“What kind of name is that?”
“One I picked.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will. What’s yours?”
Shade could see the conflict on his face. He wanted to trust Shade because he realized he might not have a choice. But he also was not quick to trust anyone right now. Not while sitting in a cage, talking to a stranger in a house where the owner wanted to sell him to the highest bidder.
That could cause a shitload of distrust toward anyone standing in that same house.
Even so, Shade needed him to come out of the cage and didn’t want to force him. He’d rather the boy came out on his own, even if it took a bit of time. By allowing him the choice to leave the cage on his own, it would prove to him his choice hadn’t been completely taken away. That he still held onto that power.
Unfortunately, Shade wanted to get the fuck out of this house as soon as he could. He wanted to be long gone before Miller was found in his kitchen bled out.
“Listen, I can call you Kid, but prefer to call you by your name. Sure it’s better than Kid.”
“Judah.”
The name was said so softly, Shade thought he misheard. “What?”
“Judah. I hate it. I prefer Jude.”
“Then gonna call you what you prefer. Got any family other than your mother, Jude?”
He shook his head. “Not that I know of.”
For fuck’s sake, what was he going to do with this kid, then? “Not one fuckin’ person?”
“If we did and they didn’t help my mom and me when we were homeless, then they’re dead to me, anyway.”
The anger was back. Jude’s spine had snapped straight, his eyes turned hard. His mouth thinned to nothing but a slash.
“At your age, you can’t survive out there on your own. You’ll end up on the street workin’ johns or slingin’ drugs, or back in one of these sick motherfucker’s hands. Ain’t gonna let that happen.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?” Tears, whether from the anger or from the perceived hopelessness of his situation, filled Jude’s eyes. They didn’t spill over but remained contained. Barely. “I’ve got nowhere to go. No one besides my mom.”
Christ. Truth was, the kid didn’t even have his mom. “Yeah, you do.”
“Are you going to help me find my mom?”
The hope was back. But just for a fleeting moment. It was dashed when Shade answered, “Not sure that’s possible.”
“Then why would I go with you? You could be like him.”
“Ain’t like him. Was like you.”
Jude stared at Shade, still blinking back those welling tears. “Was that what you meant when you said ‘I was you once?’ Were you taken like I was? Like my mom and I were?”
“Yeah, kid. Spent ten years being bought and sold. Ten years being a fuckin’ slave to these sick motherfuckers. That ain’t happenin’ to you.”
Fuck. The tears were no longer being held in check. The reality of his situation along with his mother’s was hitting Jude hard because of what Shade just said.
“I want to find my mom.”
Yeah, me too, kid. “Will see what I can do. But we can’t find her if you stay in that cage. Need to get out of there and come with me.”
Jude roughly wiped at his cheeks and winced when he touched the bruise. “But I don’t know you.”
Jude was starting to mentally break down. To fall apart. Shade needed to get him out of that house before that happened. They needed to get a few states away before they stopped and he could let Jude melt down and cry himself empty. Then maybe he’d sleep. The dark circles under those leaking eyes were proof he hadn’t had any.
“Can drop you off outside a pig pen... a police station if you’d rather. Just know, with no family they’re gonna put you in the state’s hands and into foster care. You want that?”
Jude shook his head and sniffled. “No.” His answer was thick with tears. “I want my mom.”
“Wish I could give you that, kid. Can’t.” Fuck.
“Tell me the truth. Is she gone... for good?”
His goddamn chest was cracking wide open. He knew what the boy was feeling. He’d felt it, too. When endless layers of hopelessness had piled on, weighing him down, drowning him in despair.
This was only the beginning for this kid.
Once he got somewhere safe and some undisturbed rest, Jude might have a better outlook. But with what the kid just went through, and what he still would go through, that better outlook might not come so easily.
Not for a long time.
“Can’t say for sure, Jude. But my guess? Yeah. I get you don’t know me, but I’m the best chance you got. Need you to come out now. Got somethin’ to show you, then we gotta split. ‘Cause if we don’t split soon, we both might end up at the police station. Then neither of us will be able to make our own choices. They’ll be made for us.”
And that would fucking suck.
Jude got to his feet, staying hunched over so he didn’t hit his head and made his way to the opening.
“Need help?” Shade asked him, noticing the kid’s legs seemed a bit wobbly.
“No.”
“All right, then. We gotta go.” Shade turned and headed back toward the steps, assuming Jude was behind him. There was no other way to get out of the basement besides the stairs, so he’d have to follow eventually.
“Gonna get you clothes and sneakers and whatever else you need once we get outta Georgia.”
“We’re in Georgia?”
Shade glanced over his shoulder. Jude had stripped off his sagging, dirty socks and was following him barefooted. “Yeah, where were you livin’ in your car?”
“Mississippi. Mom thought we had family there. She was wrong.”
When Shade hit the top of the steps, he cracked open the door and listened for a few moments to make sure they weren’t walking into any surprises.
The house was silent. Thank fuck.
The basement door opened into the large kitchen. So even if he hadn’t wanted to show Jude what happened to the broker, he wouldn’t have missed the dead body on their way out.
From where they stood, Jude got a good eyeful of a gaping neck and a naked body washed in blood.
Something the boy would never forget.
“When I said I wanted to show you this, it was ‘cause I wanted you to know the job was done already. He’s done. He paid for what he did to me. What he did to you. What he did to our mothers. You got that?”
Jude’s eyes were wide as he stared at Miller, but he nodded.
“No reason to ever look back. Only look forward from here on out.”
The boy was quiet and neither of them moved for about a minute.
But a clock was ticking in Shade’s head. They had to move and soon, but he also knew the boy needed to process what he was seeing.
Still staring at Miller, Jude asked, “Will you go to jail for killing him?”
Shade stared down at the boy, who was taller than expected now that he wasn’t crouching in a cage. “Not as long as you don’t say shit. We keep this secret between the two of us.”
Jude nodded and pressed his lips together. Then his eyes narrowed on the dead man. He began to walk toward the chair, catching Shade off guard.