“Are you okay now?” Daniel asked.

  “Yes.” Angie got off the bike and gave Daniel one of my hugs, making my anger flare again.

  “Thanks for being there for me.”

  Daniel blushed and ducked his head. “Same to you.”

  Daniel sped off without kissing her, but Angie stared after him with a soft smile that I wanted for myself. I controlled my jealousy to examine her and I realized she’d been crying. Her lids were red and puffy, and fresh tears rolled down her cheeks as I watched. Why was she so unhappy? It didn’t appear that she was fighting with her new guy.

  Angie stumbled toward the clubhouse and disappeared inside, missing my jacket hanging on the branch.

  Angie.

  I sent it mentally, nervous about her reaction. If she didn’t want me anymore, I wouldn’t let her know I was actually here.

  “Marc?”

  Catching me off guard, Angie came from the clubhouse with her nostrils flaring, as if she’d scented something.

  “I did,” she said, eyes roaming me feverishly as I stepped from behind our tree. As her joy swarmed over us both, I understood that she wasn’t dating Daniel. She was using him, the way I was using Jeanie.

  “I’m sorry.” She could have been mad and shouted at me. I would have taken it. What she did instead broke my heart all over again.

  “You’re here!”

  She threw herself into my arms, not caring about my apology.

  “I wasn’t sure you were coming back this time,” she sobbed, clinging to me.

  I tightened my grip. “I’ll always come back to you.”

  Against my will, the feel of her in my arms was incredible and I was helpless against the emotions. Angie had claimed me all those years ago, right here, when she’d told me that she would be my wife someday. Now I would mark her the same way by confirming it.

  Angie finally let go so that she could peer up.

  “You’re bigger now,” she stated, wiping her face.

  “Yeah.” I grinned proudly, happy she’d noticed. My gaze went over her quickly and I felt it all that time. I blushed. “You, too.”

  I faltered in my search for small talk and Angie swept us both away by stepping forward to kiss me.

  It lasted for half a minute of delirious pleasure that I could tell she felt too by the way she gave a slight gasp against my lips. In the far distance, a siren wailed unnoticed.

  Angie slowly retreated, hand coming up to touch her lips. We were both feeling it now.

  I stayed still as my brain and body told me that we could get away with doing that one more time.

  Angie’s eyes darkened and she leaned forward eagerly to make me prove the thought.

  This time, I kissed her back, lost in what I wanted most.

  I won’t even try to describe it, but I will say that one kiss was better than every moment with Jeanie, all stacked together.

  I ended the kiss, but not the embrace and Angie trembled in my arms.

  “I have to go. Tomorrow?”

  “Yes.” I ran a gentle thumb across her cheek. “I’d like to talk to you…about us.”

  She reddened and flashed a smile that I would have died to make her repeat.

  “Okay.”

  Angie took off running to be in by curfew and I went into the clubhouse and began constructing a bed. I’d told my mother I was going camping in Oxford. I had originally planned to do that, but having the rumor of Angie’s boyfriend disproven wasn’t enough to send me on my way yet. It wasn’t Daniel, but at some point, some other guy would get my Angie despite all the control and patience I was showing in waiting for her to grow up. If I didn’t tell her how I felt, I could lose her while I was gone.

  The mere thought was excruciating. I would never recover.

  Angie surprised me by coming to the clubhouse before dawn.

  “I’m ditching today,” she stated calmly, as if she did it all the time. Sitting up to reach for my shirt, I wondered if she did.

  Angie blushed and went outside so I could dress, but not before she saw my bare chest. Instead of passion or the embarrassment that I experienced with Jeanie in these moments, all I felt was amusement. Did that mean I was growing up again? It couldn’t happen fast enough now.

  “How did you sleep?” Angie asked as I came outside.

  “A little here and there,” I answered.

  I took a minute to use our bathroom path, able to hear her humming. The happiness was such a contrast to the girl I’d seen get off Daniel’s bike that I frowned. I needed to be more aware of her life, her needs, so that I could make her happy.

  When I joined her at the fire that she was carefully tending, I asked the question I wished I’d thought of last night. “Why were you crying?”

  “I miss you,” Angie whispered, instantly tearing up. “You’ve been gone a long time.”

  “I’m sorry,” I told her miserably. “I have to be.”

  “I know.”

  We stared at each other until she began to blush again and tore her eyes away. I kept staring at the waves of ebony flowing over her shoulders. No longer tight curls, it was long and beautiful in the morning sunlight.

  I took a seat on the log stool she’d added, watching as she made two cups of instant coffee that she’d obviously filched from the restaurant.

  “Sugar?”

  “Black.”

  It was my first cup of coffee, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. I was going to drink it like Larry did and pretend I liked it, even if I didn’t.

  Angie lifted a brow. “Why?”

  I’d forgotten how easily she could get into my mind. I shrugged. “I’m a man. It’s expected.”

  Instead of the confusion or correction that someone else might have given, Angie flashed a glance of sympathy.

  “Like me pretending to like pink because I’m a girl.”

  I chuckled. “Exactly.”

  Angie settled onto the other log stool and sipped her cup in a way that told me she’d been drinking it for a while.

  I took a large gulp.

  Coffee flew over the leaf-covered ground, causing Angie to snicker and I put my cup down. Yuck.

  Our eyes locked as the funny moment passed and in her blue depths, I once again saw the future. This time, I welcomed it. I let my heart say something that I’d fought myself over since first meeting her.

  “I love you. I think I always have, and when we get older…when you’re old enough, I want to marry you and build a life together. Will you go away with me then and be my Angie?”

  To my horror, she burst into tears and nothing I could say would make her stop.

  When Angie could speak, she told me she would have suffered through a thousand beatings to hear those words.

  It was wonderful and more than a little surreal. She was so young, so forbidden to me, and I loved her so much.

  “I’m not going to act like your boyfriend yet,” I told her when she calmed down. “Maybe next year I will, or the year after. I still have to go on the tours and see Jeanie, and do what I’m told, you know? You have to wait for me.”

  She agreed without any protests, which was another balm to my heart. Jeanie would have had a dozen conditions.

  “We’ll leave together?” Angie confirmed repeatedly, easing my concern for asking her so soon. It was clearly the right time.

  “I’m already saving money for it, baby. I have been for a while. You’ll be a Marine wife.”

  Angie didn’t mind that as much as she did my being in danger, but she knew I wasn’t going to pick a different career. I’d been set on this one too long for any other plans.

  “I’ll wait, but I’m friends with Daniel. I need him for…”

  “For when I’m not around?”

  She lowered her head in shame. “I’m sorry.”

  “I understand, baby-cakes. That’s the reason I still have Jeanie.”

  Angie gaped at me in renewed happiness that made me wish again that I’d told her sooner. I’d been so worried about her age and not wanting to hurt her or get caught that I’d forgotten how lonely she was too.

  Feeling the need to make it official to both of us, I slowly leaned toward her and pressed my mouth to hers.

  Heaven and hell merged in that moment, stealing my soul and I became hers. Later, when we married, the world would know, but for me, it would always be this kiss that bonded us forever.

  “Forever?” Angie whispered, crying again as we parted.

  I nodded, brushing a thick curl from her damp cheek. It felt like silk. “I do.”

  Her tears flowed heavier as I asked, “Do you?”

  “Yes.” Angie put herself in my arms and squeezed me tightly. “In every lifetime.”

  As I sent her home with a lingering hug, I couldn’t believe I’d done it. I also couldn’t believe that she’d said yes. Terror and guilt warred in my heart. Now that the words had been spoken (and we kissed!) there was no going back for me. I hoped it was the same for her as she finished growing up. It would crush me to have her rip my guts out a few years from now.

  I had ideas on how to keep that from happening, such as letting the physical sparks grow. I also considered another sneaky move of denying her the company of other males. All I had to do was ask and she’d give in, but both of those options came from the side of me that I inherited from my mother. I chose a third avenue, where I swallowed my jealousy and actually encouraged her friendship with Daniel so that she wouldn’t be alone. I also needed it to prove to my jealous heart that she really was mine.

  The week of my birthday, I took her to Daniel’s house so that we could all spend time together. They seemed to be okay with each other in ways that made me worry. That was reason enough to put them together. I wasn’t testing Angie exactly. I was testing this bond. If she and Daniel became more than friends, I would understand it wasn’t meant to be and I would peruse the Marines with a determination that I found lacking now. I assumed Angie knew what I was doing, but she didn’t protest.

  “I don’t mind, if it makes you feel better,” Angie stated from my side. We were bundled up against the cold as we waited behind Daniel’s house in a weed-covered lot where a trailer had caught fire a few years ago. When he wasn’t at his grandmother’s house near Judy’s farm, Daniel was here in the trailer park with his mom and father.

  I was here all month, thanks to my sister’s divorce and the resulting death threats she’d gotten. I didn’t care for being in the same house with her and my mother, but I was told it was my manly duty to protect them. I snuck out every chance I got. If Tracy’s ex-husband came to our house, my mother would beat him to death with her bible and then shoot him. He had no idea who he was messing with.

  I’d mentioned that to the Marine recruiter, who hadn’t minded talking to me at all. We’d chatted for about two hours before I’d gotten around to bringing up my main concerns. The answers had been reassuring. My wife could live on the bases that I was assigned to here in the US and I wouldn’t be shipped out for a while. I would have to be trained and during that time, Angie could adjust to being a Marine wife. She would be very young for that, of course, but the recruiter had assured me that the wives looked out for each other.

  I started to duck out of sight as a group of kids came up the hill path to mud ride, but they didn’t even glance our way. The hill was behind the tree line from us and covered in children enjoying the day. When the new arrivals got in line and disappeared from view, I tried to relax. Even if we were spotted, all we were doing was watching Daniel ride. My mother would still be unhappy, but I could pass it off as a coincidence.

  Angie flashed a quick question with our hand code as Daniel swung around in circles on one wheel.

  I motioned, No, please don’t.

  She beamed and I finally did relax enough to enjoy her company even in public. No, I didn’t want her to leave. I never wanted to be away from her again. The bond we had was incredibly strong.

  “I’m glad you can have both,” Angie whispered, meaning the Marines.

  “Me too, but I know which one I can’t live without,” I stated softly.

  She blushed, smiling.

  Her reading my thoughts reminded me of something that I’d been meaning to ask and kept forgetting.

  “That day you came to my room, my mother said Samuel was caught stealing and she fired him. She said he stole some things while you guys were all eating, but he was holding the door when everyone left. Do you know anything about it?”

  Angie paled a bit and I immediately hated the sight of her fear. “What?”

  “He pointed me to your room. I didn’t know how sick you were. No one still does.”

  My chest hurt. “Mother had to make sure they believed her heir was alive and well so it didn’t weaken her.”

  Angie frowned. “What?”

  I waved it off. “I’ve noticed some things, but I haven’t put it all together yet. I’ll tell you when I do.”

  “So she sent him away because he let me into your room?” Angie asked worriedly.

  I shrugged. “Maybe. Or maybe she needed a scape goat.”

  Now Angie’s face drained of color and I slid a comforting hand to her wrist. “It’s probably because he broke her rules over you. Chill out.”

  Angie nodded, but didn’t regain that healthy glow even when Daniel showed up and we took turns teaching her to drive our dirt bikes.

  As we finished the lessons and Daniel rode into the center of the field to do some new tricks, Angie settled on the ground near my feet. When she glanced up, her irises were violet and I knew she was using her gift for something. I held still and tried to figure out what it was, curious if Daniel knew what she could do. Had she trusted him enough to give up that huge secret?

  “No,” Angie murmured. “I want to know why he’s upset.”

  I hadn’t realized he was. I studied him, noting the subtle glances he kept throwing toward Angie. He’s jealous. He likes you too.

  Angie blushed, letting go of the connection. “I thought he liked boys.”

  I chuckled. She was still so innocent. If we were lucky, life would let her stay that way for a few more years.

  “What should I do?” Angie asked. That told me she hadn’t had any feelings for Daniel, or she would already know how to handle it. My worry eased and compassion came from my mouth.

  “Still be his friend, but tell him you’re not interested if it comes up. It’s that easy.”

  Angie smiled, relived. “Good. Okay. I can do that.”

  “But only if you want to,” I forced myself to add. “If you like him–”

  Angie smacked my arm, grinning at me, and I let it go right then. I had no reason to fear her friendship with Daniel. She was mine.

  Angie’s cheeks grew redder and her confirming smile sent heat into my cold heart.

  Across the frozen field, Daniel watched us unhappily.

  Mid-File Extras Reminder

  Dear Reader,

  You have reached the midway point of this file. I’d like to remind you that the extras section in the rear of my books usually has things like:

  Deleted Scenes

  Interactive challenges

  Maps of travels, some hand-drawn

  Listen to a Safe Haven radio call

  Links to character bios and interviews

  Links to the next book in the series

  A list of all my books and a way to contact me

  A note from me about the book

  I just wanted to be sure that you knew.

  Now, back to the story!

  1995

  Chapter Fourteen

  Dangerous Decisions

  January to June

  Angie

  “Hold still!”

  Georgie had me wedged behind the supply shelves, hands roaming my body while the employees and my mother covered the busy lunch shift. I squirmed low to duck under him, but his growl of delight said that was what he wanted.

  His hard flesh smacked me in the cheek and I tried not to gag as he held me down by my shoulder, increasing the pressure when I only stayed there like a cowered dog. If I wanted to get out of here, I would have to yell, bite, or do what he wanted. The first two would cause bad things.

  I opened my mouth.

  “That’s a good girl…”

  As Georgie abused me, I sent my mind to better places, slamming the door on the witch. She wanted me to use my gifts on him now, but I was terrified of him, of Mother Brady, and of the laws that said I wasn’t allowed to be on my own yet. They would lock me up somewhere and do things with my powers or they would send me around foster homes until I was of age and then I’d never be with Marc. Not to mention having to face all those strangers at the police station, in court, in town afterwards. I didn’t have the ability to transfer schools and I would always be known for this if we were caught.

  When he finished, Georgie shoved me away from him, as if it had been my idea. “You...get out of here!”

  I fled, spitting and crying from the shame. I heard Georgie tell someone he’d just caught me stealing and the fury burned brighter. Each time, afterwards, I got closer to the witch’s point of view. Georgie wasn’t going to stop. I really might have to kill him if Marc couldn’t get me out of here. Since New Year’s, the attacks had become more frequent. Sleeping at home was nearly impossible now. With my mom always passed out, Georgie was unsupervised. Peeling back the covers to stare and touch me were his favorite things to do.

  I ran for the newly-planted cornfield, not caring when I knocked a woman out of my way. I had to get out of here before I did something I would regret. Not that it wouldn’t feel good to fight. I was sick of having to take it because of my age, sick of people waiting for me to reach the right age to be taken. When did it get to be my life and my choices?

  I detoured around the bus stop where Rodney and Scot liked to lurk in wait for the kids that they’d chosen to terrorize and darted between the trailers. I ran across the main road, then jumped the embankment and let myself roll down to where the rows of corn started.