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As I clutched lanced across at Lexi Her green eyes widened with horror as she took in the shitty, stunning sights of my childhood ho like a bo, and, white-knuckled, she gripped onto the steering wheel with all the strength she had

All I felt was a huge sense of sha and shoddy doublewides lined up side by side, beat-up trucks in their masses, and old tireless muscle cars from the sixties up on concrete blocks And just to finish off this dystopian paradise, used needles, syringes, and eround, soh the park This place was a fkin’ shithole, and I cursed odforsaken duht up here It’s the old cream trailer at the end, number twenty-three"

Lexi’s eyes darted tothe site for any of signs of the creanted to get Lexi in and out of this place before Axel or Gio reared their ugly heads and saw she was here It would only cause trouble I was sure Axel had told Gio by now of the little Goth student who’d witnessed the ca by the dean Axel never kept vital infor

The usually busy east sector was a desert toell, the outside was a desert Several sets of curtains at the broken-down trailers’ ere twitching with people nervously checking outside--the usual MO for the after in my chest as we approached my childhood home, but like everywhere else, it was silent and still

"Stop here," I instructed Lexi, and she pulled up alongside the trailer Axel’s car was gone froine cut and the wipers stopped, the heavens opened and the rain began pelting down against the metal of the car Flashbacks ofinside a car when it came to a storm Someone had told me when I was six that the safest place to be in a storm was a car Apparently, the tires act as an insulator fro, so even if you were struck, you’d be safe

Whenever I felt scared as a kid--fro the park and shouting angry slurs at the top of their lungs, or a drive-by--I would cliineless Chevy out back and curl up, listening to the rain bouncing off its roof, shuttingback here at the beginning of another storton Hart beside me, of all people… My little eo in or you planning to sit out here all night?" Lexi suddenly asked, pulling me back from my memories, from my shock at the possession I felt for her Her voice was a little shaky as she tried to joke, only serving to fuel my protective instincts

"Yeah," I replied and faced Lexi as she sat in the driver’s seat, her face allass of the door, her sleeves pulled down over her palms as she chewed nervously on the nail of her thumb

"Take off, Pix I’ll find my oay back," I told her

Lexi snapped her head to me and frowned "No, I’ll wait for you There’s a helluva storht above our heads in case you haven’t noticed"

Sighing at her sarcas down to say, "Get out of the car, Pix You’ll be safer inside Out here…" I trailed off, flickingher toto say

Turning to the front door of the trailer, I heard her hurried feet behind me and smirked at how quickly she’d o, but all that front was gone the minute she was left alone

As I reached for the doorknob, the door burst open Levi stood beforehis wide eyes around the e ot htly as I pushed past hih the door When I looked at his face, I stilled

"Are you fkin’ kiddingas fiery as hell itself Sitting on the left side of his cheek was a fresh tattooed stidda, the shters were Sicilian in heritage The stidda was a nod of respect to the Stiddari A branch of the Sicilian Mafia