Larger Than Life by Alison Kent (read the beginning after the end novel .txt) 📕

incarcerated for the duration of her murder trial with a sixteen-year-old girl who'd killed her husband and then run from Earnestine.

At the end of the trial, once it had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Candy's wounds were defensive, and that her soon-to-be stepfather, recently deceased at her hand, was indeed her rapist, they'd made their way west together.

No matter her charge to provide a competent defense, Neva had had her fill of defending those who knew just enough of the law to get around it. If that made her a bad attorney, it was offset by the good she now did.

The good that she wasn't so sure she was going to be able to continue doing much longer. At least not with a clear conscience until she discovered the break in her network. 1 )iscovered, too, the whereabouts of the last three girls who'd laken seriously her claims of sending them away from Earnestine to a better life.

And, she mused rather harshly as her truck hit a rut in the road she needed to have graded and filled, not when Mick Savin scared her, and she wasn't even sure why. Part of it was obviously the gun he carried. But the gun had been in her truck while she'd talked to him in the clinic. Meaning her trepidation had nothing to do with his weapons. It was all about a knife-wielding, gun-toting, dog-owning, tattooed mercenary type showing up out of nowhere and making her think about sex.

Four

"Are you serious?" Standing outside the showroom door, Liberty looked down at the scruffy tan and gray dog sitting almost on top of Candy's boots and stinking up the place really good. "You want me to give him a bath?"

Candy nodded, squatting down in front of him to nuzzle his face, her skirt flapping behind her and dragging the ground, the scooped neck of her top gaping to show off a lace bra that was the kind Liberty wished she made enough money to buy.

But this stupid job wasn't going to pay her enough to buy anything. Especially the education she would need to get a better one. Why had she ever thought running away with Jase made any sense?

"What's his name?" she asked as Candy sneezed and got back to her feet, handing over his leash.

"We don't know. Neva found him on the highway. The vet stitched him up, and now he's yours to take care of until someone shows up to get him."

"Oh, like that will happen in a million years."

"Maybe not, but knowing Doc Hill, he's sending the info to animal clinics in neighboring towns. And he's contacting the pound in El Paso. Now"—she shoved a sack into Liberty's hands—"his shampoo and his medicine are in here. There's a hose and spigot around the back of the Barn. Just make sure you don't get his stitches wet."

Meaning she couldn't just spray him down from a distance. Ugh. "What about the display cases I'm supposed to be cleaning? I'm not finished with that."

"You can do those later." Candy grabbed the dolly stacked with boxes, tilted it back, and headed around the Barn to the side entrance into her studio, stopping once to glance back when she realized Liberty hadn't moved. "What're you waiting for? A gold-plated invitation? Get going."

Rolling her eyes, Liberty tugged on the leash, glad the dog actually got to his feet and didn't make her drag him around. She was even more glad he didn't growl and attack. She wasn't exactly scared of dogs; she just didn't know anything about them. Her parents had never let her have a pet.

"C'mon, dog." She walked him down the long side of the huge barn that was really more a ruddy red than brown, passing the decorative rock garden and cactus beds as she made her way to the back.

Once there, however, she wasn't sure about tying him up to keep him from running off while she bathed him. He really didn't look like he had a whole lot of energy and looked kinda sad, in fact. Like maybe he was missing his family and hated being alone.

She wasn't too thrilled about being alone herself, but she didn't really miss anyone but Jase. Then again, that wasn't exactly true, she admitted, setting the bag on the empty crate leaning against the barn wall and looping the end of the leash over the spigot before attaching the hose.

She didn't really miss him, but she had been thinking about him a lot since she'd been here. She was afraid something really bad had happened to him and that she might not ever find out what.

But she'd also realized dating him hadn't really been about loving him. It had been about him understanding how unhappy she was at home and offering her a way out. Now she was just thankful they hadn't ended up stuck in Mexico. What would they have done down there?

It was bad enough that she was being treated like a slave by Neva and Candy. Whoever it was saying this place helped people didn't know what they were talking about. Yeah, they fed her and gave her clothes and a bed. But if she'd wanted a job making minimum wage, she could've gotten one checking groceries at the Safeway in Earnestine.

Of course, it wasn't like she'd told anyone the truth of what had happened. She couldn't. Not when all she could t hink about was the guy with the dreadlocks telling her he'd kill her if she talked.

Bending to check the dog's stitches, she had to be honest about the fact that if she were still in Earnestine, she'd have to be going to church with her parents, and every time she went it seemed like all the men stared at her like a piece of meat. It was just too creepy to deal with.

"Guess we're both on our own," she said to the dog, who really looked weird with the side of his face