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“You have a security guard? Let me guess, they hired him after the teacher went missing.”
She nodded miserably. “Jonathan can’t come to the school to watch out for me. He’s got the build for the construction company, but the bigger issue is things will get even worse if Tre realizes we’re together. I’ll end up leverage for Sucre. He’ll use me to make Jonathan do whatever he wants. If Tre doesn’t try to keep me for himself.” She covered her hand with her mouth as her stomach churned.
“It’s not going to happen. You’re going to come straight to me after work every day.” He knelt in front of her. “I’ll make sure you get home safely. I’ll build a fucking fortress around you if I have to.”
“You can’t protect me forever.”
“The fuck I can’t.” He gripped her hand. “I’ll do it as long as it takes.”
***
Liv curled into a tight ball on the bed in her sister’s guest room. Even though she’d probably be safe at home, she couldn’t bear the thought of being alone. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the face of Jennifer Muniz.
She hadn’t been friends with the woman, but they’d spoken a few times in the faculty lounge. What she remembered most about her was the passionate speech the woman had given at a PTA meeting the year she disappeared.
“These kids need us,” she’d said. “We could turn them toward a real future instead of a life slinging burgers or selling weed.”
How could she have missed the connection when Tre brought her up?
She shivered and pulled the nest of blankets tighter around herself. She had stood barely a few feet away from the man who extinguished the light in Jennifer’s eyes. The man who violated her and threw her away like garbage.
“I’m so stupid,” she whimpered.
She’d resolved to live bigger, make better choices. What a joke. Last year, she was planning her future by checking off boxes, and now she was doing the exact same thing. Except instead of picking Mr. Perfect or the right vacation spot, she marked boxes off a bucket list she didn’t even make…and still didn’t think about whether her choices would really make her life better. She only asked herself what Old Liv would do, then did the opposite.
But there was no Old Liv—or new one for that matter. Only one Liv existed, and she was long overdue on facing reality.
Surviving cancer didn’t make her invincible, but maybe a small part of her felt entitled to give danger the middle finger. She lived through her treatment when so many didn’t. But what did it prove? Carol had kicked cancer before, but beating death once didn’t guarantee you could beat it a second time.
No more jumping out of planes.
No more home visits in a terrible neighborhood.
No more being reckless.
She had to be smart. From now on, she would think things through, consider the end result, and commit to the path to get herself there.
She wouldn’t keep taking Krav Maga to satisfy Izzy or prove she was tough; she would use it to learn to really protect herself. Starting tonight.
And she wasn’t staying with Jonathan simply because he was so different than Ryan or because Carol put falling in love on the list. Not even because he made her heart race and her pulse pound. She wanted to be with him because he was a good man and she cared about him. He could make her happy.
If she had been unsure at all about what a monster looked like before, thanks to Tre Lowry, she knew now.
Jonathan’s hands may not be clean, but he wanted to change. He would change, and she’d be there with him to celebrate when he did.
If her mistake with Tre hadn’t already sealed her fate.
***
Two hours later, Liv faced her sister at the gym, warming up her muscles.
She peeked over at Izzy as she dropped into a lunge. “I’m sorry you got stuck in the middle of all my drama.”
Her sister sat on the floor with her legs spread, leaning over to hold her right foot. She sat up fully with Liv’s apology. “Are you kidding me? I’m your big sister. I want to help you with your problems. You’ve hardly talked to me at all since we lost Carol.”
We. The word grated.
Carol wasn’t your friend. She was mine.
