Broken Justice (Justice Brothers) by Suzanne Halliday Page B

Sprinting the rest of the way to the bathroom he washed up and dressed in short order and was putting his wallet in his pocket and reaching for his keys and sunglasses when the door to the motel room burst open.
    Cam recovered from his shock at Lacey’s abrupt entrance and moved quickly to help her with lord knows what, as bags went spilling everywhere. He tried to push aside the joy that lit up his soul at her appearance. As he reached out to pick up a rather nice looking pair of strappy sandals his one thought was that if he knew how to smile, he’d be doing just that right about now.
    “What have you been up to, woman?” he asked as he surveyed the pile of stuff on the motel room couch. Noting that everything had hand-written tags, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to make out that she’d been to the local thrift stores for what looked like a new wardrobe. Well, maybe wardrobe was a bit of a stretch, but she’d definitely picked up some new jeans, a couple of pretty tops, and an overnight bag covered in blue flowers.

    Lacey had a heck of a time getting through the door with her arms laden with plastic bags. Her limbs felt dead from all the carrying and walking from the bus stop to the motel. She wanted to toss everything down on the floor and just collapse but right at this second she was struggling with the key to the door. Stomping her foot in frustration just as she finally managed to get the door open, she practically fell head-first onto the floor from the forward momentum of her actions. Catching herself at the last second she nonetheless managed to stumble to a halt directly in front of a startled Cameron who was looking at her like she’d grown a second head.
    Shifting her bags before they all went tumbling to the ground Lacey muttered under her breath, “Um…. Jeez….a little help here would be greatly appreciated,” as she made to unburden her load onto the sofa by the door.
    After an agonizing, sleepless night that had Lacey tossing and turning for hours, she finally just let herself succumb to the inevitable decision. The only choice she could reasonably make. So much unhappiness had been visited on her young life that having hope seemed like a fool’s errand. But somehow, someway, this man named Cameron Justice had burst upon the scene and completely shaken up her carefully orchestrated life of invisibility. And in doing so caused a tidal wave of optimism to creep into her soul. She would put her big girl knickers on, stop being such a wuss, and tag along to Arizona with him, fingers crossed.
    With the hard part of the decision behind her, Lacey was swamped with practicalities like getting some real clothes and preparing herself for a new life. She’d been hoarding every penny she could from the odd jobs she’d picked up with an eye to finding employment and a decent place to live. With a figure in mind of what she could frugally spend, she was up and out at first light to troll through the second hand stores downtown for items she would need. She was, after all, operating at a deficit. She could barely remember a time when she wasn’t obsessed with where her next meal would come from or whether she had a roof over her head.
    On her way back to the motel she wondered what Cameron would make of her spontaneous shopping spree. She was relying on him to provide the transportation to her new life and while she doubted he’d let her chip in for gas, he was going to have to accept that she wanted to pay for her own food and whatever else she needed along the way. Lacey knew the funds she had would start to dwindle quickly but starting out by putting her best foot forward was the only way she knew how to proceed. She’d never relied on anyone, knew better than to even try, and wasn’t about to start now.
    Right this second however Cameron was helping her pick up several items that had spilled off the sofa and was, in fact, holding up the single extravagance she’d purchased - an almost brand new