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