Haven from the Storm (Storms of Life #1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

before I turned eighteen, five months ago.”
    “Is it ever worse than what I saw today? Does he abuse you a lot?” I saw her slightly flinch at the word.
    “Dean, this isn’t your business. I’m fine. See, look.” She turned in a circle putting herself on display. “No marks, no bodily harm. So leave it alone, now!”
    “You don’t deserve to be hurt anymore, not even a little.”
    “You’re wrong, Dean. You don’t know what I deserve-”
    I cut her off quickly. “There are many things in this world I don’t know, but I’m positive you don’t deserve to be hit or tormented by someone that’s supposed to protect you.” She looked to the ground and shook her head. “You think you deserve this, don’t you? You think you somehow deserve this fate. What happened to you, Lily? You know better than this.”
    When she looked up I saw the tears streaking her perfect skin, but there was only anger in her eyes. “Today is the first time you’ve seen me in four years. You don’t have a clue what I deserve, so don’t you dare fool yourself into thinking that you do. You dealt with your loss by abandoning people who loved you and we all got hurt, so don’t you dare judge the way I cope with my even bigger loss. I don’t know what you expected or who you think you are to me anymore, but you have no rights here so just do us all a favor and leave!”
    I didn’t know what I could possibly say to make things better, so I retreated to my truck and pulled away.
    But this time I had no intention of leaving her for long.

Morning came too soon. Sleep wasn’t an easy task last night. Even when I could sleep my dreams were haunted by my father and Dean- dreams that were flashes of my father’s abuse then quickly switched to images of Dean leaving me at Easton’s funeral. I’d wake up panting, covered in sweat, and then they’d start again the minute I fell back asleep. I finally gave up and decided that staring at my cracked ceiling was a less traumatic experience.
    I was forced to drag myself out of bed and hurriedly get ready for my first day back at school. Christmas break might have been merry for my fellow classmates, but it was nothing but one long weekend for me. There were no celebrations or activities to mark it as anything special.
    My physical appearance accurately portrayed how I felt on the inside, and it wasn’t a pretty sight. At least my less than cheerful attitude had always made me invisible to everyone I encountered on a regular basis. This was actually a benefit and meant there were less people to judge the hand life had dealt me, which is why I liked my solitude.
    My first stop each and every morning was to pick up Adley. She was the only human I voluntarily talked to most days and luckily she was willing to talk enough for the both of us. Adley had been living with Violet since the summer. She was a product of the foster care system and had lost track of her family years ago. Although her childhood before she went into foster care sounded pretty traumatic, she didn’t appear to have issues discussing it with anyone willing to listen. Her past was something I could easily relate to which is why I think we seemed to fit together. We had a shared knowledge of loss and abandonment.
    I arrived at Violet’s house and I couldn’t stop myself from looking for a vehicle that could be Dean’s, but I didn’t see anything other than Violet’s 1990-something Buick LaSabre, otherwise known as “The Old Lady Car”. Violet was generous enough to loan me her Chevy Impala when I turned sixteen in exchange for taking her to the grocery store once a week and occasionally joining her for dinner. I knew this was her attempt at keeping tabs on me and I was okay with that arrangement. Now that Adley was here Violet didn’t need me to function as her driver, but it was an arrangement that we’d both grown to appreciate.
    I honked and Adley came bouncing out of the house dressed in her puffy, hot pink coat. She