Page 6 of Armor

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It was Ms. Strickland’s phone.

Anyone who needed proof that I was indeed his daughter, all you had to do was witness the moment we both changed into the same person at the look of shock, and then sadness that appeared on her face.

And then... everything else was a blur.

Getting out of the house.

Climbing into the truck.

Driving to the hospital.

Walking into the elevator.

Approaching the room.

The only thing that wasn’t a blur....

Seeing the boy who was lying in the hospital room, beaten black and blue with bandages around his waist and head.

He had dark brown hair, the same shade as mine.

And even though his face was beaten, you could still see how beautiful he was.

But nothing could have prepared me for seeing the most stunning pair of mossy-colored eyes... and that was when I knew.

Who meets the love of their life at only fifteen years old?

Me. That’s who.

Chapter 3

Alexander

Age 18

Valerie Strickland, my tutor and the woman whose number I hadn’t realized I had been holding in my hand as I lay there on the bathroom floor, beaten black and blue, came walking through the door.

At the sight of her, a little fear I had been feeling ebbed away... and then... the younger girl who stepped in behind her... everything in my body loosened.

And I do mean everything.

The fear.

The pain.

The worry.

Something deep inside of me that I didn’t know I processed seemed to settle.

And at the sight of a stunning pair of hazel eyes, that saying that if I knew then what I know now... I would have done things differently to avoid breaking her heart.

And all the while, without my realizing it, she was putting mine back together.

I just realized it too late.

Chapter 4

Garret

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