Page 53 of Another Girl Lost

I shifted away from her. I winced when my insides pinched. “He has a girlfriend?”

“Yeah. I’ve seen pictures of her. She’s not super pretty. Tanner says she adores him. He says she’ll do anything for him.”

“I can’t believe he can be normal with a woman.”

“He’s not exactly normal. He sometimes will lock me in a box under his bed when he’s doing it with her.”

“He puts you in a box.”

“Being upstairs isn’t always great.” A soulful grin tugged at the corners of her lips. “It’s nice to have you here. It’s nice to have a friend.”

“We’re not friends,” I said.

“But we are,” she said. “No one will ever understand you better than me. We’ve become sisters in here.”

We were both walking the same path right now, but she was mistaken if she thought this was friendship. An enemy-of-my-enemy kind of union.

I closed my eyes.

“One day, you’ll help him get another girl,” she said. “And when you do, you’ll understand me better.”

I understood what she was saying. Tanner knew how to hurt me. How long could I endure this and stay me? Tears welled in my eyes. “I won’t. Never. I can’t.”

She wiped away a tear with her thumb. “You can. Don’t worry, it won’t be as terrible as you think. I’ll show you how.”

I looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. I’d beaten on the walls of this room for days, maybe weeks. But they were impenetrable. Tanner was my only chance to get out of here.

Della smiled. “You’re thinking about it, right?”

“He’ll never let me out of here.”

She kissed me gently on the cheek. The touch was so tender, I had to fight back tears.

“He will as soon as he knows you won’t run,” she said. “He needs to believe you’re loyal, like me.”

I didn’t argue, which for me was close to an agreement. “Why didn’t you run when you had the chance?”

“He said he’d kill the Other Girl if I did.”

“But you didn’t save her, did you?”

Her jaw tensed. “No, I didn’t save her.”

“Why are you so calm?”

“I’m not,” Della said. “But I have to be patient for now.”

Chapter Fifteen

SCARLETT

Sunday, July 14, 2024

8:00 a.m.

My morning run was rough. My legs were stiff and my back ached, and both fought me for the first couple of miles. The heat of the day was already rising, and humidity quickly soaked my jog top with sweat.

As I moved down the side streets near Lito’s, where I’d met Luke last night, I shoved down a surge of anger and disappointment. After my crazed exit from our date, he’d have been wise to write me off as unstable.

---