Page 54 of Corrupted Lies

Leaning down, he rested his forehead against hers. “Always, sunshine.”

Letting her go was hard.

Straightening to stand, almost impossible.

“Be back before you know it,” he assured her, giving what he hoped was an encouraging smile.

She just nodded, and he could see unshed tears swimming in her golden-brown eyes.

Taking that first step almost killed him.

It was only the knowledge that Alannah was counting on him that kept him going, taking step after step, getting further and further away from her.

He had to do this.

Had to find help.

But what if there was no help to be found?

October 18th

7:14 A.M.

Watching Jake walk away and not calling out to him to tell him to come back had to be one of the hardest things Alannah had ever done in her life.

Safe was with Jake.

Without him …

It felt like anything could happen.

That was probably a silly way of looking at it since he’d been with her for three of the four fires, and on the boat with her when it exploded, but she’d survived those firesbecauseof him.

Jake might have brought this danger to her, but he had also kept her alive at every step.

What would she do without him?

Not just in terms of her physical safety, because he brought so much more to her life than that.

Something ran much deeper. He brought with him a sense of psychological and emotional safety. One her parents had never provided for her. Jake thought he’d failed because her family continued to hurt her and there was nothing he could do to stop that from happening, but the reality was, she lived only because of him.

He was her grumpy, but he was alsohersunshine as much as she was his.

Because he reminded her that not all people were like her parents. There were good and honorable people in the world, people who took on responsibilities that weren't theirs simply because they cared and they wanted to.

That was the only reason her parents’ and sister’s mistreatment hadn't destroyed her. It was why she was able to search for the love she’d been deprived of, and why she never gave up hope that one day she’d have a family of her very own who loved her more than words could explain.

What if …

What if what she’d been searching for had been in front of her all along?

It was wrong to have these thoughts about her best friend only she couldn’t seem to stop herself.

As Alannah lay there on the hard ground, curled up in a ball before the fire Jake had built, wearing nothing but her bra andpanties, she wasn't even sure she wanted to stop herself from thinking those thoughts.

Surely, they were only wrong if Jake didn't feel the same way in return.

And there lay her biggest fear.

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