Leaning forward, I kiss her cheek and get a whiff of her sweet peach scent, and I’m gone after pressing the device back into her palm.
More settled than I have been in a long time, I run back home, knowing I didn’t get my full workout in for the day but seeing that the egg is washed off my truck.
With a salute to the grumbling kid across the street and his still-laughing mother, I head inside to get changed and ready for a case I have no desire working.
Thea
* * *
It’s not like I ever expected to see him again. I shouldn’t even be thinking about him. Not like that. Ember was a safe place for me for so long that I got complacent. Until I saw one of his men, and I had to leave almost a year ago.
I was smart this time. I didn’t leave Knoxville like I had the other places. I just moved to another side of the city, dropped all my GED courses, and essentially, started over new, thirty minutes away.
I don’t know how these people keep finding me, or why they even look at all. It’s not like they care what happens to me. I’m nothing to them, never have been. But I live in constant fear of what will happen should I get caught.
Cutting ties with Ember was for the best, even if it broke my heart.
Ember may not have known my story, and she may not have been privy to who I really am, but she was a genuine friend to me. One like I never had before. I’ll always regret disappearing on her the way I did, but it was for the best.
Except, now, Kol knows where I am. He has my number and wants to see me. I know it won’t be long before Ember finds out. She’ll be upset, hurt. Rightfully so. I threw our friendship in her face and left without a word.
Pacing back and forth in my apartment, I debate tossing my phone, packing up, and hightailing it again. I should go. It would be the right thing to do. I’m only going to get others hurt when he finds me this time.
I check the news about once a month for anything on Mom and Richard, and none of it pertains to the possibility of me being alive, or that they’ve picked up the search for my missing body. I often wonder what our life would have been like if my mother’d never met Richard. He’s an evil, vile man, and I’d alw
ays seen it. I don’t know how she didn’t. Maybe she had and ignored the signs of his predilections, but she could have made so many choices to protect me, and that’s something I’ve never understood.
I want a life of peace. To not live in fear every night before I go to sleep. I want to be able to crawl up in a bed without fighting off the urge to vomit. I want to be able to walk outside, close my eyes, and let the breeze carry me away with its calming presence.
Until Richard is behind bars, I know I’ll never have that.
The sounds of my neighbors fighting on any and all sides can be heard through the paper-thin walls of the dilapidated building I live in. It’s the worst of the worst, and as much as I hate it, I know I must stay for now.
The ringing of my pre-paid cell phone in my hand startles me, and I drop it to the floor. I see Kol’s name flash on the screen, and as much as I want to send the call to voicemail, I need to set him straight. Tell him this can’t come to anything.
“Hello?” With the noises around me, my voice can barely be heard.
“What is going on there?” He sounds mad.
“Paper-thin walls and fighting neighbors on all sides it seems.”
“I want to see you. Take you for dinner tomorrow night. Will you text me your address?” I think it’s a demand.
“Listen, Kol–”
“Damn does that sound good.”
“What?” I don’t understand.
“My name coming from your sweet lips in that husky voice.” I blink, completely flustered. “Your address, don’t forget.” There’s yelling in the background, and before I can say anything, he tells me, “Look, I’ve got to go. I’ll see you tomorrow, blue eyes.”
I gaze at my phone as I hear the click. Doing as he asked, I send my address. I guess I’ll have to tell him in person.
Lovely.
I never got the chance to date as a teenager. Richard didn’t allow me to, and Mom just shrugged her shoulders and let him have his way. I wasn’t Miss Popular at school, so boys weren’t beating down my door, anyway.
I never felt like I missed much, though.