Snowflakes & Fire Escapes Read Online Free PDF Page A

whispered, nearly choking on the words. This right here wasn’t Cody. He didn’t like people knowing his business, and I was making one hell of a scene.
    “Don’t apologize,” he said. “I’m always here for you, Gracie. Always .”
    Those words brought on a fresh round of tears, but I got myself back under control quickly, pulling myself together enough to pull away from him. I hated myself for falling apart, embarrassed by my losing it, but Cody merely looked at me with worry—not because of me, but for me.
    He worried about me.
    Reaching over, he cradled my face in his hands, his thumbs brushing the tears from my cheeks. Black smears from my mascara smudged his skin as he wiped it all away.
    “The bastard forgot what today was, didn’t he?”
    Slowly, I nodded. Cody’s scowl deepened. He pulled me right back into his arms. I didn’t cry anymore, but he continued to hug me.
    It felt like an eternity.
    Goose bumps coated my skin.
    I pulled away eventually, knowing I needed to get back upstairs before I got caught down here with him, seeing Cody’s friends were watching us curiously, waiting for him to join them again. They knew about us, of course … the whole neighborhood knew. We’d never been a secret, but we tried to never make a spectacle out of it.
    I tried to point that out, but he interrupted my thought process.
    “You look beautiful today, Gracie.”
    Those words stalled me. “I’m a mess.”
    He shook his head. “You’re always beautiful, but I like your hair when you wear it down like that. The curls, you know … I dig that shit.”
    I smiled softly. “Thank you.”
    Thank you for trying to make me feel better about the fact that I have raccoon eyes and I’m running around in ripped pantyhose and no shoes .
    He stared at me for a moment before leaning closer, his expression serious. He knew I didn’t believe him. “I mean it. You’re fucking beautiful. When you’re laughing, when you’re crying, and every moment in between. There’s nobody more beautiful to me. And don’t ever apologize for what just happened. When you hurt, I hurt. You don’t ever have to go through that alone, Gracie.”
    I nodded, and he did the same, before he grabbed the ladder for the fire escape, tugging it back down. I started for it, but he stopped me long enough to kiss my still-damp cheek.
    “You remembered,” he whispered. “That’s all that matters. Fuck him.”
    ***
    Twelve months.
    I’ve been this new girl for almost exactly a year now, and it has yet to get any easier for me. I had just turned seventeen when the Marshals showed up in the middle of the afternoon, telling me everything in my world was about to change. It was an abrupt decision, one that I certainly didn’t see coming … one that would alter my life forever .
    Witness Protection.
    The first few weeks were pure hell.
    I was taken straight from my apartment in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan to a secure location outside of Washington to debrief, where I was isolated and put on lockdown. You see, being as I was a minor, I was supposed to have a guardian with me in the program, but I came in alone.
    It begged the question: What to do with me?
    At the beginning, I was practically imprisoned, always guarded and not allowed to roam, until Holden put his foot down, stepping up to accept responsibility. I was old enough, and mature enough, he said, to live somewhere by myself. After all, I’d practically been doing it for years. I was allowed to pick my new last name—Gracie Callaghan traded in for the equally Irish yet sort of pretentious sounding Grace Kennedy—but Holden picked the less than glamorous location.
    Snowflake.
    At the beginning, Holden visited every day, staying for hours, calling multiple times to check in. But as the months wore on, the visits became less frequent. Now I see him for a few minutes once a week, if that.
    He has others, I figure.
    Others he needs to keep an eye on.
    Other responsibilities