Page 17 of Liar Byrd
I take a step back, my lips flattening.
No.
I’ll take my chances on my own.
Chapter 7
Byrdie
Head foggy, I wander the streets in a daze, invisible to those around me until I veer into the wrong place and force people to notice me.
“Get the fuck away!” a shop owner screams at me when I linger in his open doorway, drawn by the savory, intoxicating smells of baking bread.
I trip over the curb while running, and suddenly a woman appears, well-dressed in a skirt suit and smiling. “You okay there, sweetheart?”
I’m dizzy with hunger, almost blind with the cold.
She has me by the arm, chattering away as she leads me down the road. “You’re safe now.”
I’m dazed, freezing, and so hungry that I don’t understand where she’s leading me.
The large man standing at the entrance of a townhouse yanks me out of my daze.
His size compels me to do what I should have been doing all along—paying attention.
This is another cage.
Wake up, Byrdie.
WAKE. UP.
The woman is still chatting away, trying to distract me. Why else would she be leading a homeless girl into a house with a guy standing at the door who looks like a pimp if this wasn’t a trap?
I smile at her, though it takes effort when inside I’m trembling with fear. “Do you have food?”
She pats my arm, and when she smiles, she has a streak of red lipstick on one slightly crooked front tooth. “Yes. We have?—”
I elbow her in the gut and rip my arm from her grip.
I take no pleasure in her grunt of pain. I don’t like hurting people, but I have to save myself. No one else will.
She screams a steady stream of curses at me as I sprint away.
“Fuckingwhore! Come back here, you stupid fucking bitch!”
The heavy thump of footsteps following propels me along like nothing else could.
The man. He’s chasing.
My breath comes in ragged gasps. My heart is pounding so hard, I’m scared it’s going to burst out of my chest.
I dart a desperate glance over my shoulder, panic pushing me to move faster as the big man closes the distance between us.
A shrill alarm rings out.
No, not an alarm.
Cops. A siren blares just up ahead.
