Page 73 of No More Secrets

She pulls at her sweatshirt. She can’t look at him.

He dips his head again to see her face. “Shiloh?”

She huffs and looks past him. “Twenty-five.”

“Twenty-what?”

She meets his gaze. Fire burns behind her eyes. “You heard me, now shut up. I made a mistake. I never should have come.”

“Why are you still here, then? You took my cash. You could have gotten a hotel.”

“I’m fifteen, remember?” Underage, she wouldn’t have many options if she tried to book a room. None that were suitable for an unaccompanied minor.

“You could have used the money to get a cab anywhere you wanted to go. You have enough.”

She tugs the drawstring in her hoodie and visibly swallows. He knows guilt when he sees it. “You couldn’t spend it.”

“Yours or Ivy’s.”

He balks. “Where’d you get her money?”

Her gaze skirts away. “I stole more from Ivy’s safe.”

“Jesus, Shiloh.” Though he’s got to hand it to her. She is resourceful. He laughs. He can’t help it. He’s too relieved he found her to care what she took.

“It’s not funny.” She grimaces.

“No, it’s not. And you’re going to return it.” Before Ivy notices it’s missing. She’ll report it.

“Good, because I don’t want it.” She buries her fists into her kangaroo pocket. She squints up at him against the sun that’s moved behind his head. “So what happens now?”

“Now we get something to eat.” He hasn’t eaten all day, and she must be hungry, too.

“Then what?”

“That’s up to you.”

32

“Here you go, one All American Burger and fries.” The waitress deposits Shiloh’s order in front of her. Lucas sits in the booth across from her at the Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank slathering extra ketchup onto his bacon cheeseburger.

“Anything else I can get you?”

Lucas catches Shiloh’s eye, and she shakes her head.

“We’re good,” he says.

“Enjoy, then.” The waitress leaves for another table.

“Dig in.” Lucas lifts his burger and takes an enormous bite.

Shiloh peeks under the bun on hers at the dressing inside. The burger is huge. It smells amazing. The chocolate shake she’s been drinking is the best one she’s tasted. She’s so relieved Lucas came for her that she can’t describe her feelings, and she’s grateful he brought her here to eat. But she’s suddenly not hungry.

Her backpack rests beside her, weighed down by a stolen laptop, over $5,000 in cash, and her guilt. She shouldn’t have trusted Finn when she knew he was unreliable. But she was desperate to get to Hollywood. Now that she’s here and realizes how sorely unprepared she was, she just wants to leave. She feels terrible that she repeatedly stole from Ivy when the woman hasn’t been anything but nice to her. And it was wrong of her to take Lucas’s cash and laptop. She wants to return to California City with him, but what’s to stop him from taking off again? Without a guardian, she runs the risk of being sent home or getting lost withinthe system. Or worse, getting kidnapped and trafficked. Someone eventually will turn her in or sell her off.

But most of all, she misses her mom.

She wishes she could go home, but she doesn’t see how, not with Ellis around.

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