Page 53 of The Devil You Don't Know

The darkness in my soul parted for a moment, a light shining through the thick clouds. “With adashingman like yourself?” I said, matching his look. “I would be honored.”

Kai didn’t let me change, saying there would be no need. Instead, he insisted we leave right at that moment. We shuffled into the elevator, the fear gone when I was with him, and made our way to the parking lot. His jeep sat parked, the top and doors still not on, even in the nipping weather.

He helped me into the car, the lift slightly too tall for me to comfortably slide in. Then he got into the driver’s seat and started driving.

“Where are we going?” I asked, twisting my fingers in my lap after a moment.

“We’re almost there,” he said, lightly touching my thigh. He turned on the radio, music filling the silence and dancing with the rushing air.

He turned off the main road, following a service road along the beach. “Here we are,” he said, slowing down in the middle of the road.

“I don’t understand.” I shook my head, only seeing the mile stretch of road.

He turned to me, a grin on his face. “You have a lot you aren’t saying, and that is fine. I’m here to listen when you are ready,” he said. “But until then…you gotta get it out. So, I’m going to drive this…as fast as you wish. And you are going to stand up and feel that wind rushing in your face.”

I stared at him, confused and amazed at this man.

He shifted in his seat, uncomfortable. “When I’m going through a hard time, I come out here and…" He licked his lips. “It makes me feel alive. And, I think, maybe you need that reminder too…that you are still alive.”

“I, uh?—”

He placed a finger to my lips and shook his head. “You ready?” he asked.

I nodded, and he shifted the jeep back into gear.

“Let me know if you want me to slow down!” he yelled as the wind picked up with his speed.

I stood up slowly, my grip tight on the top bars of the jeep. My knees shook as the seat dug into the back of my legs. Kai reached over, shifting the seat all the way back. It became easier to stand now. I glanced over at him. His focus was torn between me and the road.

There was no one around us, nothing but road and wind.

He turned up the radio, only the bass audible over the rush of air filling my eardrums. My hair flew around, wiping my face and neck as he sped up.

My heart thudded with the beat of the music, and a weightlessness rolled over me.

I was free.

I lifted my hand off the roll cage bar, riding the waves of the wind. My memories fell away from me.

The first one was Quinton. His stupid smirk as he used me.

The next was the smell of Nate. The pungent odor that I couldn’t get rid of.

Then, the feeling of his blood showered me. It seemed to fly directly off my skin.

Then the scared girl I was in Carson’s bathroom, my hands shaking and my world shattering.

My parents screaming at me, my mother blaming me, my father calling me a whore…

Each layer, each domino that tipped over, shredded off. A weight lifted off my chest with each one.

I can breathe,I thought. A giggle echoed in my ears—my own.

I glanced down to Kai, his geeky smile brightening his dark eyes. He threw a fist in the air, yelling a woop.

I opened my mouth, a scream tearing from it.

“I am alive!” I shouted.

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