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"I know I’ for what he had done

Titus grabbed my elbow and I let hi else and the cop purposely ignored the bleeding man on the floor Once the door was shut behind us, I took ed a hand over my face Titus lifted a black eyebrow in my direction and looked at the closed door over ave you another five lasses back on "If Goddard asks for another lawyer, let oing to walk away frorunted in response and pulled outmy laptop that Noe still had with her I’d installed the software a couple of days ago when she started pulling away fro to chase after her like a desperate, needy fool She’d finally stoppedShe was in a sht to get to her by e with a public defender If he’s so away" I tapped my phone and looked up at theat me like he finally realized there was ers on a keyboard

"What happens if he doesn’t go down quietly?" That was the cop asking, not the guy who let irl’s adoptive brother

"You don’t want et irl I appreciated what you did for me today, Titus" I stuck out ers together in a crushing grip It was a warning that I couldn’t miss

"I like you, kid You think before you act and you weigh the odds of things going south before juet my department in order, which means you care about this city and the people in it the sa that forces h of those as it is"

I rubbed o and started for the front doors and my truck that would take me to her I was floored that he liked me Most people didn’t, but since Noe, it see more and more She humanized me, softenedSometimes the ends justify the an for the Point Soood to have a shot

After Goddard was sentenced, I was going to doand make sure he was locked up in the saht not have any wars for as left of his fa if I let it slip that Goddard was in the same cell-block as he was, even if it was solitary, et to hieGoddard a proper welcome if I passed on all the dirty shit the forht into my life He pro ive eful way that didn’t involve any more heart to hearts or uncomfortable truths He wouldn’t even have to see ain and flipped ed to ainst hope that Noe didn’t realize I’d put a tracker on the co to do if she ditched the da on the fact that she was like th of ti out hope that she wanted to hold onto the da she took from me e first met I wanted her to have the same connection to me that I had to her

I’d lost one person whoto meI wasn’t about to lose the one who meant even more than that

Noe

I wasn’t alone in the base little church As it turned out, even picturesque small towns had their fair share of victims and castoffs When you were stuck in the Point, it often felt like the rest of the world had it soin the base, in a town that shouldn’t remind me of home, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities, and I realized anywhere I ran wouldn’t be perfect There was a teenage boy who had the same kind of bruises and fear in his eyes that Julia Grace had when she first foundchildren All three of them were too thin and ju woe; she itchy, nervous, and unable to sit down She kept looking atme to keep the tattered material close at hand She was no different than the junkies who ran the streets All she wanted was a way to score another fix, she didn’t care about the roof over her head, the small bathroom we could shower and freshen up in, the stale peanut butter and jelly sandwiches a kind volunteer scrounged up for us, or the fact we all had a so and incoherent ht, not that I would have slept anyway I was pissed at ry that I reverted to the helpless, trapped teenager who felt as if she didn’t have any options I was beatingthroughI should have stood er calling the shots It didn’t one on to live a productive, pro, as if he hadn’t taken everything fro to letor anyone I was the one who hadn’t let myself live a normal life I told myself it was best that I relied on no one, that I trusted onlythe city behind forced me to realize how entirely alone I was And I was lonely I wanted soht I needed so woman who didn’t have a voice I’d not only found mine, I used it to speak out, I used it to scream for others, to beat the drums of justice so loud that the violators were forced to cower, yet I couldn’t beat those saht here, right now

My strength and dignity wouldn’t be compromised by the memory of the man who had taken it away in the past I was so ht and Jonathan Goddard I had nothing and it was more than either of them would ever have

Well, that wasn’t entirely accurate I had faith that Snowden Stark wasn’t ready to let o quite yet We had unfinished business between the two of us, things that needed to be said, promises that needed to be made I wasn’t worried when he didn’t show by the time the sun came up I wasn’t fazed when another church volunteer showed so with a box of cereal and fresh fruit I wasn’t concerned there was no sight of him when the pastor of the church caed boy, and the junkie He took one look at me and determined I had somewhere else to be I didn’t need to talk to hi down the stairs, boots

His eyes looked tired but they were only for me His scruff had taken over the lower half of his handso his fierce frown His eyebroere knitted in a scowl that would scare the bravest of men, and when he said my naed boy cower, and the pastor stiffen That low ruain, I couldn’t hold back tears Before a choking sob could find its way out, his strong ar like the old, mechanical parts that were inked across the surface He was allfroain

He tucked h that I squeaked in protest

"I know I fucked up the first ti I can think of to prove you that I won’t let anything happen to you, Noe I will keep you safe Trust led into his chest I buried my nose into the spot where that hard heart lived It wasn’t nearly as impenetrable as he wanted ot for a second I wasn’t thinking clearly" I leaned back so I could look into those storain It was a knee-jerk reaction I regretted it as soon as I had roo time, Snowden It’s all I know"

He lifted a hand so he could tuck a loose piece of hair that escaped my hat behind h, and that tells "