Prologue

August 1995

"When you're young you always take what you can get"

"Follow Me Down" The Pretty Reckless

The grass beneath her toes was wet, her feet bare and bruised. It was late, stars pricking the dark fabric of the night sky, crickets and cicadas sang. Her heart pounded in her chest, a bird trapped in a cage of bones, blood rushing in her ears. Heaven was running from everything, a habit she had begun to take up after she met him.

Her Mama would beat her with a belt if she knew where her daughter was running off to on the nights when Job was home drinking. Martha Jones was a Bible barring woman so devout she refused to let her daughter attend public school, instead forcing her into a privet school for girls. Heaven wasn't one to act out, but the girls at her school had boyfriends and talked about sex so often that she realized what she was missing out on.

There was something sweet about defying her mother's wishes. Sweet and bitter and sour and delicious. At first it was stupid little things her Mama would never allow. Lacy panties. Big, gaudy earrings. But it was her white innocence that caught his attention.

He was the kind of boy that the girls at her school wouldn't bat an eyelash to. They wanted to wined and dined; rich boys with money to back up their sugar coated words. But Heaven didn't want that. She wanted someone honest, someone who could hold her and make her feel safe and warm. Those boys couldn't do that. At first she thought he wouldn't do that either.

The first time Heaven lied to her Mama, she went to a party. Her Mama believed that she was sleeping over at Ruth's while in reality her daughter was drinking underage and dancing in a mini dress. Heaven wished she had never gone to that party, but she loved getting drunk off the adrenaline of defying her mother.

That night she had drank too much, her mind fuzzy and weak. A group of boys coaxed her into a bedroom, touching her and kissing her. She fought back, hoarsely crying out for help. Then the body was pulled off her, another boy slamming his fists into her attacker's face until his knuckles were covered in blood.

"Daryl, man! Chill, it was just a little fun!" one of the other guys tried to justify their actions but he didn't buy it.

Daryl didn't want to admit it and never would, but he was Heaven's knight in shining armor. He wrapped her up in his jacket and took her home, not a word passing between them. Her Mama beat her within an inch of her life, not bothering to call the cops on her attackers. After that Heaven would bump into Daryl on occasion and little by little, they were no longer "bumping" into each other, instead seeking the other out.

Since they had become friends of sorts, Heaven used him as a life raft. Which was why she was running to his trailer in nothing but a t-shirt and a pair of panties.

Heaven snuck around the back and tapped on the window. It was open, letting the cool night breeze in. The room was dark and she prayed to God that he was in there. A low, irritated groan emitted from the shadows of the bed.

"Daryl?" she whispered getting onto her tip toes. "Daryl, it's me!"

She waited as he flicked on the light and shuffled out of bed. Heaven smiled as he helped her through the window, the screen long since thrown away after this had become a habit. For a moment Daryl started at the girl.

He had known Heaven since they were sophomores in high school and it was odd to see her slowly morph into a woman. Still, she failed to attract any of the boys in their area, all of them afraid to look past her Mama's scary threats and antics. But there she stood in nothing but a t-shirt, her feet bare and muddy, her long chocolate hair knotted and tangled. There were dried tears on her cheeks and her lip was busted, a bruise in the shape of a hand forming across her temple.

"Th' fuck happened to ya, girl?" he asked, moving her head this way and that, checking for more bruises. There were handprints around her neck and arms.

"I ran away, Daryl! I ran away!" she was breathless, excited and still humming with adrenaline. "I did it!"

Daryl froze. Martha would have every police officer in the county out looking for her. Knowing his luck and family name, they'd accuse him of kidnapping her and send him to jail without any questions. He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Heaven, darlin', ya can't stay here." He said gently, cupping her cheeks so she would look at him and not around the room. "Ya hear?"

"No, no, no, that's just it!" Heaven grabbed his hands tightly; they were cold and small. "See, Mama killed Uncle Job! Cops are comin' righ' now! I can stay!"

Daryl shook his head, unable to take in what had just been said. He didn't believe it, but after taking a quick glance towards his alarm clock he decided that she could stay the night. They'd talk in the morning when he wasn't half asleep and she wasn't hyped up after fleeing a crime scene.

"C'mon, git in bed." Daryl carefully pushed her small frame to his mattress and crawled in after her.

Heaven curled against his chest, content with the fact that his arms didn't loop around her waist and her ear wasn't pressed against his heartbeat. She still purred like a cat and smiled as she drifted off to sleep.