Page 31 of Forgotten Pieces

“When I was a kid I lived near here. We moved away when I was twelve.”

“Lucky.”

“I wouldn’t say I was lucky considering the reasons we moved away.”

I look over at him and see a sadness in his eyes. “Why did you move away?”

“We were talking about you.”

I kick my feet against the side of the car. “Well then, you brought up you.”

“Not really,” he says.

I decide the easiest way to steer the conversation away from me is to talk about him. So I say the one thing that might work. “Seven for a secret.”

His gaze flicks to mine and we stare at each other. I don’t know how long it lasts but for some reason I feel like the stare has caused a connection between us. Invisible strings pulling us closer, forming a bond between our souls.

I am surprised when he speaks. “My stepdad was violent. He beat up my mom a lot. Sometimes me or my brother. My uncle, Donnie’s dad, was always trying to get mom to leave him. But she didn’t know how to live without a man. So my stepdad moved us away from here so my uncle would stop interfering.”

“I’m so sorry. How long did it last?”

“The abuse?” he asks and I nod my head. “Until I was sixteen and started working out. I wanted to keep my brother and my mom safe.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” I say, not knowing what else to say.

“It happens to more people than you think.” He looks at me so intensely. His dark eyes mesmerizing, I struggle to look away.

Ryder told me something about him and I feel like it’s only right to share something about me. I look away and pick at my fingernails as I open my mouth. “I want to move away but I am scared that—”

“Yo, Tacoma, you can leave,” I get cut off by my boss slurring as he stumbles to the back door of the shop.

I jump off my car and Ryder follows. “You’re in a hurry.”

“Yeah because Peter is a creep and I want to get out of here before he tries to hit on me.”

I watch Ryder’s eyes follow Peter into the shop. I look down and see his fist clenching and I grab his hand. “Hey, it’s not a big deal. That’s why I sit here. He can never get close fast enough.”

Ryder lets out a sigh. “He needs to be fired.”

“I’m sure one day he will be.”

Ryder pulls his hand from mine and I open my car door. “You wanna go somewhere and continue this conversation?” he asks.

My adolescent brain wants to say yes because I would go anywhere with him just not to talk. But I know if I don’t get home soon my brother will question me. I slide into my seat and shut the door and roll the window down. “I need to get home. Curfew and all.”

He leans his elbows on to the window, his head inches from mine. “Give me your phone. You can text me when you wanna talk.”

“Who says I am going to tell you anything?”

He just laughs as he grabs my phone from my hand. “I was your age once too. I would have liked to talk to someone.” He throws my phone in my lap. “Text me.”

He walks away and I can’t help but wonder what just happened.

Chapter Eleven

Tacoma

I love my brother. I really do. But his crying baby is driving me insane. For the last week I have barely been able to get any sleep. The kid is a year old. You would think at this point he would sleep through the night better. Nope.

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