Read Online False Security by Angie Martin - Free Book Online Page B

The
idea of Danielle being anything other than Rachel’s hyperactive, yet loyal best
friend was foreign to him.
    “Yeah,” James said. A
mischievous grin took over his mouth. “I’d like to—”
    Mark didn’t let him finish. “No
way. Anything you’d like to do would end up causing problems with me and
Rachel.”
    “You two work this out
yourselves,” Greg said. “I have to get home. James, aren’t you working
anymore?”
    “Yeah, I’m over at the liquor
store now,” he said, pointing out the window toward the strip mall across the
street. “But I don’t work tonight. I’m keeping Mark company ‘cause Sarah went
home sick.”
    “I thought we were missing an
employee,” Greg said. “You couldn’t call anyone else in?”
    “We can handle it,” Mark said.
“It won’t get busy for another hour or so, and Jason will be here for his shift
by then.”
    “Call me if you need me,” Greg
said. “And Mark, don’t forget to ask Rachel about Sunday.”
    “I won’t,” Mark promised. “I’ll
ask her when I see her tonight.”

  Chapter Thirteen
    Rachel plopped
down on her bed. She hiked one leg up on the mattress, tugged at her shoelaces,
and pulled the shoe off. The shoe flew across the room, and hit the wall with a
bang.
    As she battled a knot in the
shoelace of her other tennis shoe, Danielle appeared in the doorway holding a
half empty roll of cookie dough, her waitress apron tied around her waist. She
glanced at the shoe on the floor and frowned. “Bad day?”
    Rachel gave up on the shoelace
and yanked the shoe off with a grunt. “You don’t know the half of it. All I
want to do is soak in a hot bath and forget I ever woke up this morning.”
    Danielle walked over to the bed
and offered her the cookie dough. “What happened?”
    Rachel scooped some dough onto
her finger. “We got a new one today. Sixteen years old,” she said. She placed
the dough in her mouth.
    “Oh, no.”
    Rachel chewed the chocolate
chips, and the dough melted on her tongue. “This is good. Exactly what I
needed,” she said. She swallowed the dough before she continued. “The girl
lives in Salina, but she was dating some guy who lives in a fraternity house
here. Her mom and dad hate the new boyfriend and the whole world is against
her.”
    “Older guys sure are tantalizing
for teenagers,” Danielle said. “Some girls don’t realize their parents are
trying to protect them.”
    “This girl’s parents knew
something was wrong with her boyfriend, but she couldn’t see it. She ran away
from home and came here to be closer to him. Two nights ago, she wound up in
the hospital. Seems frat boy gets a little mean when he’s been drinking. She
had a broken nose and cigarette burns on her abdomen.”
    “Is she pressing charges?”
    “She won’t even admit he did
it.”
    “Let me guess,” Danielle said.
“She fell down the stairs and into an ashtray.”
    “Subtract the ashtray and you
have her official story.”
    “Why is it always the stairs?”
    “She was patched up at the
hospital, but the doctor didn’t know who to release her to since she’s a minor.
Every time a cop came near her she screamed and fought back. She refused to
tell anyone her parents’ names or where she lived, so one of the doctors called
the shelter. Whoever went to see her convinced her to stay at least one night
at the shelter. After she got there, one of the counselors managed to get the
information out of her and her parents are coming down tomorrow to take her
home.”
    “I’m not working at the shelter
again until Monday, so I guess I won’t get to meet her.” At the shelter,
Danielle provided support to incoming women as they adapted to their
surroundings. “I don’t understand how you handle being there day after day,
seeing the things you do. I have a hard enough time working there part-time. I
couldn’t stand being around the shelter as much as you. It would tear me up.”
    “I wish I could say I’m used to
it,”