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Chapter Six

Cash

Lying in bed like ere, with Minx resting her head onacross my body, it almost felt like erenoruess The only sounds in the roo as it returned to normal

There was that fucking word again

Normal

I didn’t knohat it was or why it loo between us, but I didn’t want to think about it I only wanted to think about the soft strip of skinood sign Then her soft voice broke through the quiet

“I was thirteen-years-old Hanging out at the park withour soccer skills for tryouts the next week This lady came up to us and she looked normal, like she could have been one of my mom’s church friends with her mom jeans and short flipped out hairdo, so I didn’t think anything of it when she said her daughter wasStupid me offered to help her look” Her voice shook and her hand trembled in circles on my stomach “By the time I realized ere too far from the park it was too late She’d already shoved ht, I can still hear the sound of those tires peeling away fro us”

Her voice barely contained any emotions It was rote, al this was a big step, and I refused to fuck it up

“That night we stopped at a house somewhere, I don’t know, but we hadn’t been on the road ot there Maybe ere still in Indiana, but I didn’t know They put e from nine to sixteen It was pitch black and there were no s and just a few buckets in the room for us As toilets”

I held her tighter but bit ut on her behalf She didn’t need that right now This was her shit, not mine

“I got moved around the east coast for a while, New York That’s where they made sure I kneas boss It took a couple months, a few busted ribs and a concussion to learn, but I did Then I spent soo It was really bad there, but I couldn’t letas I did what I was told, they didn’t force theas and Portland When Magnus found me in the back of that truck I was headed to Mexico”

She fell silent for so long, and I felt like a jackass because I had no clue what to say to her It explained so much about her quirks, but fuck, it also broke h to use e for her “I’h that, baby”

“Yeah, hed, and then rested her chin on the hand over my heart so she could look at me “Do you know you’re the only person I’ve ever had sex with that I wanted to? Ever?”

Daet to iven herself to me, but I didn’t want her to stay in that dark place Not for hteneda kiss on her forehead “I can’t say I’lad you chose me, but fuck, I want to kill the pieces of shit who did this to you”

She gave a wistful smile “Good luck That’s all I dreamed about my first year out But I don’t know a