Chains by Kelli Maine Page B

I held her tighter. “Not this time.” I kissed the top of her head. “I won’t let him.”
    She turned into me and wrapped her arms around my waist. “I’m tired of being afraid. I can’t do this anymore.”
    “You don’t have to. I’ll take care of you. Don’t be afraid.” The dog licked her cheeks, and I knew she must be crying.
    “I don’t feel good, Ty,” she whispered. “I need something .” She gazed up at me with watery eyes. “Please. Anything. Just a little.”
    “I don’t have anything to give you even if I wanted to.” I pushed her hair back from her sweat-dappled forehead. “Close your eyes. We’ll be there soon and you can lay down.”
    Danny pulled her knees up and curled into my side. Instead of letting my mind reel with questions about tomorrow and the day after, I focused on now and the steady up and down of her chest, the warmth of the dog’s head resting on my leg, the sound of the tires eating up the miles. Right here, right now, in this car, we were free. We were safe and together and that was all that mattered.

    The driver pulled into the driveway of a new condo with a red BMW sitting in the open garage. “This is it?” I asked Danny, gently shaking her awake.
    She rubbed her eyes and picked the dog up from my lap.
    I paid the driver and we got out. “How the hell can Alex afford this place?”
    Danny shuffled her feet, staring down at the concrete. “That’s what I need to tell you before we go in.” She looked up at me with fear and apprehension in her eyes. “Promise you won’t hate me,” she said.
    I swallowed. Hard. Whatever this was, it wasn’t going to be good. “I promise I won’t hate you. I never could hate you, Dan. You know that.”
    “He’s a drug dealer,” she said. “I worked for him until I got hooked and used all the profits I was supposed to be bringing in. I lied to you. He didn’t make me leave because of…because of the baron showing up. He made me leave because I’m a junkie.”
    Her words spun around my head for a second until the thought got snagged in my consciousness. “You dealed? You were fifteen. He let you—” I grabbed the sides of my head before it exploded and paced in a circle. “He got you hooked and kicked you out—left you on your own. With Striker out there, the motherfucker who hurt you.”
    The front door opened. Alex stepped out. We stared at each other for a long moment before recognition hit him. “Tyler.”
    “Surprise!” Danny said and giggled, nervously.
    Alex’s eyes darted from her to me. “What is this? A fucking family reunion?”
    “No,” I said, striding forward and hooking my arm around Danny as we approached the porch. “She needs a place to lie low for a while.”
    He stepped to the edge of the porch stairs. “Sorry. I don’t take foster kids. Bad experience with the system in the past, you know.”
    Danny was shaking and started crying again. Alex was slightly taller than me, but not as strong. He was lean and scrappy, but not a trained fighter. The years looked like they piled up on him. Maybe it was the scruff on his chin, or the sun-worn creases in the corners of his eyes, but he didn’t look like a guy in his early twenties, he looked like he was at least thirty. And pissed.
    But not as pissed as me.
    “She’s on day one with no drugs,” I said. “It’s about to get really fucking ugly, and she needs to crash somewhere. That somewhere has to be here.” I stepped up to him, got in his face. “You did this to her. You’re going to help me get her through it.”
    “ I did this to her?” Alex let out an incredulous laugh. “She brought this on herself.”
    Danny sobbed, quietly. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
    “You either move,” I said, shoving against him, “or call the cops to make us leave. I’m guessing you don’t like dealing with the cops.” I wasn’t playing with him. He had no choice in the matter. I pushed by him and ushered Danny into the