Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27298 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27298 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
I asked several of my contacts to do some digging, and everyone has come up empty-handed. I’ve even done some not-so-legal searches with her phone number, and it’s like it’s been purposely blocked.
“Where are you?” I say to the inside of my empty car as I take another turn and around the block.
It’s early afternoon, and I thought that maybe this might be a better time of day for her to walk around outside. At night there’s nothing but criminals and drug addicts on foot and crooked cops patrolling the streets. This is not a safe place for any woman to live, and I need to find her so I can get her the fuck out of here.
At the end of the block, I see a tall brick building with an American flag hanging next to the door. My window is down, so the sound of a bell catches my attention, and I realize it’s a school. There are a few people milling around the side, and I slow the car. I’m not sure what makes me do it, but when I get closer, I pull over and watch the kids leaving.
Teachers are there to direct the kids, but they all look to be middle school aged. Most of them are walking home in pairs, while a few others meet with an adult to go home. There’s only a couple of kids remaining when I see a young man come out of the building and look around.
He searches for only a second before he smiles, and that’s when I see Kelly waving at him. She’s on the other side of the street and walking in his direction while holding what looks like two milkshakes.
I’m out of the car and running to catch them as she hands him one of the milkshakes and they turn the corner. My heart is in my throat as I come up behind her, and before I think it through, I grab her arm to stop her.
“Kelly,” I say at the exact same time she hisses in pain and pulls out of my hold.
“Shit.” She holds her arm close to her body, and the young man she was walking with jumps in front of her to protect her.
“Don’t put your fucking hands on my sister,” he says menacingly, and I take a step back.
“I’m sorry, I was just saying hey.” I hold my palms up in front of me in surrender, but the young man doesn’t back down.
“Watch your mouth, Marco,” Kelly scolds, and the kid looks chided.
“Sorry,” he mumbles but again doesn’t move from in front of her until she pushes him out of the way.
“What are you doing here?” she says in a low voice but doesn’t look at me. Instead she’s glancing quickly up and down the street like she’s waiting for someone else to jump out.
“I need to talk to you,” I tell her, and she finally turns her eyes in my direction.
“Who is this guy?” Marco asks and then drinks his milkshake like he’s got all the time in the world.
“Not here,” she says, looking around and then walking quickly to the back of the school. There’s a loading dock near the cafeteria with a couple of dumpsters to block us from the street view.
“Give us a second,” she tells her brother, but he doesn't move. “It’s okay, I promise. He’s a friend of Paul’s.”
What she says strikes me as odd because she damn well knows Paul and I are not friends. Her brother still hesitates, and she passes him her milkshake.
“Here, you can have mine too.”
That does the trick because he takes both of them over to the loading dock before pulling out his phone and ignoring us. She looks around one more time, but there’s no way anyone could see us back here.
“What are you doing here?” She crosses her arms over her chest, and the motion pushes her sleeve up. That’s when I see the bruises.
I know I didn’t touch her hard enough to leave a mark, and they are higher than where my fingers landed. Suddenly I can hear blood pounding in my ears as I think about someone grabbing her hard enough to leave those kinds of marks.
“Who did it?” I ask, and I clench my jaw so hard it pops.
“Did what?” She immediately uncrosses her arms and puts her hands behind her back. Her eyes widen, and I see real fear there. “It’s nothing, Luke. You need to leave.”
“Tell me who did that to you,” I demand, and she shakes her head.
“You’re only going to make things worse.”
“Worse?” I step closer, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Marco watching us. “Does he know who did it?”
“Yes,” she says quietly and moves to block my view of Marco. “Please, Luke. You can’t be here.”