Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

LONDON

Ten Years Later . . .

"All right, everyone, make sure to have a good weekend, but don't forget those projects are due next week," I say, though I'm sure it's not meeting any of my students' ears. They're more worried about packing up and getting out to the buses so they can head home.

With the end of the year coming, all these kids are thinking about is summer vacation and what they're going to do during that time. I'm right there with them. I'm looking forward to not having a bunch of hormonal teens driving me crazy. I love teaching, but sometimes these kids can make a girl wanna square up.

My plans for the summer are mostly filled with sleeping and going to the lake as much as possible. I love being outdoors and being at the lake even more. The peace I feel when I'm just floating around is wonderful. It's my haven.

Where some women go out and do other things on the lake, like jet ski, or water ski, I'm not the type to do it. I prefer floating and relaxing. Sometimes, I enjoy simply reading while sunning next to the water in my chair. Maybe even sitting with my chair in the water close to shore.

I guess you can say my summers are pretty boring to others, and that's okay. It's just the way it has to be for me.

Packing the papers I need to grade in my bag, I allow my thoughts to shift to another time and place. Back when I'd just turned thirteen, and my mom had gotten married to my stepfather. I couldn't stand him. I couldn't get a hold of my dad. He'd been deployed at the time. Mom refused me access to the computer to talk to him. I couldn't even get to the library to use the computers there. She monitored everything I did.

I couldn't understand why she did this. It wasn't like she actually cared about me. She was all about her and her wants.

Mom wouldn't listen to me when I told her I wasn't comfortable around her husband. She'd said it was all in my head. But I knew better. I'd learned about it at school during the times when they discussed stranger-danger and what's okay and what's not. Her new husband was creeping me out with the looks he'd give me.

The one time he came into my room and started petting me, talking about how pretty I was, it scared me. Mom wasn't going to believe me. She'd made it blatantly clear. I needed my dad, but with him gone, I had only one choice. To get out of Dodge and take my chances as a runaway.

For six months, I lived on the streets. I wouldn't have been able to survive it if not for two sixteen-year boys who'd taken me under their wing. The only reason I had gotten caught was because I'd decided to go to the library and sign into my email to check it for anything from my dad. I missed him and wanted to be with him.

Evidently, my dad had taken notice of my disappearance and went to his commanders. He managed to get sent home and went straight to the cops after finding out my mom never reported me missing. We'd been living just outside Dallas while my dad was stationed two hours away at Fort Hood.

When I'd gone to the library, I hadn't thought anything of it, but then the cops found me. I put up a fight, thinking they were going to take me back to my mom. I didn't know it was my dad looking for me.

At first, I hated leaving Damari and Jarrett. I hadn't even told them bye. I didn't have time. Dad ended up getting full custody of me, and I spent the next five years living with him. He decided against re-upping, and started up a security business alongside some of his buddies. This meant he could be home with me every night. I loved he did this.

After graduating high school, I went to college locally, but when I started looking for places to work, I found a job in Palestine. Dad hadn't been thrilled I decided to take it, he wanted me close to home still.

I promised him I'd be okay and if I wasn't, if something happened, I'd tell him immediately.

This was my first-year teaching, and I've loved it. During college, I worked as a teacher's aide to get some experience. Also, I wanted to make sure this was exactly what I wanted to do. The pay sucked, but I loved teaching kids—even the rowdy teenagers who wanted to be on their phones more than taking in the lessons.

I shake off the thoughts and finish gathering the rest of my stuff together. It's a long weekend, and I, for one, intend to enjoy it. Well, I'll enjoy it between grading papers and prepping the rest of next week's lesson plans. School lets out in just a few more weeks so it's mainly about review and testing.

I make my way out of my classroom and down the hall toward the office, my mind going over what to do first.

"Hey, London."

I twist in the direction of my name being called and smile at my friend, Tamara. "Hey, you heading to your boyfriend's for the weekend?" I ask, though I already know the answer. Every weekend, she goes to his place. Why he doesn't come to her, I'll never understand, but to each their own.

"No, he's actually coming here." Tamara grins. "I finally put my foot down and told him I was tired of always being the one going to him."

"Good for you."

"Yeah, yeah, I know you keep telling me."

"Well, you know I'm right." I shrug and reach up to brush a few strands of hair that had come loose out of my face.

I swear if I don't keep the unruly locks in check, they'd be all over the place. Dad always tells me I remind him of the girl from the Disney movie Brave . I guess I made him watch it with me one too many times while living with him. I love watching all the Disney movies. I don't care if they're for kids.

"You are," Tamara says as the two of us keep walking. "It's why we want you to come out with us tonight."

"Where?"

I'm not big on going out. I'm more of a homebody. Granted, I do like to go to the movies every once in a while. Other times, I'll go to the mall in Tyler. But if I go anywhere, it's usually trips down to Killeen where I hang with my dad.

"Keeper's Pub."

"Isn't that a biker bar?"

"It is, but everyone goes there. I went all the time before Paul and I hooked up. Just come. Meet us there at eight," Tamara says, stepping out of the building and heading for her car, not giving me the chance to decline.

Dang-it. If I don't show, it'll be rude.

Sighing, I shake my head and head to my Jeep. I toss everything in the back seat and climb in behind the wheel. Turning the key in the ignition, I shift the gear into reverse, back up, and shift into drive, heading toward home.

My apartment building is only a ten-minute drive from the school, but with afternoon traffic, it feels longer. Mostly because I was allowing myself to become nervous about going out tonight.

If I don't, Tamara might get mad at me. The bigger question is, can I go and not look for faces I want to see? I want to see them, but how do I face them and not think of the past? Or the crush I had on a boy who I saw as my protector for those months he watched out for me.

It's an idiotic thought. I'm sure both Damari and Jarrett have moved on, found lives for themselves and forgotten all about the girl who up and vanished.