<a class="postlink" href="http://thumbs.motherlessmedia.com/thumbs/4F4E6FC-zoom.jpg">[ img ]</a><br/><br/>Luna had fucked up. Luna had royally fucked up. Which was how she now found herself pinned up against some piss filthy wall Eli’s hand wrapped around her throat as she struggled to breath. Eli was her one time boyfriend but those days were long gone. Nowadays he was just her boss and the bane of her existence. “How many goddamn times, Luna?” He snapped, tightening his fingers until her face reddened. “How many times have you left me short this month?” Bull. Crap. She wanted to spit. She wasn’t short he was just looking for an excuse. That was the Eli she knew now. Messed up on drink and drugs, anger issues, parental issues…just a lot of damn issues. When they had first met she had been a lot younger, a lot more naïve, and Eli? He had been good at faking it. Putting on the act. Reeling girls like her in and turning their whole world around before tearing it apart.<br/><br/>Luna was a foster kid. An undesirable. She didn’t have any family or anyone else to rely on. Eli and the other guys were her family, as far as they were concerned anyhow and once you were in with Eli and his guys it wasn’t all that easy to get out.<br/><br/>Drawing in a shaky breath Eli took a step back, slowly removing his fingers from her neck and gazing impassively down at the red prints he had left behind. “You haven’t been pulling your weight, Harper. Get your shit together or I’m going to be the least of your worries.”<br/><br/>Shooting him a dark look she rubbed her throat and swallowed thickly. “Eli, baby. You don’t even make the list.” Shoving past him she left the alley, grabbing her messenger bag as she went and turning just once to flip him off before stumbling out into the crowds.<br/>Goddamn it. She paused, tears pricking the backs of her eyes, fingers fluttering up near her throat. The worst part of it all was that Eli knew, he freaking knew, that she couldn’t stand being touched. Not in that way. He knew what it was like in the system and he knew exactly what had happened to Luna.<br/><br/>Blinking furiously she leaned in against a building trying to calm herself. She had a part-time job at Starbucks to go to and she was just praying that the red markings on her throat would be almost invisible by the time she got there, she couldn’t stand getting hauled into the office by her ‘concerned’ manager again.<br/><br/>Running her fingers through her hair a couple of times she slid on her glasses, straightened up, checked her reflection in the shop window and headed out. It was almost as though nothing had gone down. Just like always.