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Prologue

IF SOMEONE ASKED o if I would ever make it out of the trailer park alive, I would have smiled and told them the lie I told myself every day: I will make it out and have a better life for myself I don’t know if I ever honestly believed it, but it was the one thing that keptup on life Physically, I’ve left the trailer park and all of the things that were slowly killing me But it is all still with me

I stared off at the charred reround was scorched and dead All of my memories and the horrors that went on inside those four walls eviscerated with a tiny flame that flickered inside of my heart for Tucker

It was ti from those burnt remnants I had to move on froive Jackson for taking everything from me In truth, I may have never been able to escape had he not destroyed everything I was holding on to I would never understand why he did the things he did, and ardless of all that, I could no longer live in the past I needed to move forward and become the person I wanted to be

Chapter One

I TOOK A FEW tentative steps through the aftermath of my former life It hadn’t rained since the fire and the ashes coated everything,it difficult to knohere to step The cheap metal frame lay twisted and charred The concrete front steps re to nowhere This was the spot I had last seento dwell on the person I had lost due to hi to be in ht It turnedments of our old boxed television crunched underwhat used to be the hallway My throat began to close as I struggled to face my past and walk down this path one last tie on soer existed I took a deep breath, the air s like a campfire, and tiltedmy skin, and the birds called to one another in the distance There was no yelling, no hate, just life continuing on in the wake of unspeakable tragedy

I GAZED AT THE BACK of the old trailer next door as I began to walk toward it My body reflexively sidestepped the old bucket that used to catch rainwater, even though the bucket was long gone andto my left at an to blur my vision This was my tiny corner of the world, and for years it felt hborhood, taking in all of the life and families that had surrounded me for years, but had been closed off to me by those walls I kicked at a plank of ith the toe of my shoe and raised h inside that prison It was now that I finally realized that this place was nothing more than a shell The real confinement was inside of my head I had been so beaten down mentally that I had convinced myself I couldn’t leave, but it was fear that kept me, not these alls

I stepped across ould have been rated into nothingness, and I took a moment to take in what remained from all of those years The pain, the sadness, and the loved ones brutally taken from me burned down to an old flimsy rubber hose and memories that would haunt me for a lifetime I looked toward my old self’s old rooood memories Thecould take those away from me

I LET OUT A LONG, deep breath as I heard the tires on the stone parking lot behind ht as I looked at the sleek, black Cadillac parked a few feet away froie’s Diner It was time to finally close out this chapter of reat deal over the last few months, and I was ready to start over co under secrets I looked back one last time at the place wherelot and slipped inside the open back door of the car The driver nodded at ot back inside and pulled out of the dusty lot

It was impossible to block out the voices of those who had once beenI could still see the vacant look in -addled oblivion The events of the day that would forever change my life replayed on a loop inside of my head as we made our way across town

I squeezed ainst the back of the seat I pushed aside the guilt as I tried to focus on the happier ht my life to this point Theto Jax They belonged to Tucker He was the reason I could see past those walls

I SMILED and letout of the dark, tinted s I kneere getting closer I sat up straight and ran h my messy blond hair

“Big day,” the driver said in a gravelly voice My eyes focused on his peppered dark hair He was at least twenty years older than I was For a brief ray or if he had any at all I shook the memory of him from my head and cleared my throat

“Very,” I replied as weon the radio as we turned toward City Market

When I ran away froht all I wanted was to escape from my shitty life and my abusive boyfriendI never expected to fall deeply, madly in love with someone else But I also never expected to lose et absorbed into soer-than-life world that didn’t really have a place for me in it

I stepped out of the car, lost inI had been calling home The driver nodded atI could keep er

“Thank you,” I called over hed before pulling it open and ascending the stairs

Everything was going to change once again I pulled openroo what little I had accumulated in the few months that I had lived on my own

I rancame from the door behind me I turned to look as it squeaked open and Tucker stood in the doorway

“Coconut?” He laughed as he ran his hand through his hair and kicked the door closed behind him I could feel my face turn pink with embarrassment

“It reminds me of you” I captured my bottom lip between my teeth and chewed on it nervously

Tucker took two quick steps, closing the space between us, and cupped my face in his hands