Lacey

Chapter 12 - Dane

It had been weeks since I had last seen Lacey and I couldn't get her out of my head. She had gotten under my skin the first day I met her. I remember as if it were yesterday. I was hanging out with my friends at the abandoned fair grounds when she had shown up, tears streaming down her face. She had desperately tried to hide them quickly when she noticed us, but I knew something was wrong and my heart broke for the beautiful girl with the big sapphire green eyes and long raven hair.

When I offered her a crooked smile, she returned it with a small one of her own. It lit up her whole face and turned her into something more beautiful than I had ever seen. I knew right in that moment that I wanted to be the one that made her smile. The one that would protect her from whatever was making her sad. After that day we became inseparable. I wanted all my firsts to be with her and as we grew older, they were all hers. My first kiss. My virginity. My first love.

Sadly, I was not hers. Her disgusting pig of a step stepfather took everything from her. When we were thirteen our relationship started to change, Lacey grew withdrawn and distant. Flinching from my flirty touches and wearing ill-fitting clothes that hung off her slight frame. Finally, when she opened up to me that her alcoholic stepfather had been molesting her, I felt rage that no teen boy should ever feel. I wanted to brutally murder the sadistic bastard and vowed one day I would. Slowly. He didn't deserve a quick death.

The only thing that had stopped me was the desperate pleading from Lacey. She didn't want me to say or do anything in fear of her stepsisters' lives. That was just like Lacey. She had a huge heart and would do anything for anyone even if it meant she had to ruthlessly sacrifice her heart and soul for it. She would rather be destroyed than let anyone else suffer. It killed me to see her day in and day out wasting away mentally and physically before my eyes. I vowed that I would make sure that I was bigger and stronger than anyone my age so that when the time come, I would be able to protect Lacey from the vicious monsters in her bed.

I may have only been a poor street kid that everyone considered to be worthless, no prospects in life but I did everything in my power to try and make life for Lacey easier. By the time we were fifteen, I had been working hard enough to be able to rent a room at the back of downtown shop. I could barely afford to buy food after paying rent, but it was enough for Lacey and I and she was able to spend as much time away from home as possible. She would never leave her stepsisters behind though so would never agree to fully moving in with me. It was hard but I understood.

Even though Lacey was a bad bitch, she still got picked on at school due to her slim frame and thrift shop clothing. It was rich coming from a bunch of arrogant bastards who were in the same boat. Hell, some of the bitches even lived in the same street as Lacey. I more than admired her rebellious spirit to keep on fighting, to exist in a cruel world. One day I would shelter her from it. Make anyone who had wronged her to pay.

It killed me knowing that she was living with some rich asshole for a stepbrother along with his pretty boy friends. I would ruthlessly murder each and every one of them if they so much as looked at Lacey wrong or did her any harm. Desperate to see Lacey again and hold her in my arms once more was the fuel I needed to keep going, to stay strong and work every spare hour that I could. It wouldn't be long until I was able to jump on my motorbike and head up to spend some precious time with her.

Lacey living with rich assholes made me insecure about being poor, the feeling of not being enough eating away at me like a festering wound. There was one thing I was sure of though, I would make it in this world if only for Lacey. I would do whatever it took to better myself and situation in life to make her comfortable. She deserved it after the hand she had been dealt in life.

After finishing work at my uncles shop late one night, I come across Lacey's step father passed out drunk in a small field. My uncle's shop was just outside of town in a rural area surrounded by small farms. Most nights I walked home if my uncle had already left for the day, I liked to clear my head after a long day's work.