Drugs, Sex and Abuse—The Life of a Runaway on the Streets

There are two very heavy social issues that affect the hero and heroine in my debut contemporary western release, Gambling On A Secret. The first one is the hero’s PTSD—posttraumatic stress disorder, the other is the heroine’s former life as a runaway.

Charli Monroe has it all. She’s the sole heir to a fortune almost equal to that of the Trumps. She’s beautiful and smart. But she harbors a terrible secret—she’s a former runaway who fell into the vicious cycle of drugs, sex and abuse.

At age fifteen, she leaves a verbally abusive grandfather for the unknown life on the streets of Las Vegas. While coming up with her back story, I had to do some research on the life of a runaway on the streets. And what I found made me sick. Here are a few of the stats that just totally staggered me. I’ll cite my sources at the end.

• Of the 2.8 million children living on the streets, 1 out of every 3 will be lured into prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home. Most of these kids (85%) fall between the ages of 14 and 17, and approximately 75% are female.
• Most runaways who become prostitutes ran away from home to escape their abuse, then become prostitutes to survive. Females are more likely than males to have abusive pimps.
• A pimp typically has 6 girls in his “family” who call him “Daddy” and earn him approximately $500 per night. The selling of a child for sex is a felony that carries a maximum jail term of 15 years, but most prostitutes will not turn in their pimps even if they themselves face jail time.
• Pimps often subject female prostitutes to beatings and force them into porn and strip dancing.
• Boys enter into prostitution at age 14 and leave it around age 25.
• Most prostitutes became addicted to drugs and/or alcohol on the streets. In a study of more than 400 homeless young adults (aged 13 to 23) in Hollywood, CA, more than 70% abused drugs (16%), alcohol (12%), or both (43%).
• Domestic violence is cited as the number one reason a child runs away.
• Most prostitutes have considered suicide.
• A prostitute is raped 19 times, kidnapped 10 times, and beaten repeatedly every year.

I could go on and on, but these are some of the things I took into consideration when I created Charli’s story, and it is this life she wants to so desperately to protect other girls from when she buys a rundown ranch with the dream of opening it as a halfway house to teens like herself.

Sources:

http://www.runawaysthefilm.com/statistic.html

http://www.veronicasvoice.org/statistics.html

http://www.edrugrehab.com/substance-abuse-among-runaways

Lyrical Press | Amazon | B&N | BookStrand

When Charli bets everything on a secret, will she find the deck stacked against her?

Former runaway-turned heiress Charli Monroe is hiding her sordid past and planning a future in Colton, Texas. Attending the local college for a degree in social work, she intends to raise cattle on her newly purchased ranch, which she plans to open as a home for troubled teens. Only a few glitches—the Victorian mansion is crumbling, the barn needs a roof, and her oilman neighbor wants more than friendship. When she meets Dylan Quinn, Charli is willing to take a chance on the town drunk to help her rebuild the rundown ranch.

Dylan has his demons, too. The former Special Forces commander can’t get past his ex-wife’s betrayal and the botched mission that left him with much more than a bad limp. Certain the greedy oilman next door to Charli wants much more than just her heart, Dylan’s even willing to stop drinking in order to protect her.

 When things get dangerous and secrets of the past are revealed, is he only looking out for his new employer, or is she the new start he so desperately needs?

CONTENT WARNING: Details abuse of a minor, drug abuse, alcoholism, swearing, spicy sex, murder.

COVER QUOTE: “Full of intrigue, tangled pasts, and raw emotions, this one is guaranteed to keep you turning pages from start to finish and then wishing for one more chapter!”
Carolyn Brown, New York Times bestselling author of Just a Cowboy and His Baby.

Ms. Brown also named Gambling On A Secret as one of her favorite romance reads in 2012 in the Happy Ever After Blog on USA Today.

Excerpt:

“Ferguson, what are you doing here?” Dylan barked.

Leon ambled toward them on the stone path. “I’m saving a young maiden from torment. What are you doing here, playing the part of the devil?”

“I’m Miss Monroe’s new manager.” The deadly edge of his voice matched the flintiness of his eyes. “If there’s anyone to save the young maiden from, it’s you.”

“Mr. Quinn, please.” She turned to Leon. “Leon, is there something I can do for you?”

He smiled, showing off perfect white teeth in a face handsome enough to belong to an actor. “I was just passing by on my way home and decided to stop. How are the boys working out?”

Dylan’s stance widened and his hands flexed at his slides. “What boys?”

“Charli and I have entered into a business arrangement.”

She lost the battle with the urge to wrap her arms around herself. As much as she appreciated Leon’s kindness, respected him, and was even a little attracted to him, something about him didn’t sit right with her. He represented her peers in the community. According to Mrs. Pratt, besides the Cartwrights, she and Leon were undoubtedly the wealthiest residents in the county. No one in Colton could learn about her past. It would ruin her, and Leon, no doubt, had the means to dig up the dirt.

“Really?” Dylan stepped closer to her in a protective manner. Whiskey tainted his breath as the warmth of the exhalations tickled her cheek. “What kind of business arrangement?”

She could protect herself. Dylan Quinn wasn’t any safer than Leon Ferguson. Stepping away from him, she forced her arms to her sides. “Mr. Quinn, I can handle this.”

She faced Leon. “I’m amazed by how much the men got done since starting on Monday. The foreman told me last evening they’d be reseeding another fifty acres for hay this morning. And they have the corrals fixed and started on the fencing in the north pasture.”

“Good, good.” He glanced at Dylan. “I’ll be going, unless you need a more reliable exterminator. I couldn’t help but overhear about your snake infestation. I can give you the name of the company that has gotten rid of the snakes in our lakes over on Oak Springs for years.”

Although he presented the perfect solution, she didn’t the like way Leon had looked at Dylan as he said the word exterminator. “No, Mr. Quinn is quite capable of getting rid of the snake.”

“Oh, I’m sure he is.” Leon tipped his hat. “Let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you, Charli.” Dylan’s jaw tightened as his uncle glanced at him. “It’s good to see you up among the living again.”

Leon headed back to his Porsche. With no pretense of lowering his voice, Dylan said, “Now, there’s a snake no one wants in their garden.”

Upon hearing the jibe, Leon’s shoulders jerked in mid-stride.

Rattled by Leon’s attention and the snake fiasco, she turned on Dylan. “You aren’t off the hook. I want those snakes gone.”

“We’ll see.”

“I hate snakes.” She shuddered and put her hands on her hips. “Maybe I should have asked him who the exterminator is.”

A little about Sara:

Sara Walter Ellwood is an award winning author whose novel Gambling On A Secret was named by bestselling author Carolyn Brown in the Happy Ever After Blog on USA Today as one of her favorite romances of 2012. Although Sara has long ago left the farm for the glamour of the big town, she draws on her experiences growing up on a small hobby farm in West Central Pennsylvania to write her stories. She’s been married to her college sweetheart for nearly 20 years, and they have two teenagers and one very spoiled rescue cat named Penny. She longs to visit the places she writes about and jokes she’s a cowgirl at heart stuck in Pennsylvania suburbia.

She also writes paranormal romantic suspense under the pen name Cera duBois.

Author links:

Website | Blog | Facebook |  Twitter 

Giveaway:

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