Free Amber Alert (Amber Alert Series Book 1) by Sara Schoen

his eyes filled with worry and fear.
    When I didn't answer, I saw him lean forward and felt his lips lightly touch mine. I tensed, but then I felt at peace. I felt his hands wrap protectively around my body and pull me toward him. I let myself melt into him as the butterflies in my stomach took off again. A sigh escaped my lips before I returned the kiss. I felt at once safe, and in a state of bliss until Andy's dead body flashed in my mind.
    "No! Don't you dare touch me! Don't ever touch me! How dare you blame this on me! How dare you even suggest that!" I screamed, pushing Garrett, and the comfort, away from me.
    But I couldn’t stop myself, I took a step forward to kiss him again.
    Garrett stepped back and said, "All of the girls were easy targets! Alone, sometimes at night, and typically in deserted places. How the hell was I supposed to know?" 
    "You ask! I'm not like every girl!" I retorted, insulted by his accusation that I was just another girl. Didn't he feel the passion of that kiss or had I made it up? Maybe he was used to it after his time with the previous girl.
    "I can tell, because most girls wouldn't end up here! Isn't that right  mommy? " Garrett sneered in anger. He knew what buttons to push and hit them all in a row.
    I extended my arm and slammed my hand onto his cheek with a loud smack. I had to shake my hand to relieve the stinging sensation but I couldn't shake the anger off Garrett's face.
    "Ouch!" he yelled clutching his cheek as he glared daggers into my eyes.
    "I'm not your mother! Don't ever call me that again!" I yelled at him, stepping toward him in case I had to hit him again.
    "Or what? What are you going to do? Send me to my room?" Garrett questioned, holding his face in both hands in feign horror.
    "Get out Garrett! I never want to see you ever again!" I screamed as I started to shove him out of my room.
    "That might be kind of hard  mom— since we live in the same house!" he yelled as he walked out of the room. He stopped outside the threshold of the door and turned to glare at me again. I could tell he was about to say something, so before he could I slammed the door in his face.
    "Not if I have anything to say about it..." I muttered over the door’s violent slam. "If I have anything to say about it, I'm getting out of here—one way or another, dead or alive."

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 8
     
     
    I lost track of the number of days—Garrett had once told me I had been here for a month, but even he wasn't sure. It felt longer than that, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could make it. I wanted to end this suffering, but I was still here—very much alive. I only had two choices, I could leave the house dead or alive. 
    My vote was for getting out alive, but if that didn’t work, I would take death over this life. I couldn't live through it; I'd find a way to kill myself before I let Steve have his way with me again. Although, I knew I couldn’t do that either. I would have to get out of this house and I'd make it home somehow. Maybe I would even send help for Garrett. Did Garrett really deserve any help? He chose to stay here, and then he blamed the girls who were taken against their will for them being here. His own mother was a hostage in this house, so how could he blame the other girls when he knew what his mom went through? He needed someone to blame and it was easier to blame the girls, even knowing that his father was a monster. Garrett needed help, whether he admitted it or not. He wouldn't do it for himself so that meant I had to get out alive so I could help Garrett too.
    "But how would I do it?"
    "How would you do what?" A soft voice asked from behind me.
    I turned to see Garrett leaning on the door frame in jeans and no shirt. I fought to control the butterflies that were growing in my stomach as I looked into his beautiful, soft brown eyes, but soon I couldn't take my eyes off his shirtless chest. The fabric of his shirt normally hid the muscles and