Free Keeping London (The Flawed Heart Series Book 2) by Ellie Wade

telling me to stay put, that if I stayed right where I was, then he could backtrack to all the places we’d been until he found me.
    Stay put.
    Should I just wait here and hope she returns? This thought doesn’t sit well with me. What if she’s hurt? In trouble? Lost?
    I can’t imagine the latter. Sarah’s better with directions than I am. She’d be able to find her way back here.
    Unless…
    All the ways in which Sarah could need me enter my mind. What if she was found? What if she’s been picked up by social services? What if she’s screaming for me to help her?
    I have to find her. But where do I start?
    With my arms raised to my head, my fingers grasp my hair, pulling.
    Where do I look? Where do I look? I think as I bend at the waist, the feeling of dread pulling me down.
    Suddenly, I think about the corner where she panhandled a couple of times this week while I was working. I remember her telling me about a guy who works at the grocery store right there.
    Pedro is his name.
    Yes, Pedro, and he brought her a delicious deli sandwich from the store for lunch the past two days. She spoke about him like she had developed a friendship of sorts with him.
    Maybe he’s seen her today? Or perhaps she mentioned something to him yesterday when she was there?
    It’s somewhere to start at least.
    I stash my backpack and our bedding between where the beam from the bridge meets the ground. A large section of metal is bent up away from the earth at a ninety-degree angle, creating an ideal hiding place for our belongings. It’s come in handy this week, allowing us to leave our heavy satchels behind while we worked.
    It only takes a moment to put our things away, and then I’m off, walking toward town. With each step, I pray that I find Sarah. I’m hoping this is all an oversight on my end. Perhaps, she mentioned to me that she had work early this morning, and I simply don’t remember her telling me.
    Maybe I was half-asleep when she mentioned it? It has to be something like that. Nothing else makes sense.
    I replay our conversations in my mind as I walk, desperately trying to remember anything that I missed. I reach the small grocery store and almost walk into the sliding glass doors when they don’t automatically open.
    Crap . The store hasn’t opened yet.
    My jaw clenches, and my posture is stiff and rigid as I pace in front of the closed doors. I start walking and scan the area. It’s not much, but it’s something until I can talk to Pedro. I make my way around the store until I find myself in a side alley full of rusted blue dumpsters. I turn to head back in the other direction when I see it.
    A foot.
    It’s bare, lying against the paved ground, as it peeks out from the other side of the waste receptacle.
    I run to it, and when I come around the large metal container full of trash, I gasp. It’s Sarah. Her eyes are closed, and she’s naked from the waist down.
    “Sarah!” I call out as I fall to my knees and shake her shoulders. “Sarah!” My voice is heavy with emotion, and my vision blurs.
    She grunts, and I let out a sigh of relief, a small one at least. Why in the hell is she lying here, half-naked and unconscious? I continue to gently move her shoulders back and forth as I say her name over and over.
    Eventually, she stirs and opens her eyes. She blinks heavy, once…twice, and then she stares. Her eyes widen with fear. “Loïc?” she asks, her voice broken and gravelly.
    “I’m here, Sarah.” I pull her chest up to mine and hug her against me. “What happened? Are you okay? Why did you leave? Where are your clothes?” The questions come out in rapid succession. I shake my head, expelling a large breath, before asking again, “Are you okay?”
    She nods against my chest as I hold her to me.
    “Where are your pants?” I ask softly.
    She pulls back and looks down at her exposed skin. “Um…” She looks around. “I’m not sure. They should be…” She leans to the side to look around me.