Page 43 of The Graveyard Girls (Detective Ellie Reeves #11)

FORTY-TWO

Athens, Georgia

Jacey Ward shoved her fingers through her tousled hair as she slipped from the mattress on the floor where she’d been sleeping with her boyfriend, Cameron. He lay on his back in his boxers, arms and legs sprawled, snoring.

She dragged on her T-shirt and skirt, then slipped on her red boots. When she’d first met Cam, he’d been the guy of her dreams. Cute, buff, sweet and flirty. She’d met him with one of her friends at the local coffee shop and fallen head over heels in love.

The first time she’d snuck out of her parents’ house to meet him at one of his friend’s parties she thought she’d died and gone to heaven. All her friends were so jealous. Three months later, her parents had found out and grounded her for life.

But that hadn’t stopped her. She’d run away with him. After all, she’d dreamed about attending UGA and he was in Athens, right where she wanted to be.

At first it had been romantic. He rented a tiny apartment and they hooked up all the time.

Until he’d turned to weed then cocaine with his buddies. She’d experimented once but drugs made her paranoid and she’d regretted it.

But Cam went down the rabbit hole and never came back.

His parents had cut him off money wise, then he’d lost the apartment and they started couch surfing with anyone who’d put them up. That didn’t last long so now they stayed here in this hostel, packed in with some homeless guys who gave her the creeps when they looked at her.

Shame burned her face as she remembered what had happened the night before. One of them had tried to feel her up but she’d pushed him away. High as a kite, Cam had been mad. He was low on coke and suggested she sleep with the guy in exchange for a score.

She rubbed her cheek which still stung from where he’d slapped her.

Snores rippled all around the room where those guys had passed out. The scent of beer, cigarettes, pot, male sweat and vomit where someone had thrown up clogged the air.

What are you doing here, Jacey? If your parents saw you living like this, they’d be mortified. She was mortified, too.

For the dozenth time since she’d left, she wanted to go home.

But she looked down at her skinny frame and dirty clothes and wondered if her parents would want her.

Tears blurred her eyes, and she tiptoed toward the door. Maybe she’d persuade them to let her come back. She knew they’d been looking for her, had heard they’d offered a reward for her return.

Suddenly she felt someone behind her. She glanced over her shoulder. Cam. His foul breath turned her stomach.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” he growled.

The anger in his eyes sent a chill through her. He’d been furious at her last night. Was he going to hit her again?

She licked her dry lips. “To get us something to eat,” she lied.

His fingers closed around her wrist, nails digging into her skin. “With what? We’re broke.” A nasty leer colored his unshaven face. “You gonna do what I told you to do last night?”

She could hardly believe this scraggy, smelly cokehead was the guy she’d fallen for. And that he wanted to pimp her out for drugs.

She took a deep breath and offered him a smile. “I’m starving. I’ll do whatever I have to do.”

He stared at her for a long minute, then gave her a demeaning look. “Don’t be long. And for fuck’s sake, don’t get knocked up.”

She glared at him.

“And don’t come back unless you have what I want.”

“’Kay.” Her heart pounding, she vowed never to come back. Clouds hovered above, the wind whirling trash along the sidewalk as she stepped outside.

Tears clogged her throat and blurred her vision, but she broke into a run.

The wind beat at her face as she jogged through the streets. She finally found a convenience store, ducked inside and combed the snack aisle until there was no line at the checkout counter and she got up the nerve to ask the clerk if she could borrow the phone.

The woman looked her up and down, then sympathy filled her eyes and she asked, “Is it local?”

Jacey nodded. “I need to call my folks.”

“Of course, darlin’.” The woman’s eyes were kind as she handed Jacey the handset.

Jacey’s finger shook as she stabbed her mother’s phone number. She held her breath as the phone rang and rang. Please answer, Mom. I need you and I want to come home .

But voicemail picked up and she heard her mother’s voice. “Sorry I can’t answer right now. Please leave a message.”

The beep sounded and she blurted, “Mom, it’s me. I’m coming home.”

As she hung up, the clerk was watching with curiosity, and Jacey’s cheeks burned.

She quickly turned and rushed outside into the night.

She should have probably told her mother where she was and to pick her up.

But her parents had been so angry with her the last few months she’d been at home.

They’d also been fighting constantly between themselves, and she’d heard them talking in hushed voices about divorcing.

“Jacey is the problem,” her father had said. “I think we need to send her away.”

“She is tearing us apart,” her mother agreed.

“I’ll look into one of those group homes where they straighten out troubled kids,” her father said.

Jacey’s throat clogged with emotions. She hadn’t wanted to be sent away. So she’d run away herself.

What an idiot she’d been.

Tears blurred her eyes, and she turned and ducked into the shadows, sat down on a cardboard box in the alley and sobbed like a baby.