Free Coming Home by Lydia Michaels Page A

about it because it’s harder than any war and greater than any epic. It’s vast and cold and empty and usually unrequited.
That’s
what love is. It’s misery and if you love me I’m glad, because I’ll never love you back and that is exactly what you deserve.”
    She turned and walked away. He didn’t follow. Fuck the DMV. She was going home and if she ventured anywhere it was going to be to a liquor store. When she saw the insurance office below her apartment relief set in. Almost home.
    As Scout rounded the alleyway to her apartment door, she came up short. Nerves pinched at the back of her neck as she intruded on two unkempt men passing money and drugs. They jumped at her sudden appearance. Great. They were blocking the few steps separating her from her home, and there was no way she was letting them see this was where she lived.
    “You need something, girlie?” the man with a gap in his teeth asked.
    “Uh, no. Just made a wrong turn.” She turned away to exit the alley.
    “Well, now wait a minute. Maybe we can help you find what you’re looking for,” the other man said.
    She kept walking. “No. I’m set.”
    Gap-tooth skipped alongside her and cut her off before she could reach the sidewalk. “Pretty thing like you shouldn’t be walking around by yourself. Young too. Bet you aren’t even eighteen. What do you think, Kev?”
    She scowled at the scumbag. This wasn’t necessarily a bad section, but there was crime everywhere. It wasn’t late, but the alley was narrow and dark. While “Kev” was behind her, Gap-tooth was blocking her escape. Other than anyone who might be visiting the insurance agency beneath her apartment, there wasn’t much foot traffic going by.
    “If you’ll excuse me,” she said impatiently.
    Gravel crunched behind her and her lungs seized. Fuck.
    “Looks about sixteen to me,” Kev said.
    Gap-tooth’s gap was slowly displayed in a lascivious reptilian grin. “She sure does.”
    His hand lifted and without thought, Scout reacted. Something tired and outraged snapped inside her. Her fist connected with his nose, and he folded like a cheap metal chair. Her knee slammed into his face, and he dropped like a sack of potatoes to the ground.
Goddamn men!
    The other man shouted and grabbed hold of her arms.
    A scream high enough to curdle blood ripped from her lungs. “
Don’t touch me! Fire! Fire!”
    He shoved her against the brick wall, her hair catching on the rough, porous surface, and she shoved her knee into his crotch. He grunted and she nearly vomited when spit came out of his mouth. “You fucking cunt!”
    His grip tightened and she clocked him right in the ear. He howled and grabbed his head, stepping back. She kicked him in the nuts as hard as she could, and he dropped to writhe beside his partner in crime.
    “
Hey!
What’s going on?”
    She turned and a man in a suit was blocking the exit of the alley. She’d kick his ass too!
    Her chest heaved as she panted, adrenaline pumping wildly through her veins. Fists clenched in front of her chest, she pivoted, waiting for one of the men to rise. They both were on the ground moaning as she huffed and shook.
    “I need a police officer at twenty-three South Knights Boulevard,” suit man said into some fancy cell phone.
    Instinctively, at the mention of the cops, Scout’s gut urged her to run. Having grown up under the circumstances she had, the law didn’t usually take kindly to her type, but she’d done nothing wrong and she wasn’t that type anymore. She had papers and a home. She’d merely defended herself. It took everything she had not to run and hide.
    She grabbed her bag off the ground and quickly left the alley.
    “The cops are coming. You can’t leave.”
    “I didn’t do anything wrong!” she snapped at Suit Man.
    “You have no business being in this alley,” he snapped back, like an adult chastising a small child.
    “I live here!”
    He drew back. “Are you Evelyn?”
    Finally, some clarity. She