Prologue
2004
Hazel
“Maddie!” I ran up the stairs, not caring that our foster parents would skin my ass for making a ruckus. My feet slipped on the hallway rug but I caught myself before falling. Excitement gleamed from my pores while I raced to tell my best friend the great news. My hand slammed into his bedroom door. The bite from the hard wood stung but I didn’t care.
“Maddie.” My elated yell flattened when I saw the empty room. He stayed home today since he wasn’t feeling good, and while I figured he faked his illness, I still thought Laura the mom-bitch would have made him stay in bed. His perfectly tidied bed looked as it always did when he wasn’t sleeping in it.
My best friend Maddox, aka Maddie, liked things organized in his life. We’d met at a kids’ homeless camp when we were eight and had been inseparable since. He was my best friend through all the hardships, my guardian when trouble came by, and sadly it did more often than not. Maddox and I were going to get married one day after we had gotten out of the system and found a home of our own. Neither of us could live without the other. We held no secrets, which was why I had to tell him the news about the guitar the music teacher gave me for my sixteenth birthday today.
I had left it in her class because the other kids under the care of our foster parents were assholes and might break it. Then Maddie would beat their asses and we’d probably be kicked out of our third home.
“Maddie?” I looked in the closet, despite the improbability. No blond-haired, blue-eyed sixteen-year-old in there. Thinking maybe he was somewhere else in the house, I decided to go searching.
“Hey, what was all that yelling for? You know you’re getting grounded for that shit, right?” Laura cursed from the couch, then continued to read against an olive-green pillow. There were nice foster parents out there, ones that loved and cared about the kids they took in. We just hadn’t found them yet. Laura and Tony were the type that just collected kids for the money they got, but it was better than being homeless. They fed us, we had a roof over our heads, and soon we’d be old enough to move out. As long as Maddie was by my side, I knew I’d be OK. I ignored Laura, who happily ignored me back, as I walked onto the back porch.
“Maddie?” I yelled, knowing it was OK since I was outside.
My old boots scuffed the wooden steps as I walked toward the woods behind the house. I’d always loved the forest, ever since I was little. Getting my fingers dirty in a garden was one of my favorite pastimes. Maddie liked hanging out with me in the forest since he liked the woods more than city life, which was another reason we were a perfect match for each other. We’d worn a little path from venturing out here to escape the stress of our foster home. Instinctively, I followed the path to where I hoped my friend hid.
“Maddie!” I saw a boy in a blue shirt hunched down in the stick fort we’d made by a small creek.
“I’ve been yelling for you for like ten minutes.” I smiled seeing his form in our secret spot. The excitement from my musical birthday present came back. Maddie stayed hunched, and silent, which wasn’t exactly a new behavior, but a shiver rolled up my spine in warning.
“Uh, Maddie are you all right?” The woods quieted, and all the creatures stopped their normal chatter—a warning. My right temple ached, and my hands itched randomly. Maddie stood, and my steps halted. Maddie was my person, I knew him inside and out, and the person now standing in our secret place was not him.
“Jarrod, what are you doing out here?” I snarled as the teenage boy stood and faced me with a smirk on his stupid face. Jarrod was one of my older foster brothers and I usually gave him a wide berth. My gut always told me he would be trouble to me.
“Looking for your bodyguard?” He grinned, and two shadows came into my view on the right.
“He ain’t here.” Kenny, one of Jarrod’s friends from the neighborhood, grinned. He shoved his hands into his pockets casually. I’d seen the boy next to him in school once, but never gave him much thought.
“Where is he?” Despite the fear and glitches in my body, I stood tall.
“He’s gone. Stayed home and ditched you while you went to school. I saw him leave myself,” Jarrod answered coolly and stepped in my direction.
The need to run away from these three barreled into my thoughts. Only my feet wouldn’t move. His words couldn’t be true. Maddie wouldn’t leave me. Maybe he’d gone to the store, or somewhere without telling me, but he’d be back soon. My heart strained in my chest. He wouldn’t do any of those things. We were like one person, Maddie and Hazel forever. It was my birthday, too, and he never missed my birthday, especially a big one like sixteen. We’d just celebrated his two days ago, and he promised we’d do something fun for mine.
“He told me to give you this before he left, though. Very pretty. He must have made it himself since he ain’t got no money.” Jarrod lifted a necklace and I couldn’t make out what was in the pendant that rested at the bottom of the string.
“He wouldn’t leave me.” I took a step back, the ache in my head pounding to the point I thought I might pass out. I didn’t trust these goons enough to be alone with them.
“He did after he gave this to me. Then he stole that photo of you two from your nightstand and bolted. At least he has a picture to remember how fine you are.” Repulsion and sorrow rolled in my gut. Maddie loved that picture of us. It was the only token we carried with us wherever we moved to. I didn’t want to believe Maddie left. But if he did, that would be the only thing he’d take. My heart clenched and sweat beaded against my forehead. I needed to leave. Now.
“I think we should follow the kid’s wishes and give her the necklace,” Kenny piped up and I shook my head. My muscles tensed from the tone of his voice.
“I agree, Kenny.” Jarrod’s steps increased and I ran away. Unfortunately, they were faster. The three boys grabbed onto my arms so hard bruises would surely show on my brown skin.
“Maddie!” I cried for the one person who cared about me, the one person that wouldn’t come to save me this time.
“I’ve been eyeing this neck for a while, so soft and delicate. I doubt you’ve even been kissed on this luscious flesh. That boy never dared to step out of the friend zone even though he would have sold his soul to have you as his,” Jarrod purred against my neck. His breath like unwanted fire blazed my skin. I jerked and tried to free myself but they closed in on me.
A cool glass pendant touched the dip between my collar bones, and fingers fiddled with a clasp at my nape. Once Maddie’s gift lay gracefully against my body, warm lips pressed against me and I screamed. The other boys held me while Jarrod’s roaming hands explored my body over my too-big clothes.
“Help!” I screamed and thrashed away from their evil touches and hungry, hooded eyes.
“Help isn’t coming. The only one who cared abandoned you. Now it’s time we give you our birthday gift.” Jarrod’s voice rattled my aching head, and the sounds of rustling clothes struck fear into every molecule of my being.
