Set Me Free (A Fugitive #2)(9)

With a frustrated sigh, he slapped the folder shut. He couldn't do anything until Lucy gave him the go ahead and there was a chance she wasn't going to do that. Elliot was right though, they couldn't just sit on their asses all summer. What would happen when he left for Arizona in August? What would happen when his parents returned from Europe? He'd have to explain why Lucy was living in their house with him.

Tucking the folder back into place at the top of his closest, he rubbed his temples. He'd give Lucy a few days to rest and recover, but by the end of the week, he had to get her talking. She was the only person who could really blow this case wide open.





Chapter 5





LUCY





Blood. It was everywhere. Soaking into my hands, staining my shirt. I got up to run, but pain shot through my leg. Looking down I noticed a large shard of glass protruding from my calf muscle. The window. Shorty.

My body jerked. He was laying in my arms, making me promise something, but I couldn't hear what. I gazed into his lifeless eyes, feeling hopeless. But then they morphed to a pair of pale green orbs that glared up at me, promising me a painful death. I let go of the body. It thumped to the floor and rolled over to face me. Shorty's dark skin was no longer there, eyes that didn't belong to him disappeared and I was now standing over my dead father. "No!" I screamed as his face turned to liquid and reappeared as my mother, bereft of life, her limp limbs twisting at an awkward angle, blood pouring from the gunshot wound in her leg.

"No!" I jerked awake, the darkness a sudden comfort. It always was. It meant the dream was over and that I was still hidden, safe from those pale, green eyes.

I grabbed two handfuls of hair and rested my elbows on my knees. I hadn't slept a full night since I was thirteen-years-old. Jerked awake by nightmares constantly, I wondered how much longer I could bear it. Forcing my mind to the one task that seemed to settle my nerves, I slowly worked my way through the day.

It had started with a truck driver.

My breathing slowly stilled as I relived the safe details. The feel of the truck rumbling beneath me, the smell of the driver's pine freshener dangling from the review mirror. The weight of the bag on my shoulder as I approached Zach's door.

"Zach," I whispered, my lips forming a languid smile. He'd taken me in without any hesitation, wrapped me in his arms, helped make me clean. He'd clothed me, fed me. I grinned then blinked at sudden tears as I noticed the sheets over me. I must have slept the day away. I had no idea what time it was now, but...

"He tucked me in." I hitched in a breath and squeezed my eyes tight. No one had shown me that kind of care since Marlin...and even Marlin didn't have Zach's tenderness. I didn't deserve him, but I couldn't seem to leave him either.

I was a selfish, selfish girl.

Flicking back the covers, I stood from the bed and tiptoed to the bathroom. I gazed down the dark hallway to Zach's door. I could just make out that it was open a crack. I had no idea what time it was, but it felt like early morning. I usually woke around four, my internal clock and security system always waking me. In spite of it being summer, I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself as I turned back to the spare bedroom. Stopping at the door, I looked back down the hallway. The idea of slipping into the foreign bed alone filled me with a sense of dread. Nibbling on my bottom lip, I took a tentative step back towards the bathroom.

Several tentative steps later, I was at Zach's door. Easing it open, I crept into the room and approached the bed. I didn't say a word, just lifted the covers and slid in, silently hoping he wouldn't mind.

He was facing away from me, so I sidled up behind him and carefully placed my arm around his waist. He jerked just a little, then went still. I couldn't move as I waited for his reaction. Was he awake? Would he send me back to my room?

It felt like we were both holding our breath. The air whooshed from my lungs when he trailed his fingers down my arm then pressed my hand to his chest. I kissed the spot between his shoulder blades, the fabric of his shirt feeling rough on my tatty lips.

Nestling my body against his, I felt his heart beat beneath the palm of my hand and smiled. This was right. I never wanted this to end. And if that was what I wanted, then I needed to figure out a way to set things straight...just like Elliot said.

No one had to tell me that the solution had to start with the truth.

Being the coward that I was, I waited until Zach's breathing was once again even before opening my mouth with a whisper. "I have to tell you the truth about why I ran away from you." I licked my bottom lip. "I never wanted to leave you. Even though I was mad, I wanted to stay but..." I sighed, feeling awkward.

Maybe it was best to start from the beginning.

"When Mom and Dad first died, I was on the run, on my own, this pathetic little kid scared out of her brain. I met this guy, Marlin, and he kind of took me under his wing, taught me how to survive. He was like my Fagan, you know from that stage show, Oliver?" I paused, knowing he'd know it. He was friends with AJ and Jaeda, those guys knew every musical on the planet.

"Anyway, he taught me how to pick pockets. We learned a few simple cons together and pulled them off okay. I hated it, but it felt so good not to starve or be alone that I just went with it, you know?

"About a year later we met Shorty. He saw us pulling a con and liked our work so he recruited us...taught us how to play the bigger game. I had a bed again, a hot shower every day and food... as much as I wanted. It was the closest to normal that I'd felt since...since I was thirteen. I figured maybe I could outrun my past somehow, like with these guys I was hidden." My words caught as I remembered the night with crystal clarity.