Chapter 2
I was in the wind again at 15 and I learned once again how to survive and live on my own. The Martins had taught me about working stables so I used that for awhile and got hired as a labor hand in Ohio. I ended up in New York when I was 16; I hitched a ride out with the owner's son I had been working for. Liam Howards wanted to be a model so I decided to go along for the ride.
When he went in for a meet-and-greet I went with him, turns out I was what they were looking for. The manager of the agency said I had natural talent. So I decided to stay in New York with Liam for awhile and do the whole model thing. We got a crappy apartment and I started trying to get a hold of Lauren.
I found her in New Hampshire. She had found a way underground and taught herself coding and took odd jobs to survive. When I got a hold of her and told her I had a place for her to stay she warned me she had made it on some watch lists.
We packed all her crap and went off to New York; she claimed she was doing it to keep me out of trouble. Seeing as I was living under a fake name because I was still technically a minor. She got us some money, I didn't ask how, and signed a lease on an old but bigger place – for her (and I quote) very expensive crap.
Lauren also searched for Joey for me and found out he had done a stint in prison.
With a few days and almost a dozen monsters she tracked down a location for me. I used some old contacts to get a scrubbed car and went to get him. When we were younger I promised to write to him if we ever got separated and send it to a place that held letters for him. I wrote him every week about how I was and where I was headed, but I never put a return address. I figured he wouldn't want to write back anyway.
He was working in Jacksonville Florida as a tattoo artist in a shitty shop in a shitty part of the town. I walked in while he was doing a chest piece on a very scared looking girl. He stopped asked me what the hell I wanted, I told him who I was and three days later we were heading back to New York.
When we got back to the place Lauren had gotten she was asleep in Liam's arms I his bed so of course I woke them up with a terrified scream. Since those months of finding each other, jobs, and yes finding love we've become a family. A very odd and very versatile and oddly equipped with illegal skills family; that keep to themselves.
I know I said that my story began when I was nine, but now that I'm trying to put it all down I guess our story started when Lauren was approached to do a job.