Page 32 of Girl Lost
Liv looked down. Her long lashes hid her eyes. “That’s the easy part.”
“Why’s that?” Luna asked the question she already knew the answer to.
Liv’s sharp shoulders hunched forward in a half shrug.
“No, really. Why’d you say that?”
“Guys ain’t interested in me. Not like that.”
“That’s only going to make it harder.”
Liv’s brow furrowed. “That don’t make no sense at all.”
“Guys might not be looking at you right now, but one will comealong. He’ll pay attention to you. Make you feel new things. Secure. Understood. Appreciated. Things you probably missed out on as a kid. Things that will make you do almost anything to not lose that feeling. And you’ll be so wrapped up in how you feel, you’ll make decisions that could derail your life.”
“That what happened to you?”
“I mean ... yeah. Sorta.”
Liv rattled the two-hundred-dollar vanity case. “Don’t seem like it messed you up too bad. You’re doin’ all right.”
“Don’t mistake the value of this”—she tapped the bag—“for the value of this”—she patted Liv’s heart with a flat palm.
Liv bobbed her head once. “I think I know what you’re gettin’ at.”
“And remember that ‘guys’ aren’t the same as men. Men are responsible, trustworthy, loyal. They provide for their families and stick by your side—you know what? I’m lecturing.” Speaking about all the things she thought Corbin had been, but then he’d walked away from his responsibility. Dumped her. Like a guy, not a man. “Just ... stay in line and work the plan. Listen to Stryker. He has your best interests in mind.”
Liv released a puff of air. “Seems like the only one he cares about is that one girl who keeps running off. Like, she don’t even want to be here, but he keeps chasing after her. Findin’ her and draggin’ her back.”
“What one girl?”
“That girl with the frizzy hair. Can’t keep her here.”
“Why’s that?”
“Oxy. It’s got her so wrapped up she can’t think about nothin’ else. Always popping. Second night here, she got all itchy and slipped out to score.”
And Stryker was chasing after her? His rules were pretty strict. You break them, and you’re headed back to face the judge. Could this have something to do with why he’d been kidnapped? She wanted to pump Liv for more information, but she had to playit cool. They’d decided not to tell the students that Stryker had been kidnapped. “So what’s the deal? Who’s this runaway Stryker keeps chasing?”
“How would I know? When I’m not in school, I’m stuck here scrubbing toilets and being forced to do, like, ten thousand sit-ups and push-ups a day.”
The response was more bravado. Trying to make it sound like this place meant nothing to her. Luna let it slide. “What’s she here for?”
Liv chewed the skin around her thumbnail. “I don’t know. Same as all us, I guess.”
Shoplifting. Fights. Prostitution. Drugs. “Street life.”
“Uh-huh. Like I said, she keeps running off, though. Disappears for a few days, then Stryker walks her back in like nothing happened. Then I wake up in the middle of the night to see her sneaking out, then it’s the same thing all over again.”
“And Stryker just keeps going after her?”
Liv’s head bobbed. “Five, six times already. It’s weird cuz he’s way stricter with everyone else. But it’s like he knows her, you know? Like, knew her for a long time, before all of this.”
This was not like Stryker. He’d always said, if they didn’t want to be in the program, they could leave. Return to the streets. Or juvie, in most cases.
Why was he so persistent with this one runaway? It had to be more than just the program. Had he known her before? Maybe she’d been through something ... something that made him feel especially responsible for—
Luna’s heart stopped. For a moment, she was too paralyzed to speak.
