Free You Belong With Me by Shannon Guymon Page A

looked at her starkly, shaking her head. “Sometimes you get there too late. And sometimes you don’t get there at all. And the souls of those children you didn’t get to in time weigh on your heart so heavily that you might as well be dead too.”
                  Max winced and bit her lip. “ Dang. Belinda showed me a newspaper clipping about you last year. Something about you testifying against that sex offender. That young man you saved ended up killing himself, didn’t he?”
                  Layla closed her eyes as the familiar slash of pain ripped through her heart.
                  Max blew a loud breath of air out of her lungs. “Well, you’re right about Alex. He’s no good. His wife ran off a few years ago with their two little girls and they haven’t been heard from since. I know he sent private investigators out looking for them, but there’s no trace. If you ask me, she’d been planning it for a long time. She must have had fake I.D.’s and everything. For a woman to go to that effort, there has to be a reason. A good one,” she said darkly.
                  Layla bit her lip pensively. “There usually is. He wants Jane,” she said, saying it out loud.
                  Max looked horrified for a moment and stood up straight. “Don’t you let him get near that sweet little thing. He’d chew her up and spit her out and there’d be nothing left of her,” she said angrily.
                  Layla looked at her feet. “Don’t you think I know that? I sent him packing, but he’ll be back sooner or later.”
                  Max stood up and walked over to the window. “You’re stronger than him Layla. You’re made of steel. I’m not even worried for Jane. She has you. Who do you have?”
                  Layla frowned and looked at Max’s back in surprise. She’d always been the one to look out for her sisters and everybody else for that matter. She’d never needed anyone to look out for her.
                  “What do you mean?” she finally asked, because for the life of her she couldn’t figure it out.
                  Max turned back to face her. “You’re tough Layla, but you’re wounded. You’ve been hurt one too many times. You’ve seen too much and you’ve bled out inside. If someone doesn’t start looking out for you, there won’t be anything left.”
                  Layla blinked back the sudden tears and looked away. “That’s why I’m here Max. I got away from it. I’m here to heal and get better. I’m going to bake and hang out with my sisters. I’m going to be fine .”
                  Max studied her sadly and shook her head. “Nope, you’re still bleeding Layla. The only cure for dying inside is letting love in. Take it from someone who knows.”
                  Layla closed her eyes and listened as she heard Max walk out of the kitchen and outside to her car. After she heard the car door slam, she turned around to lean her head on her arms as she felt a deep harsh sob rise up in her throat. Her whole body shook with the grief and pain that would never leave.
                  She heard Max walk back into the kitchen but couldn’t stop the sobs now that they’d started. It seemed as if she’d been holding the pain back for so long, that now that she was finally allowing herself to feel it, she couldn’t stop the avalanche of emotion. She felt a comforting hand on her back and shook her head. If Max hadn’t wanted to see this, then she shouldn’t have ripped her chest open, revealing all the wounds that now lived where her heart used to. She gripped her hair in her hands as horrible, wrenching harsh sounds continued to well up inside of her spilling over into the quiet kitchen.
                  The hand, rubbed slow soothing circles on her back and she was surprised to feel a degree of