“Well I am trying to understand Atlas!” she snaps back. “Cause that’s what people who love each other do. And shut the hell up cause you both love each other so please don’t insult my intelligence by trying to deny it. I do not know how or why you two met..”
“ I told you how we met,” I say.
“Really Atlas? Do any of us look that stupid? No one believed that story, at all. Now as I was saying I don’t know how y’all met but I feel like you two were meant to meet. I have never seen you so happy. How could you let that go without letting her explain? Explain that to me.”
I just look at her cause I can’t really tell her without exposing everything I have been up to, so I keep my mouth closed.
“OK, well I’ll give you some advice you didn’t ask for. Go get a damn explanation! Real love is rare Atlas and if anyone deserves to be loved it’s you. You are an amazing, generous, caring man who deserves to be loved and loved hard. You flew all the way across the globe and risked your life for a woman you didn’t even know and damn near ruined my relationship with Jag.”
“Baby, I thought you were past that,” Jag says as he pulls her back into his body.
“There might be a little resentment still lingering. But the point is you did that for a woman you didn’t know, you deserve an explanation and you deserve to live Atlas. I mean really live, you have never done that, and isn’t it about time you started to? And who better to take that journey with than the woman who loves you. Life is too short, you know that better than most, you and I have had major losses in our lives, and I am so grateful that I got a chance to live a renewed life and I think this is your chance too. Find her Atlas and listen with an open heart, not just open ears. When death finally comes for you, I want you ready to go because your life has been so full and you have no regrets, you walk with death into the afterlife with a full heart. And if the explanation she gives you isn’t good enough I will beat her ass and put a bullet in her. I love you Gummy, go find your girl,” she says as she and Josh walk out of my room.
True
It’s been a month since I have been at this hotel, I have had to extend my stay but I don’t care. I miss Atlas so much, I can barely breath but I gotta get myself together and move on somehow. I finally went and purchased a cell phone but I don’t know anyone's phone number so it’s basically useless right now. I also got a laptop, I have to figure out where I go from here. Victor is still out there no doubt looking for me so I have to be strategic about where I go from here. When I got caught at his house that night I had everything planned out except for getting caught. I changed my name, ordered a new ID, credit cards, and a new bank account. Getting caught threw a hell of a monkey wrench in the plan so I have had to reroute those things here so I can make new moves. I search the internet for places I can move to and start over. I still want to go to college and get some kind of degree or certification. I found a community college that I am interested in and applied to it. I have forged high school transcripts that I will send to them and a high school diploma to match. Even though I graduated from high school my grades were not the best and I do not want to be traced by using my actual transcripts. The college is in Georgia a few states over, and I selected Social Work as my major and a minor in Psychology. Have I bitten off more than I can chew? I don’t know but there is only one way to find out. I want to help other children like me and seeing Atlas do all that work at DV shelters and within organizations set up to stop and bring awareness to sex trafficking I know I want to do the same. I found a cute three-bedroom two bath house for a good price, I picked up a few things from Atlas and the brothers concerning houses, and I reached out to the realtor. I also look at cars at a local dealership and begin the process of purchasing a car. Once I get everything back I will pack up the few belongings I have and move to Georgia.