“I need to go,” I said, rising from the chair. “When you learn to actually feel remorse for everything you’ve done, including fucking up other people’s lives besides just your own, take a break from rotting in your cell and give me a call.”
Not that I’d answer.
My father’s eyes flickered with irritation as he watched me leave the prison.
He hadn’t been a good person for most of my life. He’d done nothing but cause me pain and dejection, and I was much better off without him.
Ty gazed at me over his coffee cup, his eyes bleak and his face solemn. I hadn’t seen him since the incident, and I didn’t know how to feel. I was sitting opposite my friend, and I’d killed his uncle—right in front of him.
“Well shit,” he muttered, running his hand through his hair and chuckling in disbelief. “This is completely fucked.”
I dragged a hand down my face. “Yeah, I know.”
“Freya, I swear. I had no idea what Will was going to do. I didn’t know he was some psychotic drug lord. He was always a little strange, but I thought that was just because he needed some medication or something.” Guilt pooled in his baby-blue eyes.
“Ty, you know I don’t blame you. I’m pretty sure he was going to kill you, too. I’m sorry for—“
“If you apologise again, I’m going to throw hot steaming coffee in your face.” He smiled, shaking his head at me. “How are you doing, though? Like seriously?”
It was a question everyone had been asking me lately, but I played it down every time. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say.
Oh yeah, Will haunts me in my sleep, and I can’t get the fact that I killed someone out of my head to where I stay awake all night or throw myself so deep into work that I can’t stop for days at a time, but other than that, I’m great, thanks.
“I’m seeing a therapist, and it’s slowly helping. I know it’s her job, but I can’t help but feel awkward opening up about everything to her. I think I’m afraid she’ll judge me.”
“There’s nothing you can say that’ll surprise a therapist. They’ve heard it all, so don’t feel you need to hide from them.”
“Maybe ice hockey isn’t your calling, Ty.”
He chuckled. “I think I was a psychiatrist in my past life.”
The sun was setting, and my thoughts were becoming just as dark as the sky outside. I wanted to head home and distract myself with some stupid rom-com movie and a pint of ice cream, so I excused myself and began the drive home.
My eyes were drawn to the road leading towards Kaleb’s house, and I passed it slowly. We hadn’t spoken too much over the past few days besides a few texts. He’d been working long shifts bodyguarding Madison, and I'd been distracted creating myself a portfolio of projects I'd helped complete at work.
My mother was out tonight, so I had the house to myself, and I buried myself in my bed and wrapped myself up in the covers as I attempted to focus on my laptop screen. But the movie sounded like gibberish. Nausea wavered through my stomach, and I released my grip on my ice cream tub and set it aside.
Murderer.
Killer.
Murderer.
Killer.
“Get the fuck out of my head,” I spat with gritted teeth, slamming my laptop shut as Will’s face flashed in my line of vision. I clamped my eyes shut, shaking my head and cursing.
My heart hammered, and I bit down harshly on my bottom lip until the taste of iron filled my mouth. It sent me right back into that basement, blood trickling down my chin as one of Will’s butlers struck me, my wrists painfully bound behind my back.
The pain.
The heartache.
The way my world had shattered in the space of a few hours.
I released a desperate sob, reaching for my phone and dialling the number of the only person I knew could overpower Will’s venomous abuse.
“Freya?” Kaleb muttered through the line.