Page 14 of Second Goal

I can’t fall for someone I can’t trust, and I can’t trust someone who doesn’t trust me.

This past week I’d tried to put distance between us.

Thought it would help clear my head. Make me forget the taste of her lips, the feel of her body pressed against mine, the way those blue eyes that are usually so cautious dropped their guard when she looked at me.

Being away from her has been torture.

And if anything, it’s only made me want her more.

She makes me want things. Feel things. And no matter how hard I’ve tried to keep my shields intact, I know there’s no running from this. She’s too important.

Maybe it’s not Kiley’s sense of self-preservation that I need to worry about. Because even as my head tries to fight it, I know it’s a battle I’m not going to win.

Chapter Four

Kiley

Cold wind whips around me,and I shiver when I step out of the supermarket and little flakes of snow flutter around me. Juggling the bag of groceries in one arm, I zip up my jacket. I don’t see the small body that’s huddled against the wall, and I stumble over the worn boots that stick out of old newspapers the girl has wrapped around her.

Dark, tangled hair hangs over her gaunt face and she holds out a hand, the thin gloves she’s wearing full of holes. “Can you spare any change?” she asks through chattering teeth, her lips tinged blue from the cold.

My heart squeezes in my chest, remembering nights when I’d been forced to ask for money just to eat.

“It’s supposed to get cold tonight,” I say, glancing at the thin sweater she’s wearing. “Do you have someplace to go?”

She nods, but I see the uncertainty in her eyes.

“Here.” I put the groceries down beside her, then start to unzip my jacket. I’m only wearing a t-shirt underneath and when I take the jacket off, the snowflakes feel like little pins pricking at my skin when they land on my bare skin.

“You’re sure?” she asks, hesitantly accepting the jacket.

I nod, trying not to show how freezing I am. But, I’m only a block away from my warm, oversized apartment.

“There’s a shelter over on Madison Street, just north of the bridge,” I tell her. “I don’t have a car, but there’s twenty dollars in the pocket if you want to take a bus.”

“Thank you.”

I nod and start to jog back home. I wish I could have given the girl more, some kind of advice or words of reassurance that things will get better, but I know the downward spiral of being homeless. The judgment from the world. If it wasn’t for Kane...for Blake, I’d still be that girl, trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty.

Instead, I’m living in one of the poshest apartments in the city, with an allowance that allows me to buy anything I need.

Initially I’d fought Kane about accepting anything from him. I didn’t want him thinking I reached out to him because of his money. He was already suspicious of me.

But then the calls started.

At first they weren’t threats. And when Amy asked for help, I’d jumped at the chance to redeem myself. I’d taken the money Kane put in my bank account and given it to her.

But it wasn’t enough.

It’ll never be enough.

A chill that’s not from the frigid temperature cuts through me, and I try desperately to blink away the memories that threaten.

“Oh my god, Kiley,” Amy had cried out. “What did you do?”

My heart thundered in my ears, and the world spun out of control. I couldn’t see. Everything around me went dark. All I could smell was the rancid odor of the man, hear Amy screaming, the baby crying, and sirens in the distance that seemed to be getting closer.

“You have to get out of here.” Pain shot up my arm when she grabbed it. I was pretty sure my shoulder was dislocated. But the physical pain was nothing compared to the emotional torment that raged inside of me.

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