Free I Know Lucy (The Fugitive Series) by Melissa Pearl Page A

you.”
    She’d grinned and nodded. It was the perfect name for her… more because it’d been given to her by Marlin. She was falling in love with him. Not in the way a girl loves a guy, but in the way a sister loves a brother. Marlin had quickly become her new family and she would be forever grateful.
    With a sigh, she pulled out her loot and laid it on the ground.
    Marlin fingered the bracelet with a smile. “No way. Shit, girl!” He high-fived her hand with an elated grin. “This’ll get us through the month easily.”
    She grinned back at him, that fleeting pride swelling within her. “What’d you score?”
    He emptied his pocket, pulling out a watch, two wallets and a wad of loose cash. She reached for it, counting the notes. “A hundred bucks,” she murmured. Flipping open the other three wallets, she extracted all the cash. It came to a total of $235. “Man, people just don’t carry much cash anymore.”
    Marlin shook his head. “We’re not getting into stealing Visa numbers.”
    “No, I don’t want that either.” She frowned. “This cash will get us a motel. We can clean up and go sell the bracelet tomorrow.”
    “Nah, I don’t want to do it too close to town. Whoever this belongs to might report it stolen and we don’t want any pawn shop guy identifying us. I say we hang onto it for a couple of months. Head north a little further. Get some distance.”
    “Okay.” Lucy nodded, hugging her knees to her chest.
    “Hey, we did good for a fair ground. It’s summer, there’s gonna be plenty more of these popping up over the next couple of months. It’ll give us time to save for the winter.”
    “Yeah, I know. You’re right.” She forced a smile, trying to be brave, but she was tired and melancholy tonight.
    Seeing those girls had thrown her, made her pine for the life she should be living. She missed her parents, Maria, school even. She missed sitting in a classroom and learning. She missed normalcy.
    Was the rest of her life going to be like this? Constantly on the run? Living from town to town? She was exhausted just thinking about it. Her eyes lost focus as she played her blocking out the world trick for a minute, trying to numb her mind against reality.
    Her tummy grumbled, reminding her that their last meal had been breakfast. Reality could never be blocked for long.
    “Do you want me to go buy us a hotdog to share?”
    “No.” She shook her head. “I want a shower more. Let’s save up the money for tomorrow night. I want to sleep on a mattress with a pillow. It’s been over a week.”
    “Yeah.” Marlin mussed her hair as he sat down beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
    An owl hooted in the distance, making Lucy flinch.
    “You seem jittery tonight.”
    Lucy rested her head on his shoulder, thinking about the police. “I just sometimes wonder if this will all catch up with us. What if we’re caught one day?” She nibbled her bottom lip, that familiar fear building inside her.
    The law terrified her, not only because she was a crook, but because the law was crooked. She’d seen for herself how the law didn’t guarantee any kind of safety. Those pale green eyes still haunted her dreams.
    “Are we gonna die, Marlin?” Her voice shook as she asked the same question she always did when thinking about her parents’ murders.
    Marlin kissed the top of her head and replied with the same answer every time. “One day, but of nothing more than natural causes.” He rested his hollow cheek on her head. “I ain’t gonna let anybody hurt you, Cyan. You can count on that.”

ZACH
    April 2014

    “Would you drop it, Elliot.” I flung my hands out. With them still inside my jacket pockets, I looked like I had wings. I walked towards the center of Danville, keeping an eye out for my parents. Since I was in San Fran all day tomorrow, they wanted to have a family lunch today to discuss the pending summer. They were nervous about leaving me for six weeks to travel around