly stopped crying, I thought for a second that she had stopped breathing too. My hands were spread wide across her back - not like that - but out of care.
I counted for a few seconds and she didn’t make a sound.
My brain was a little mushy at that moment, so instead of just asking her if she was okay, I moved my hands to her sides and softly dug my fingertips into her ribs.
The second I started tickling her, she jumped back and let out a playful yell.
Watching her jump back and hearing her laugh…
Now I was the one breathless for a few seconds.
“What the hell?” she yelled at me.
“Sorry,” I said. “Thought you’d stopped breathing.”
“You’re an idiot, Josh. I’m breathing. I stopped crying.”
“Why were you crying?”
“Because.”
“No. No way. You have to tell me, Amelia.”
“I don’t have to tell you anything.”
“Tell me.”
“Josh.”
“No fucking way,” I growled. “Someone hurt you. You’re not supposed to be out here this