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

“They should be close?” Her statement sounds more like a question. “I don’t know.”
    “Here.” I stand, pulling her up with me. I take off my T-shirt and hold the neck hole open wide. Bending on one knee, I position the shirt in front of her feet. “Step in.”
    She does as I said, and I shimmy the T-shirt up her legs. I have to rip the fabric a little to get it up over her hips, but the shirt is old and worn and actually stretches fairly easily.
    I look down at her makeshift skirt and shrug. “Well, it will have to do until we get back. Let’s get out of here.” I take note of her bare feet. “Do you want me to carry you?”
    She shakes her head. “No, I’ll be careful. I’ll watch where I’m stepping.”
    I nod. “All right, let’s go.”
    I lead us back toward our spot beneath the bridge as quickly as I can without risking Sarah hurting herself.
    Once we’re there and she’s dressed in some of her own clothes, we sit next to each other against the coarse grassy hill on the side of the bridge.
    “What happened? Why did you leave?”
    “I’m sorry. I meant to get back before you woke up.” Her voice is quiet.
    “Please just tell me what is going on,” I plead softly.
    She pulls her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around them. “Well, I went to meet Pedro last night. I left after you fell asleep because I didn’t want you to worry about me.”
    “Did he ra-rape you?” I struggle to get the word out.
    “No. I offered, I think.”
    “You don’t remember?”
    She sighs. “Not much, no. I took some stuff. I was kind of out of it.”
    My heart pounds fiercely in my chest as I register her words. “What kind of stuff? Like drugs?”
    She nods.
    “You met him for drugs?” I ask, my voice quivering in disbelief.
    She nods again.
    “Why?”
    “He offered, and I wanted it…to escape, you know? Just for a bit. I won’t do it again. I just needed a break from it all for one night.” Her voice is so hollow, and it causes my heart to shatter.
    I wish I could kill every man who has ever hurt her.
    “I’m here for you, Sarah. You can talk to me about anything. I’ll help you, and if I can’t, I’ll figure out how. You’re not alone.”
    She leans her face against her knees. The palm of my hand splays across her back as she shakes violently with her sobs. I don’t know what else to say, so I remain silent as she cries, and I continue to rub her back.
    After a while, her sobs abate, and she rocks to the side, allowing her body to fall into mine. I wrap my arms around her back and hold her tight.
    “We’ll get through this. You know that, right? It’s going to get better. I’ll help you. I’ll do anything to make things better for you, Sarah, but I can’t help you if I lose you. You can’t leave me like that again. What if I hadn’t been the one to find you? What if the cops had found you, and they sent you back? We have to be careful.”
    “I know.” She sniffles. “It was stupid. I won’t do it again.”
    “Okay,” I sigh. “Good. Do you need anything?”
    “Just this. Just you. Please hold me for a bit. Don’t let me go just yet,” she whispers.
    “Sarah, I’ll never let you go. As long as I’m alive, I’m going to protect you. I’ll keep you safe. I’ll make everything better. You just have to trust me.” Even as I say the words, I know they’re empty promises. They sound immature and naive as they come from my mouth. But that doesn’t change the fact that I want to believe them.
    The reality is that, in this world, one can want to do something with the greatest desire, but the fact is that one has very little control over the actual trajectory of their path. I know because I’ve wanted many things in my life, and I’ve lost them all.
    Regardless, I want my words to be true this time. Because of everything I’ve lost, I can’t lose Sarah, too.
    And, as much as I want my promises to be true for Sarah’s sake, I want them to be true for mine as well.