AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Where are you right now? Is there anyone with you?” he said.
“I’m in some kind of storage closet. There are mop heads and ... Wait. No, those are wigs,” I said, holding my phone out as a light source. “Oh my God, what kind of monster puts wigs in a janitorial cupboard? Is this 1930s Berlin?”
“Did they keep wigs in storage closets back then?”
“I am going through psychological turmoil, Gray Collins. Stop laughing at me!” I was spiraling. I knew I was. Call it a coping mechanism, but somehow, it helped.
“Sorry,” he said, making his voice serious again. “I’m here. I’m here and you’re safe, and all of this is going to be fine, I promise.”
“He might be gone. It’s been a while. Should I check?”
“Don’t,” he barked at me. “Don’t open that door until I get there, okay? I’m coming for you, Half-pint. I’m coming for you, and I’m not going to let you go. Not again, I promise.”
We were quiet for a while. The only sound on the line were my cries and his frantic breathing. In an attempt to calm me down, he hummed, but he chose the worst possible song. My song.Just for me. Always just for me.An image flashed in my mind of him standing at the front of a church, watching her walk down the aisle asAbide With Meplayed in the background, and the mental picture broke my heart.
I must have fallen asleep at some point because the next thing I knew, there was a banging coming from the other side of the door.
“Oh my God,” I cried into the phone. “I think he’s trying to get in. Where are you?”
“I’m right here,” he called out from the other side of the door. I stood up and flung the door open. My arms wrapped around him and I pressed my face against his neck. “You’re okay. I’ve got you. I have you.” I kissed his neck, and he made no attempt to stop me. I chalked it up to the excitement of it all. “Come on, let’s get you home.”
My legs were like cinder blocks holding me in place. “Is he out there? Did you see him? He was wearing a white shirt and jeans.”
“Kent,” he whispered into my ear. “Baby, look around. The place is empty. The only other person here is the bartender. I had to give her a twenty to let me come in and look for you.”
“I must’ve fallen asleep. I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.”
He pulled away and stared at me. His hand slipped from my waist, rising toward my face, and he pushed the hanging heap of brown curls away from my eyes. “It’s my job to worry about you.”
For a second, I thought that would be that. He would release the grip he had on me and walk me back to his truck. We would ride back to West Clark engulfed by an impenetrable silence, and he would send me away with a smile and a nod.
Gray leaned forward and kissed my cheek. “Do you maybe want to grab a burger?”
I whimpered.
He reached down and slid his fingers between mine, bringing my hand to his lips. “I’m sorry. About the lake. About the ring. I’m just so dang sorry.”
And it almost looked like he was smiling. Like his mouth was opening wide and coming toward me. Like nothing but hope lived in his eyes, and he wanted to shine that hopeful light on me.
***
I woke up with the worst hangover I’d ever experienced in my life. I was naked, lying on my stomach with my legs spread eagle, my bare ass out for anyone to see. Only one person actually saw it, thankfully. Unthankfully, that person was my mother.
“Good Lord, what in the world is going on in here?”
I lifted my head off the pillow and realized that I had vomited half-digested bits of burger onto it at some point the night before. I turned toward the door, my eyes squinted so tightly I could barely see.
“Too loud,” I croaked through a raw throat. I turned toward the door and motioned for her to leave, only to realize she had her back to me, facing the wall.
“I’m going downstairs. I want this cleaned up now, Kent Maxwell Fox. I don’t want to ever discuss what I’ve seen in this room again.”
“You gotta stop screaming. My head is on fire and the walls are too bright.”
“I don’t know what in the world that means, but I know that I don’t like it. Clean this up.” She slammed the bedroom door behind her, and I cupped my hands over my ears and groaned.
It took me a while to get my body to cooperate. Every inch of me ached, and I felt like I’d just gone twelve rounds in the ring with ... whoever the hell one goes twelve rounds in the ring with.
I collected my discarded clothes first, throwing them into the empty hamper. Mud coated my jeans, and there was a rip in my shirt. My heart raced as I tried to remember the events from the night before. The last thing I remembered was Gray standing in front of me. I turned around to look for my phone. While it wasn’t anywhere in sight, the source of my mother’s upset was right in front of me.
