As soon as the words, “I need help,” were out of her mouth, Luca asked where she wanted to meet. That was just who he was, though. He was a little rough around the edges, but with her, he had always been sweet and caring. She asked him to meet her at the last house that he had lived in as a foster kid. They had only lived with that family for three months together before Luca aged out of the system. He was only a year older than her, and watching him leave only drove home the fact that her time would be up in just a year. When she was younger, she lived with a foster family that she loved. Sophia was with them for almost five years before they decided that they couldn’t be foster parents anymore. The truth was, they were going to havea baby of their own, and the idea of having foster kids around no longer suited their lifestyle. She was devastated and started being bounced from family to family until she landed in the same house as Luca, waiting for her time in the system to be over.
When Luca left, she was devastated. He was her only friend, not only in the house but also in the world. She usually felt alone, but Luca had changed that for her. With him around, she had someone to talk to—someone who understood everything she had gone through and didn’t judge her. She felt the same way about him, and when he left, she was sure that they’d see each other again once she was kicked out of the system. But she was wrong. Sure, they kept in touch via phone calls and even a few letters over the years, but she hadn’t seen him in almost ten years. It stung a little that he shut her out that way. She’d tell him all about her time in college, and her classes, and he shared just the basics, never giving her much. Luca was closed off from her emotionally, and Sophia couldn’t figure out why. Maybe the boy she had known was now a different man who didn’t want to deal with reminders of his past.
She had read in the news that he had become a boxer. He was building quite a name for himself, too. Sophia hated that she had to learn about his success from a source other than Luca himself. It sucked that he kept so much of himself closed off from her.
She pulled up to the old house that now stood abandoned. It looked nothing like she remembered. When she was a teenager, that house looked terrifyingly big. Now, the two-story home looked small and even sad. She had no reason to see it that way. Sophia was one of the lucky kids who had gotten out of the system unscathed. She really didn’t have any horror stories like other kids in the foster care system. Her trauma stemmedfrom being passed from home to home. She had a fear of abandonment, and rightly so. But paying a therapist to tell her that was a waste. Sophia already knew that she had a fear of letting anyone too close, afraid that they’d walk away and leave her, as so many foster families had. If she were really diving deep into her past, she’d probably admit that her fear of abandonment stemmed from Luca leaving, but thinking about that day wasn’t something that she did often.
She wasn’t sure why she felt like a giddy schoolgirl when she recognized Luca in the pickup truck that pulled up behind her car. Sophia looked it over and whistled as Luca stepped out of the truck.
“Was that for me?” he asked, smiling over at her. He was older—they both were, but Luca still had the same smile that made her insides go all gooey. He could always charm his way into getting her to do what he wanted. She just hoped that she’d have that same effect on him when she asked for his help.
“Um, no,” she squeaked. “I was admiring your truck.”
“Oh, thanks,” Luca said. He walked over to the driveway where she had stood staring at the vacant house, and wrapped an arm around her, pulling Sophia in for a hug. “You look good,” he whispered into her ear.
“You too,” she said, trying to hide the fact that she was nervous as hell about seeing him again. He looked more than good. He had grown into his height and had muscles for days. She nearly swallowed her tongue when he jumped out of his truck wearing just gym shorts and a tight T-shirt. She had only seen men built like him on television or in fitness magazines.
“I guess boxing is paying off,” she said. God, why did she say that? She sounded like a complete idiot. “I meant to say, you look very—fit,” she said, trying to save face.
He chuckled, “Thanks. I take it that you’ve heard about me going into boxing?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she breathed, “you didn’t share the news with me, so I heard it from a news program. I’m not sure why you wouldn’t tell me about it.” Being angry at him was so much easier than being turned on by him.
He shrugged, “There was nothing to tell, really.”
“That’s bullshit,” she spat, poking her finger into his chest. “I’ve told you all about college, and even about my teaching job. You never share anything personal, and we’re supposed to be friends, Luca,” she insisted.
He grabbed her hand and pulled it up to his lips, gently kissing the back of it. “I see that you still have that fiery temper, Sophia,” he teased. He always liked to tease her about being a hothead. She wanted to protest and tell him that he was wrong, but he wasn’t.
“Don’t change the subject,” she insisted, pulling her hand free from his.
“All right, how about you tell me what the subject is, and I’ll try to follow along,” he said. “And why meet here? Obviously, this place has been abandoned for a while now.” They both looked at the house, and he was right. She had no idea why she had asked him to meet her there. Maybe it was because it was the only place where no one would look for them.
“I need your help,” she said, cutting to the chase. The rest of his questions would just have to wait.
“I gathered that much from you calling me to say that you needed my help,” he said. Sophia looked around the empty street to make sure that they were truly alone. She had been followed for so long that she expected to see his car parked down the block, watching her, but he wasn’t there this time. “How about if we sit in my truck?” he asked, seeming to pick up on her anxiety.
“Thanks,” she breathed. “I never know if he’s followed me or not,” she admitted. He grabbed her hand and quickly led her to his truck, helping her up into the passenger seat, and shutting the door. He rounded his truck and looked around before getting into the driver’s seat.
“Why did you have me meet you someplace so public if you’re being followed?” he asked.
She shrugged, “Because I have no idea what I’m doing. I’ve never had a stalker before now, you know? That’s why I called you.” A little sob escaped her chest, and she tried to keep the tears at bay, failing miserably.
“Don’t cry, Sophia,” he whispered, wiping the tears from her cheeks. He used to tell her that when she had a bad day and would hide away in the girls’ room, which was more like a dormitory, and cry. Luca would always find her in there and go in to talk to her, even though it was against the house rules.
“Sorry,” she sniffled, “I’ve just been so stressed out, I guess it’s all just caught up with me. This is the safest I’ve felt in months,” she admitted.
“Months,” Luca repeated. “Why didn’t you call me sooner? You were afraid all this time and didn’t reach out to me?” She could tell that he was angry, even though he wasn’t yelling at her. Luca was never a yeller, but the way he stared her down, just like he had when they were kids, she knew that he was pissed.
“I wasn’t sure what to do. I’ve already told you that this is my first stalker. Plus, I didn’t want to burden you with my problems.”
“You’d never be a burden, Sophia, and fuck my problems,” he breathed. “Tell me what’s going on and start at the beginning.”
“Well, if you want the story from the beginning, then we have to start here,” she said, looking back at the abandoned house.
“Here,” he said, “did something happen to you after I left you here?” he asked.
“Kind of, but not what you’re thinking. Do you remember a kid named Peter who lived here at about the same time as we did? He was about my age, I think, and had dark hair and glasses. He was kind of nerdy and not much of a threat.” When you spent years in foster care, as they both had, you learned to assess who was a threat and who was harmless.
