LOLA
I’d never had such obvious bruises on my body that I couldn’t hide, but the purple ring around my eye and the swelling that had finally started to go down after three days were a bright-red flashing sign.
Jan had gasped when she saw me, fussing over me like I guessed she did with her daughter, but Sal hadn’t said a word. He’d stared for a beat, and then turned away. I wasn’t sure which one I preferred, but either way, I was dealing with it.
Hut had been the nicest he’d been in a long time, talking to me like he used to, and it yet again reminded me that the Emerson I knew was still in there somewhere.
“Lola?” Jan’s voice rang out from the hallway.
“In here!” I called. I’d finished my shift ten minutes ago and was trying to get my nerves under control, ready to meet the realtor. Today was the day I could change the course of everything. I could change my life with one apartment. It only took one action to change the path you were on, and this was my action.
Jan’s red hair made an appearance a second before her face did. “Sal needs you to head to his trailer. Something about a form to fill in?” She frowned at me, a question on her face, but I had no idea what form they were talking about.
“Okay,” I said, grabbing my bag.
The diner wasn’t as busy as it had been a couple of hours ago, just a few stragglers drinking coffee between main meals. I ambled out of the diner and around the back.
Sal’s trailer looked more like a moveable bungalow came into view, and I spotted Sal sitting on his own makeshift porch. “Hey, Sal.” I smiled and halted a few feet away. “Jan said you needed me to fill in a form?”
He patted the empty space next to him. “Take a seat, Lola-Girl.” His voice was serious, the first sign this was not a conversation I wanted to have, but I moved forward anyway and sat next to him. His gaze flicked over my face, stopping on my eye. “Your brother do that to you again?”
I could lie. I could tell him I’d fallen over right onto my face, but I didn’t have the energy—not anymore. “Yeah.” I let out a breath, my shoulders sagging. “He was...worse this time.”
“Only ever goes one way when it starts,” he grunted out. “It won’t get better.”
“I know.” I worried my bottom lip, feeling the burn of tears behind my eyes. “But I have a plan.” The weight that had been on top of me started to lift. “I’m getting out of there.” I lifted my shaky hand and swiped away the tears that had escaped. “I can’t live my life the way he wants me to.”
“You want out.” I turned to look at Sal. “I get that.” His pause stretched between us. “I don’t like seeing you like this, Lola-Girl. Makes me wanna get my .45 out of my hiding spot and do some damage.”
I laughed. I shouldn’t have, but the image of Sal doing just that was way too vivid in my mind. “I don’t need you to shoot people for me, Sal.” I placed my hand on his arm and smiled. “But I could use a reference for the apartment I want to rent.”
“Already done and sent thanks to modern technology.” He covered my hand with his. “I’m here, Lola.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “You need anything, you come to me. Don’t go tryin’ to do everythin’ alone. You have people who care about you, even though it feels like you don’t right now.” He pulled in a breath and gave my hand a squeeze. “Now”—he stood and placed his hands on his hips—“we have somewhere we need to be.”
I frowned. “We do?”
“You think I was gonna let you go view this apartment alone?” He scoffed and started to walk toward his truck parked alongside his trailer. “I know the guy who owns the block, so this is just a formality. Get in, we got a new life to go capture.”
And he was right. A new life was so close, my fingertips were grazing it. This wasn’t about leaving Hut, and it wasn’t about stopping the violence Hut was sending my way. It was about me. About starting a life I wanted to lead.
I stood and took a step toward Sal, the first step to that new life.
Chapter Nineteen
LOLA
I stared at Cade as he scribbled down the answers to his homework, pride flowing through me at how well he was doing. He only had a couple of weeks left in the school year, much like me, and we were both feeling the pressure of end-of-year assignments.
He was practically buzzing when he came into the diner half an hour ago, ready to get on with his work with the promise of a milkshake and fries afterward. He’d blitzed through his papers faster than ever, and I couldn’t have been prouder.
My elbow dug into the hard surface of the table as I thought about the last week. It had been seven days since I last saw Brody, and although we’d texted back and forth a couple of times, it was nowhere near enough.
You and me against the world.
Butterflies rippled through my stomac
h at his remembered words, and I couldn’t stop the huge smile that spread across my face. He’d be back tonight, and I could tell him my plans.
The apartment I’d gone to view was in a bad state, but the rent was the right price, and it was nothing I couldn’t fix. The area seemed okay, and I’d even walked by after one of my shifts late at night to check it out too. I can remember hearing on some show that when you were buying a house, to go at different times of the day to get a real feel for it. I may not have been buying it, but I was going to be living there alone—unless…