HOMELESS HEART, PRICELESS LOVE
ld, Her
n't mean
hrough the cheap motel curtains and stirred her from a restless sleep. She sat up quietly
ver his eyes, his chest rising and falling in a slow rhythm. The
still ached, and her legs were stiff from barely moving i
. The way he moved. The way he watched. The expensive watch he never took off. T
here was t
o blinked softly on the back one she didn't recognize, but
hovered ne
n'
opened i
to life. A secur
ght of a thumbnail in the corner. A news a
STEELE MISSING AFTER C
art st
re
re
om the laptop like
o
uldn'
across the roo
ace had been splashed across every TV in the food stall she worked at. She reme
van
eping five feet away fro
d by
the edge of the b
o find her standing at the do
o me," she
lowly, grog
me isn't
hen sighed. "
Lorenzo
le
n't de
l flickering in her voice.
," he said calmly. "And I didn
the one who dragged your half-dead
l. But the people who tried to kill me... they
just some random guy with a shadowy past while I
bill," he
't know
ng p
gry," he s
for once I met someone who understood what it meant to have nothing. To fight for ever
rious. "Do you think
f-guard by the sudden
oke up in pain, in darkness, with no one to trust and the
stepping t
have just to forget what it felt like lying in that
ared a
. His voice cracked not
heart pounding. "Wh
se I can't stop th
r Th
d to stay i
glance but didn't ask questions. She chopped vegetables, took orders, and wash
t stop her. B
n a hoodie and sunglasses, moving like
through pain. He watched her hand over half her wages to a
to break
, he ma
her shift, a stranger in a
aid. "Someone paid th
cash, confused and
as alrea
eaning against a pillar. She marc
did t
retend othe
hy
uldn't have to b
want yo
pity. It's
lope. "This isn't how
his voice quiet. "
That
as exh
ors at night, and now delivering packages fo
ten a full me
d the stall after closing, her legs wobbl
he col
oke to
aroun
re
like she we
red, brushing hair from her
the energy to ar
la. You
ing tired. Tired of hurting. Tired
d his arms
ave to prete
er head agai
e let hersel