Dante's Way Read Online Free PDF Page B

to develop a harder outer exterior. She noticed how certain individuals pretended to be friends with you to lure you into something bad or destructive which wasn’t what she wanted or needed in her life.
    Not once when she was growing up did she ever imagine that her future would end up like this without her parents to turn to for help. All she wished for everyday she got out of her makeshift bed was a better existence than the one she was living now.
    The sound of footsteps coming in from the distance immediately put Amara on full alert because she knew the sound of Mr. Lee’s footsteps and these weren’t his. Her heart pounded away against her ribs as she got ready to defend herself against whoever was out there.
    “Amara, are you still in there?” a familiar male voice whispered making her body instantly relax.
    “Liam, is that you?” She untangled herself from her damp bed. Pushing the trash bags off her body, Amara uncovered her head and found Liam standing over her sporting a fresh black eye and a cut above his lip.
    “Oh my God,” she gasped, staring at her best friend. “Who did this? What happened to you?” She jumped up to her feet. Reaching out, Amara touched the corner of Liam’s eye then quickly dropped her hand when he flinched in pain.
    “Ouch,” he hissed, wincing.
    “Who hit you in the face?” she asked again.
    “Ike,” Liam answered, taking a step back from her. “I caught him grabbing Theresa last night. I jumped in between them to prevent him from hitting her and he punched me instead. You know how he has that vicious temper.”
    Amara nodded her head. “I know. I’ve seen it more times than I care to admit it,” she confessed. “How is Theresa doing? I really wish that she would get away from him. He really scares the hell out of me. I tried once talking to her, but she wouldn’t listen to me. She would rather do as he tells her than be back out on the streets with us.”
    “I know, but we both know how Theresa hated begging for food every day and sleeping on the ground. Ike provides her with a warm place to stay every night if she does exactly as he tells her to without causing him any problems.”
    Stepping off her makeshift bed, Amara stood in front of Liam and fixed the collar of his dirty off yellow polo shirt that he’d been wearing for the past month. He never kept any of the clothes the shelters gave him because he constantly gave them away to his many friends.
    It didn’t matter how many times she told him he needed the clothing, he ignored her and passed it on to someone else anyway. Liam was such a giving guy and deserved to be off the streets but he had a problem dealing with people getting too close.
    “I’m not even going to ask what happened to the almost brand new sweater you found two days ago inside the donation bin outside the Salvation Army store,” Amara said.
    Moving away from her, he dropped his eyes and shoved his hands into the pockets of his faded ripped jeans. Liam kicked a rock with the toe of his worn tennis shoes.
    “You already know what I did with it. I gave it to Theresa,” he answered in a low voice. “I couldn’t let her stand out on the streets in this weather with no protection at all. She was barely wearing anything as it was. You didn’t see her last night. She looked so cold standing out there on the corner. I didn’t want her to get sick giving Ike another reason to lose his temper. I mean I didn’t really need it anyway.”
    Amara loved Theresa, but she wished Liam would stop bending over backwards to help her out all of the time. Didn’t he understand how important it was to take care of his health as well? The nights were getting colder and he should have something to keep him warm from the elements.
    “You should have kept that sweater for yourself. Now, I’ve something for you and I want you to keep it or I won’t give it to you.”
    Turning around, Amara bent down and dug through the white plastic bags of clothes Mr.