Page 31 of Escaping Our Reality

He doesn’t get Lulu. No one but Ry gets that. “Ella. My name is Ella.”

Harlan looks over my shoulder, and I swivel, following his gaze. Ry’s standing in the doorway, watching us. His ballcap shades his face in the most delicious of ways. He’s carnal and masculine and everything I never knew I wanted.

Or needed.

He smirks, enjoying the way I’m staring at him. “I’m gonna get a shower.”

Harlan’s voice catches my attention. “You have really good posture, you know that,” he says, nodding at my ramrod straight back and shoulders.

Ry’s laugh echoes down the hall.

“I say something funny?” Harlan doesn’t wait for an answer. “Well, it’s past my quitting time. I’ll leave you two kids to it.”

I politely stand, but Harlan shoos me away. “No need for the pleasantries, sweetie. Make yourself at home.”

I take a few more sips of my soda and meander my way through the rest of the building. Off the kitchen is a hallway. The door on the left is closed, and I hear running water. Bathroom.

The door on the right is closed too. So, of course, I open it.

It’s a very small bedroom. Twin-size bed, neatly made, with a blue plaid quilt on it. A scratched-up chest of drawers with a small TV on the top. An end table with a lamp. Some men’s boots and sneakers are neatly stacked in the corner.

I lightly run my fingers across the bed.

Ry’s home that’s not his home.

It’s sad. But it’s not sad. I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone so strong. So brave.

A wave of sorrow and worry knocks the breath from my lungs. I pray Carrie is that strong. That brave. So brave that she’s surviving wherever she is. And if my deepest, darkest thoughts are true—the thoughts I’ve never spoken aloud to anyone—I pray that shewasbrave,wasstrong.

Before I know it, I find myself outside in the dark, staring across the large, asphalt parking lot at the lit gas station. Its lights are so bright, it completely overpowers the dollar store and fast-food restaurant across the street.

How many people in there right now are buying drugs? Is there anyone in there right now who knows what happened to my sister?

Because if I know anything, it’s that someone knows something.

Chapter 13

CRUTCH

She’s gone when I get out of the shower.

For a split second, my heart breaks in two, but then I see her car is still parked in one of the spots between the gas station and the garage. I walk outside into the cool night air, searching for her. If she’s gone to the gas station, I’m gonna beat her ass.

Not literally, of course. Woe be to the man who lays a hand on My Lulu. She’d probably rip his balls straight from his body.

There she is.

Standing in the middle of the asphalt parking lot, watching the comings and goings of the gas station. She’s absentmindedly rubbing the back of her neck again.

Maybe she slept wrong and has a crick.

She takes two steps forward.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Lulu? Get your ass back over here.”

She spins around, catching my voice on the wind. One long leg cocks to the side, and she crosses her arms against her chest. “Seriously? You’re gonna call to me like I’m some dog and expect me to heel?”

Forty steps. It takes me forty steps to cross the distance between us. And she doesn’t move one single inch.

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