Where You'll Find Me

By Erin Fletcher

When Hanley Helton discovers a boy living in her garage, she knows she should kick him out. But Nate is too charming to be dangerous. He just needs a place to get away, which Hanley understands. Her own escape methods—vodka, black hair dye, and pretending the past didn't happen—are more traditional, but who is she to judge?

Nate doesn't tell her why he's in her garage, and she doesn't tell him what she's running from. Soon, Hanley¹s trading her late-night escapades for all-night conversations and stolen kisses. But when Nate¹s recognized as the missing teen from the news, Hanley isn't sure which is worse: that she's harboring a fugitive, or that she's in love with one.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Jan 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9781622664436

Book preview

Table of Contents

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Discover more Entangled Teen books…

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The Valkyrie’s Daughter

Gutter Girl

Let’s be friends!

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2014 by Erin Fletcher. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

Entangled Publishing

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Entangled Teen is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.

Edited by Heather Howland and Sue Winegardner

Cover design by LJ Anderson/Mayhem Cover Creations

Cover photography by Natalia Flurno/Shutterstock

odua/DepositPhotos

ISBN 978-1-62266-443-6

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Edition January 2014

To my grandma, who knew I was going to be a writer long before I did.

Chapter One

The third step down holds my fate in its hands. There, the padding beneath the beige carpet is almost nonexistent. The supporting boards and beams creak with age. I learned these facts the hard way back in eighth grade, after my parents discovered the word curfew and once again earlier this year when I was too excited, too drunk, too something to remember the Third Step Rule.

Tonight I don’t forget. I clutch the wooden banister and step over Third Step onto its silent neighbor, Fourth Step. It takes a long second before the familiar chainsaw of my dad’s snoring sounds again. I’m in the clear for now.

I tiptoe down the remaining stairs. The front door is before me, freedom within reach, but that door creaks and groans too much for my needs. The well-oiled door to the garage is my escape route of choice.

On the way to said door, I pause to pick up my black knee-high boots. My sister Heather calls them stripper boots and steps on them every chance she gets. My parents nag me to keep them in the closet, but I need my shoes available for times like this. Opening and closing the closet door is an unnecessary risk.

Escape is close when my nose tickles. Shit. If I had a petite, polite sneeze like most girls have, this might not be a problem. However, my sneezes measure on the Richter scale. I obeyed the Third Step Rule and had my shoes ready to go, but now I’m going to ruin it all with a sneeze.

The door leading from the house to the garage is thick. If I can just get on the other side of it, my family might not hear me. As I step into the garage, those familiar sneeze-preceding sniffs start up.

My eyes water as I close the door and turn the handle back into place without a sound. Before I can step away from the door or cover my mouth, I sneeze so hard that my teeth clink together and I think that maybe I should have peed before leaving the house.

The sound echoes off the walls. I tense, waiting for one parent or the other to throw the door open. To ruin my plans. But that doesn’t happen.

Instead, from across the frigid black garage, an unfamiliar male voice says, Bless you.

Chapter Two

Who’s there? My voice shakes as much as the dumb girls with the big boobs who ask that question in horror movies, usually right before they get killed.

There’s no response. At least not one that’s audible over the blood rushing in my ears. It must have been my imagination. I force my hands to stop shaking as I pull on my boots.

Aren’t you going to say ‘thank you’?

My heart stops. That was not my imagination. Ohmygod, there’s someone in my garage. A guy someone. I’m going to die. I’m going to be raped and tortured and cut up into tiny pieces, but I can’t do anything about it because my limbs are frozen in place.

That’s usually what you say, you know. When someone says ‘bless you.’ The polite thing to do is to respond with a ‘thank you,’ especially after a sneeze like that. Wow.

My legs are still paralyzed, but I’m able to reach to my left and feel along the wall until I find the switch. The lights are such a shock after the pitch black that I flinch. After a few blinks, my eyes adjust. The three-car garage is bigger than most in our neighborhood. Closest to me is my dad’s white Chevy Malibu. The middle space contains my mom’s white Trailblazer. Heather’s hand-me-down Lumina (white, of course) is in the driveway, because the final spot in the garage is reserved for my dad’s prized possession: his black 1977 Firebird Trans Am.

What I don’t see between the cars and the rest of my family’s belongings is the owner of the mysterious male voice. Who’s there? I ask again. My gaze darts from one car to the next, waiting for any sign of movement.

The choices of possible weapons near me are lame: a bag of dirty car-washing rags, a garden hose, and a container of rock salt for icy steps. Something rustles over by the Trans Am. Lameness aside, I grab the salt in one hand and the hose in the other.

There’s a laugh. What are you going to do with those? Give me a salt water bath?

At least the tone is more teasing than menacing, but I still tighten my grip on the hose. Who are you? Where are you? And what are you doing in my garage?

I live here.

I almost laugh. "Um, no. You don’t. I live here, and I think I would know if there was someone else living in my house."

I didn’t say that I lived in your house. I said that I live here. In your garage.

I roll my eyes. Right. Well, I’d like to be able to see the crazy guy who claims to live in my garage, so can you…show yourself or something?

That depends. Can you lose the salt and the hose?

After a second of hesitation, I set the weapons down, making sure they’re still within reach. There’s more rustling as a guy stands from between the Trans Am and the far wall of the garage. His hands are raised in the air like he’s the one who’s afraid of me, like I was holding something a lot more dangerous than a mineral and a garden tool.

I’m innocent, he says. See?

He looks a little bit older than me, though not by much. His hair is light brown and super short, like it has been shaved or buzzed recently. Even with the distance between us, the bright blue of his eyes catches my attention. Everything about him screams Michigan in winter, from the thick navy and gray North Face jacket to the pink skin on his nose and cheeks. Everything except hanging out in a garage.

The guy shrugs, and his jacket makes the rustling sound I heard before. This is the perfect place. Your parents leave the garage door open when they come home. I make sure I’m inside before they close it, and then I unlock the side door so I can come and go if I need to. The Trans Am doesn’t seem to mind sharing the parking place with me. What year is it? A ’76?

Wow. My family needs to do a better job with the whole security thing. It’s a ’77, I say. The Firebird is always covered with a brown tarp, and my dad would shit a brick if he knew a stranger was standing this close to the car, let alone lifting the tarp enough to guess at what year it is. Just like in the movie—

"Smokey and the Bandit," the guy finishes with a nod. He rests his hands on the roof of the car, and I’m shocked that it doesn’t trip some kind of alarm. The car has been around since I was a kid, and I’ve never touched it. There’s rumored to be a picture of me sitting in the driver’s seat, probably on a bright, sunny day—the car has never seen a single drop of rain—but since I’ve never seen the picture, I’m not certain of its existence.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I glance at the display. Rosalinda found a ride for us and is waiting at the end of the subdivision. If I don’t get there soon, she’s likely to drive down the street with the horn blaring. If my parents can’t sleep through a squeaky step, there’s no way they’ll sleep through that. You need to leave. Now.

Aw, come on. If I was going to rob your house, I would have done it a long time ago. That’s not why I’m here.

Then why are you here?

He smiles, tight-lipped. Long story.

If it’s such a long story, why say anything? Why give your hiding place away?

He gives the coat-rustling shrug. You sneezed. It was the polite thing to do. Besides, I can trust you.

His confidence borders on arrogance that makes me cross my arms over my chest. And how do you know that?

He motions toward the house, then nods toward the door where I will make my escape. Because you know about needing to get away.

On one hand, he’s right. Who am I to call out someone using my garage as a getaway when I’m about to use a party at someone else’s house as my own escape? On the other hand, whatever he’s getting away from could be dangerous. Illegal. Sorry. Not saying you have to go home, but you can’t stay here.

You should know that I’m not above begging.

And you should know that I’m not above calling 9-1-1.

Okay, okay, he says, pushing off the car and picking up a backpack, which he slings over one shoulder. I’m going.

My phone buzzes again. Really, ridiculously time for me to go, too. As I approach the side door, the space between me and the stranger shrinks to a few feet. Up close, the jeans and Puma tennis shoes he’s wearing make him seem far too normal and rich for a guy who claims to be living in my garage. His blue eyes shine even brighter than they did from a distance.

He opens the door for me in a gesture that would be sweet if the situation wasn’t so bizarre. After you.

No, really. After you. I check the door handle to make sure it’s locked before following him out of the house.

Have a good time tonight. His smile reveals a crooked front tooth, and I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to kiss that mouth with that crooked front tooth.

I duck my head, as if he can read my thoughts through eye contact. You, too. And ugh, that was stupid. The chances of him having fun while finding someone else’s garage to live in are slim to none. It’s like when someone wishes you a happy birthday and you say, You, too without thinking about it. I mean…stay warm. Or something.

I will. He turns left, and I turn right, toward the end of the subdivision. We’re a few feet apart when he says, Bye, Hanley.

I don’t stop to ask how he knows my name.

Chapter Three

Earth to Hanley, Rosalinda yells. The sharp scent of vodka snaps me back to reality. The song she’s yelling over is from a couple of years ago, before my world fell apart. Music from back then never fails to catapult me on an unwanted trip down memory lane. You want? Rosalinda holds a brim-full shot glass in front of my face. I snatch it out of her hand before she gets impatient and downs it herself. It has happened before. She leans close to my ear, and her Love Spell body splash overpowers the smell of the alcohol. What’s up with you?

The song is loud enough that the bass vibrates in my feet. I close my eyes and down the shot. It burns. A chaser would be nice, but the threadbare armchair I occupy is way too comfortable to abandon for beer. Basement house party furniture is ugly, but it has an uncanny ability to swallow occupants for hours at a time. Just…thinking.

Rosalinda’s dark curls bounce against her shoulders as she claps and says, I can take care of that. She takes my empty shot glass and dances away.

Part of what I love most about Rosalinda is that she didn’t ask what I was thinking about. No talking or explanation required. The best kind of friend to have. Though she’s had more to drink than I have, she’s still coordinated enough to dance while she fills two shot glasses. She’s wearing a white tank that shows off her tan skin and a hot pink bra. Even when Michigan’s temperatures dip below zero, Rosalinda rarely wears a jacket because it covers her outfits. The guy from my garage obviously doesn’t share her concern. He’s got bigger problems than fashion, now that I kicked him out.

Stop thinking so much, Rosalinda yells as she hands me the refilled shot glass. You look constipated.

Who’s constipated? Clinton yells as he approaches. This is his party, but he’s been in a corner, making out with a blond junior all night. A bit of lipstick stands out on his cheek and the collar of his polo shirt. He must own a polo shirt in every color and pattern ever made. It’s all he wears, and I’ve never seen the same one twice.

Hanley, Rosalinda answers.

Clinton leans on the arm of my chair and plants a kiss on my cheek before saying, Hope everything comes out okay. He gives a dimple-laden smile, like he’s funny or something. I narrow my eyes and flip him off. He laughs and tucks my finger back down. Drink up, he says, clinking his half-empty beer bottle against my shot glass hard enough that vodka spills onto my jeans.

Drink, drink, drink, Rosalinda yells. Her own shot glass is already empty.

The second shot goes down easier than the first. It doesn’t burn so much as warm away the song, the memories it brings, and all thoughts of the stranger who claims to live in my garage.

Atta girl! Clinton takes our shot glasses and kisses Rosalinda firmly on the mouth. Don’t cause too much trouble, you two, he calls over his shoulder as he walks away.

Maybe I should tell him about the lipstick stains, but before he can even put the empty shot glasses down, a brunette senior loops her arm around his waist, fingers hooked through his belt loop. Nah.

He’s such a slut, Rosalinda says. I don’t argue. The song changes to an annoying one I’ve heard way too many times this winter, but I’ll take it. Ohmygod, I love this song! Let’s dance. Before I can cling to my chair, Rosalinda pulls me to my feet.

The room sways for a second. Alcohol never really hits me until I stand. The familiar fuzzy feeling takes over as I do what I do best. Dance. Drink.

Forget.

…

I love my boots. Really, I do. But walking in heels while drunk is a challenge. I keep twisting one ankle, then the other as I walk from the driveway to the sidewalk that leads to the side door. The junior who drove me and Rosalinda home beeps the horn of his truck twice as he drives away.

Waving in his direction throws me off-balance enough that I twist my left ankle. Again. Shh, I exclaim to the horn-honking truck driver, even though he’s already long gone.

Twisted ankles aside, I make it to the door without further interference. I dig my keys out of my pocket and close one eye as I try to fit the correct key into the keyhole. Instead, I drop the whole ring. As I bend over to pick it up, I fall against the door and slide to the ground. When I look up, the door handle is at least a mile away. I’ll just sit here for a little while. Let the world stop spinning. I close my eyes and lean my too-warm cheek against the cold door.

Need some help?

When I open my eyes, I expect to see my dad standing over me with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. Instead, the voice belongs to the mysterious garage boy. The one I’d forgotten about.

I’m fine. Or at least that’s what I try to say. But with my alcohol-affected brain and tongue, it comes out as a tangled mess of consonants.

Fine, huh? So dropping your keys and falling are things you meant to do?

Yes.

Once his hand is free from his jacket pocket, he picks up the keys. He puts the key in the door and turns the handle. There, he says as the hinges creak open.

I told you to leave, I say. Still more consonants than anything. Vowels are hard.

He must be fluent in Drunk because he says, You told me to leave your garage, which I did.

For no reason, the world spins again. Closing my eyes, I reach for anything solid, which happens to be Garage Boy’s leg.

Whoa, he says. Easy. If I help you inside, are you going to call the cops on me? My response is less verbal, more clutching his leg even tighter, but he seems to get the idea. He stands behind me with his hands under my armpits. One. Two. On three, he hoists me up off the ground.

Attempting to get my feet under me is a useless effort. He pulls me over to the space between the Trans Am and the wall, and I watch as my feet drag against the ground. On some level, I know my boots are getting scratched, but on a much more prominent level, I can’t bring myself to care. He deposits me on something semisoft, and I collapse into a horizontal position that makes my dizziness quadruple. I close my eyes against the garage lights and enjoy the rush.

Hanley, he says with two light pats to my cheek. Hey. Open your eyes, Hanley.

When I do, Garage Boy is leaning over me, face inches from

Reviews for Where You'll Find Me

[darkfaerietales_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: Nate and Hanley find love in the oddest way, but will their secrets tear them apart, or will she be able to save him?Opening Sentence: “The third step down holds my fate in its hands.”The Review:Hanley is sneaking back into her house from a night of drinking when she first meets Nate, or Garage Boy. She doesn’t realize at first that he is living in their garage, but she threatens him once she does. Until she realizes he has no place to go, and a dangerous night of cold forces her to offer up their garage just so he will stay safe. Hanley has been hiding from her secrets since the 8th grade when her life changed. She decides not to judge Nate for his secrets because she knows what it is like to live with one herself.As they spend more and more time together, she finds herself falling in love with Nate until a conversation at a party forces Hanley to open up to Nate about her secret. After that he meets her parents and she finds out his secret when they call the cops on him because he is a missing teen from another city. But is it all what it seems or is there a deeper truth that only Hanley can help Nate and his parents come to terms with.I didn’t know what to think about this book at first, but I was completely sucked in trying to figure out what Hanley and Nate are hiding. I hate that I can’t reveal it because I feel like there is so much more I want to say about this book. Like I want to ramble on about how great it is, needless to say though by the time you figure out her secret you are totally invested and blown away when you find out his. This book delivers the message that things aren’t always what they appear to be in a brilliant way. Along the way her fluffy friendship with Rosalind and Misty (who are just her drinking buddies) blossoms into a beautifully deep friendship, and Hanley is forced to confront her own demons.She also forces her parents to acknowledge that pretending is what got them all in trouble. I was almost in tears at the end when Hanley has a conversation with Nate’s parents and forces them to see the ugly truth; that they have been trying so hard to ignore. This book seems wonderfully light, and even if you read the blurb you have no idea how deep and heavy this book is until you read it. It deals with a ton of important issues that teens can go through and handles them all. Simply put, I loved this book; I couldn’t put it down once I started reading it.Notable Scene:“My last thought before sleep overtakes me is wondering whether Garage Boy will follow me into my dreams.”“The way he noticed my change without knowing the story.”“A very homeless, potentially dangerous, insanely cute boy.”“I’ve gotten good at telling them what they want to hear.”“It’s the truth that hurts, and I see that hurt in Nate.”“It’s the first time I’ve said those words out loud, and it hurts as much as I thought it would.”“I roll over and close my eyes because in order to wake up from a nightmare you have to be asleep.”FTC Advisory: Entangled Teen provided me with a copy of Where You’ll Find Me. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

[brandileigh2003 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I chose to read Where You'll Find Me because it was available in exchange for a review on Netgalley and the synopsis sounded like something I would like. I wanted to know what Hanley was dealing with and what would drive Nate to live in her garage instead of living at home. The issues in the story were pretty well done, although I think that Hanley's story could have further been explored. I think that she began to deal with the emotions, but as the reader, I wanted more about her pain, the past friendship and what led to her guilt and running. I could tell that her parents loved Hanley but I do know that they were being pretty blind in a lot of aspects. As a parent myself, I can sympathize with the lost feeling that you don't know how to help your child or have them deal with their issues in a healthy way. The chemistry and draw of Nate is well done, and I can understand why Hanley would keep the secret, after all, she knows what its like to want to disappear and hide from dealing with pain, guilt and issues. I do appreciate how Hanley didn't implicitly trust everything Nate said even though she was attracted to him, but that she trusts little by little and that she is hurt when she thinks the trust is misplaced. I like how Nate is caring, doesn't judge and how kind of a soul he has. I know that he has secrets, and when the depth of them were revealed, my heart really broke for him. The pacing was good, I never really wanted to put the book down. The world building was good, I think that it was realistic for the most part, and for the things that were a bit of a stretch I could still think of explanations. I saw great progress in all of the relationships and that pleased me. Between Hanley and her best friend I think was the biggest change, which made me happy when their friendship began to change for the better, getting deeper and actually talking to each other instead of just partying together and keeping it surface level. I also liked how Heather and Hanley got closer and how that came about. The ending was good, and kept with the tone of the story, and gave hope, but nothing was wrapped up too much that it seemed forced or unrealistic. Bottom Line: Good contemp with a unique spin.