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I got into the parked car just outside the compound gates and broke into tears. I could still feel Garth’s hand around my neck, and I shuddered at the thought of how close he had come to choking me to death.
That went horribly wrong.
I tried to calm down, but my mind spun, and I began to worry that I had just made things worse. I had come here with the belief that I could solve all this just by standing up to Garth, but he had proven that he had no problems killing me if I got in his way. I had always known he could be aggressive, but this was a new side to him that scared the shit out of me.
And he threatened Kelly, too. You really fucked this up.
I slammed my hands against the steering wheel and screamed as loud as I could.
It took me another ten minutes before I was calm enough to drive back home.
Chapter 18: Alex
“Her car’s here.”
The day was quickly coming to an end, the sun setting behind us as I rolled the car to a stop in front of the house and looked at where Kelly was pointing. Sure enough, Jenni’s car was parked a bit down the road, almost out of view behind a large maple.
I had gone directly to the hospital after my disappointing encounter with Sheriff Blake, and although my nerves were wrecked and I had the urge to punch my fist through a wall, the fact that my father was awake immediately turned that all around.
They had rolled him out of the ICU into his own private room, and he had been flanked by nurses all day. Apparently, the old man still had his charm working for him, and he had become a bit of a celebrity around the hospital. Samuel Logan, standing up to the misfits of Kent and taking one for the team.
I only wished he could have earned his popularity through anything else.
After a flurry of questions, and my incessant questions to a doctor who had looked like he wanted nothing more than to run far, far away from me, I had finally been able to calm down and enjoy the fact that, yet again, I had Samuel and Kelly ganging up on me.
I had called Jenni and given her the good news, fully expecting her to show up after her shift. Needless to say, we were all just a little disappointed, and I had started to worry when she had stopped answering the phone.
“Maybe knowing grandpa’s alright made her go back to her life?”
Kelly had looked like she was begging me
to disagree, but I hadn’t really known if I could. I still held onto the hope that we would come back home and find her, probably asleep with her phone silenced.
Which was why I let out a sigh of relief when I saw her car.
“That’s a good sign,” I said.
Kelly nodded, a smile creeping onto her face. She looked a lot gladder about Jenni being here than I was.
She met us at the front door, towel in her hand, hair flowing around her face. She looked pale, her eyes bloodshot as if she had just been crying, and her shoulders sagged a bit. Nothing like the woman who had cooked breakfast and shoved us out of the house this morning.
“You okay?” I asked, kissing her cheek as I shrugged out of my coat.
Kelly had already made her way upstairs after giving Jenni a quick hug and a concerned look. My daughter had the good sense not to ask, though. Whatever was wrong with Jenni, it didn’t seem like something she’d be openly willing to talk about. She already looked like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.
She attempted a smile, and it only made her look worse. “I’m fine,” she lied.
I kissed her again and let the matter slide, for now. There would be time to talk about it later, with the door closed behind us and her lying in my arms. I kept a close eye on her, though, as we went about emptying the groceries I had bought on my way back.
“How’s Sam?”
“He’s doing well,” I said, smiling. “Looks better, except for the bruises and all. Besides, I think he’s actually happy he’s in the hospital. The nurses are all over him.”
“I’m not surprised,” she said. “He’s always been a sweet talker.”
“We missed you at the hospital.”
She sighed and smiled weakly. “I’m feeling a bit under the weather, that’s all. Didn’t think it would make sense to show up and spread whatever it is that’s got me feeling like this.”
