Page 30 of No More Secrets

“The little bitch is getting what she deserves. Wouldn’t stop taunting my boys.”

His stomach drops with dread.

The guys standing around a barrel fire he’d seen leering at Sunshine last night? Thisishis fault. He warned them to leave her alone. Instead he’d worked them up.

There isn’t a fire tonight, just an orange glow at the barrel’s mouth from whatever is smoldering inside. As he’d done with Lily, he screwed up. Now another young girl would be traumatized because of him.

“Go away.” The old hag spits at Lucas, her body twitching. He rears back so she misses. Damn, she’s higher than a kite.

A scream cuts through the night, followed by a guttural bellow. Then a shriek that raises the hairs on Lucas’s arms. The sounds come from beyond the perimeter, out in the darkness. They sound just like Lily had all those years ago.

The woman cackles, and Lucas takes off at a full sprint, driven by rage and fear. He failed Lily once. He won’t fail again. When he comes upon them, Sunshine Girl and the two men that made him uneasy, he finds the guys on their knees and Sunshine pulling down her sweatshirt.

Pulsing hot rage rips into him at the thought of them touching her, and memories from his time in juvenile detention crash to the forefront, mixing with the present. Hands touching him. Sweaty bodies pressing in on him. The foul breath of the one on him.

Sunshine grabs her backpack, swings it at one guy’s head. He’s hunched over, cupping his groin and whining like a toddler. Upon impact, he lurches to the side, but catches himself before he face-plants in the dirt. She then takes off running.

The bigger guy drops forward, supporting his weight on an arm. Blood oozes from his mouth in thick strings. There’s enough to make Lucas wonder if he bit through his tongue. He’s grumbling up a storm at Sunshine Girl.

Hearing Lucas’s fast approach, he looks up, and his eyes bulge. He starts to stand, but Lucas, channeling years of anger and shame, punches him in the cheekbone, splitting the man’s face. He still manages to stagger to his feet and raise a fist at Lucas. Lucas doesn’t give the guy a chance to take a swing at him. He delivers a roundhouse kick to the head. His boot connects with the man’s skull, knocking him out cold. The guy drops like a stone.

“Who the fuck are you?” The shorter guy sneers at him, still cupping his balls. Obviously, he’s already forgotten Lucas got into their faces last night. He’s also in a lot of pain. Sunshine Girl kneed him in the balls. Good for her. His clothes hang on his unwashed body. Lucas can smell his stench from several feet away. Liquor and something foul that burns his nostrils. Familiar, distasteful odors that imprinted on his brain when his bunkmate and others overpowered him. His stomach turns.

The guy goes to stand.

“Down. Stay,” Lucas yells ferociously, treating him like the dog he is.

The guy lifts his hands and drops back to his knees. He’s half Lucas’s size. Lucas can dust him with an uppercut, but he takes off after Sunshine before he loses her. She’s heading toward town, and she’s fast.

But Lucas is faster. He spent his childhood as a tight end chasing wide receivers. He kept up his workout routine long after he was forced to drop from football. Running and lifting helped in two ways: sweat out the alcohol and take off the edge when he couldn’t deal with life.

She hears him behind her and glances over her shoulder. She shrieks, her eyes widening, and she cuts across the field, zigzagging toward the road.

“Stop,” he hollers, giving chase.

To his amazement, she picks up the pace.

She’s scared, he gets that. She probably doesn’t realize it’s him. But she’s running out of steam. He can hear her breath coming in harsh bursts as he closes the distance between them. If they don’t stop this madness, one of them is going to catch their shoe on a rock or shrub and go flying. Break a wrist or ankle. It’s too damn dark to be running at this speed.

“Sunshine, wait!”

Her step falters, and he snags her arm, using her momentum to swing her around to face him. Her fist comes with it, connecting with his jaw. His head snaps back, but he doesn’t lose his grip. He easily grabs her other wrist. Shit, she’s strong.

She screams, struggling to get away. Her shoe catches his shin.

“That hurt,” he growls. His grip tightens. “Calm down, Sunshine.”

“Stop calling me that.” She throws her head forward. Lucas leans away before she connects with his chin, giving him a good impression of what she’d done back there to escape.

“Then tell me your name.”

“I already did.”

“Your real name. Tell me your name, and I’ll let you go.”

She twists her wrists, trying to loosen his grip. She whimpers in pain, and it kills him she’s willing to hurt herself to get free of him. But for the life of him, he’s not letting her sleep on the streets one more night.

“Stop it. You’re only going to hurt yourself.”

---