Page 87 of Unexpected Boyfriends

But for now, his words have gone a long way towards reassuring me that our world is not about to fall apart.

Time and space, I can give that to him.

Chapter 36

Melbourne

JUSTIN

Six weeks passes slowly.

I can’t wait to be let out of my virtual prison. It’s frustrating not being able to go out and about freely, but there’s no way I’m risking being sent back tothatplace. There’s no alternative than to suck it up and let the time pass.

And it’s not as if I have nothing to fill my days.

I have regular online therapy sessions and there’s always plenty to reflect on and process afterwards. Other times I draw. Axel found an art shop that he says isamazingand brought me back a set of exquisite colored pencils and a sketch pad. He says I’d love the shop and he wants to take me there when this is all over.

At the suggestion of my therapist, he also bought me a diary in which I journal my thoughts and feelings. Some stuff I share during sessions, other stuff I don’t. I don’t understand how or why, but despite my initial skepticism it’s been an incredibly freeing process and along with the counseling, it’s helping me work through my issues.

We haven’t got back to having sex yet, though as I straighten things out in my head, I’m starting to think about it more. The truth is, I yearn for it, but I’m scared I’ll mess things up if I don’t sort myself out first. Not that any of that will happen overnight. My real therapist has warned me I may feel the lingering effects of my so-called 'therapy' for years, but I’m making progress.

I worry that Axel will lose patience and give up on me, but he doesn’t even bring up the subject of sex. We watch movies together and he seems perfectly content sitting on the couch, with my head in his lap while he strokes my hair and occasionally drops gentle kisses on my cheek or hair or lips, depending on what’s available.

And on top of all that, I study. I study like crazy. Ravi, my closest friend at school, has been emailing me the class work that I missed. I spend hours every day diligently trying to cram as much as I can. Fortunately, this late in the final year, there's not much new content, so it's reallyonlythe missing four months that I have to catch up on. It's a mountain of work and I despair of getting through it all, much less retaining it. I have no choice but to try, so I do, one hour at a time, one day at a time.

After our first week in Melbourne passes with no knock on the door from police or family, I began to hope that no-one knew where to find me. Maybe they’d even stopped looking, since I clearly don’t want to be found. But as it draws closer to the last week of school and my birthday a few days later, the tension ratchets up again. I’m terrified we’ve got this far, and that something might happen at the last minute.

But it doesn’t.

I wake up on September 21 to a sunny sky and the songs and calls of a variety of birds. A gentle breeze stirs the trees andblows the sound of the early morning joggers along the foreshore in through the open window.

My spirits rise, excitement bubbling inside me.

Quickly I log in to my bank account, my eyes going wide at what I see.Yes! It's there!Whatever Uncle Jim intended this money be used for, I'm sure he'd be happy with how it's going to be spent.

I'm free at last! Relief surges through me, releasing the weight of a burden that I didn’t truly realize I'd been carrying. I feel giddy.

Leaping out of bed, I run to Axel’s door and knock. A half-asleep grumble tells me to come in, and I rush in and throw myself on the bed beside his somnolent form.

“Hey!” I say excitedly. "It came through!"

Axel blinks at me, slack-eyed, red creases pressed into his face from the pillow, as he struggles to wake up. I see the moment when realization hits. A smile takes over his face and he pulls me to him in a crushing hug.

“Hey,” he murmurs, his warm breath tickling the shell of my ear. "Happy birthday."

“We made it,” I say, nestling closer, wriggling my head into the hollow of his shoulder.

“Yeah, we did,” he sighs, and there’s a world of relief in the sound. “Thank god, you're safe."

It strikes me the responsibility of keeping me safe must have weighed heavily on him.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

I tilt my head up, and putting my hand behind his neck, bring our lips together, softly at first, but then the kiss takes over andbecomes more urgent, more passionate. Tongues get involved, sliding against each other, roaming inside each other’s mouths, licking and tasting.

I pull away, breathless.

“Finally, I can go home.”

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