Chapter 46

“I love it out here,” I said as we sauntered along in the late-afternoon sun, people scattered about in the distance on the beach. “I’d never even seen such a large body of water before I arrived here. It’s so peaceful, compared to what I was used to on the streets. It seemed so…clean, you know?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Thorn nibble on a fingernail before he said, “I used to live in a townsix hours from here—grew up there. I had a fake I.D. and would go to the clubs a lot, and being young and willing and stupid, I was real popular with the guys. Then one day, this older guy says he wants to set me up in a house. I’m thinking, this is the gravy train. I give the guy sex, he pays my bills. Except, he wanted things I couldn’t stomach, and he became violent.”