Page 61 of No Longer Safe

With a deep breath, I punched theplaybutton on my self-help audiobook. I was determined to heal. I was determined to be the best version of myself and I needed a little bit of help to do that.

The audiobook ended justas I was pulling into the city. My anxiety skyrocketed the first time a taxi cut in front of me. I thought my insides were going to explode when someone screamed obscenities at me from the street for the first time.

“I’m walking here, bitch!”

Gulp.

I was not in Kansas anymore.

I could hardly breathe as I finally pulled into the parking lot of Ace’s home. The valet was waiting for me with a luggage cart and a smile. I could get used to this even if some of the people here were shitty. It was just another hurdle to get through. It was just another thing. I would be okay. I would get through this. The road trip wasn’t going to be the hardest part of this trip, but it would be okay because this was my new life. This was thenewAudrey Wilde. This was my beginning and I was ready for everything it had to throw at me. Well, maybe not everything.

“EEEEEEPPP!” Carina screeched as she launched herself at me as Ace opened the door. Almost everything I owned, besides the clothes Carina bought me, was on the golden cart behind me. “Is this real life?”

Ace was trying his hardest not to smile as she jumped us in a little circle in the foyer. “Georgie is going to be over the moon to have someone else to cook for. She’s been begging me to have dinner parties for years now.” His smile only grew. “Now I don’t have to have a dinner party and she will be sated.”

Carina’s eyes sparkled. “We could have dinner parties!”

Ace groaned as he pushed the cart to the elevator hidden behind the grand staircase. “Do you want to keep the same room you’ve been staying in or explore the rest of the house?”

I didn’t know how he could possibly call it a house, but I shook my head. I loved the room I was in and all my clothes were already hung up, per Carina’s insistence before I went back to the middle of nowhere, Florida.

“I love the room I’ve been in! Don’t worry about changing anything on my behalf.”

Ace saluted me before he disappeared behind the painted elevator doors.

“How are you feeling?” Carina grabbed my hand and pulled me to the couch.

I tucked my leg under myself as I sat down next to her. The only thing I’d change in this beautiful space was the living room furniture. It was hard and uncomfortable—definitely not somewhere I’d curl up with a book. I would have to invest in a nice-ish apartment and set up something comfortable for myself. I could have smacked myself in the face, how could I even afford anything near nice here? I’d been so ready for freedom, I really hadn’t thought it through. Maybe I wouldn’t end up here in the long run, maybe I would end up somewhereclose. I could possibly afford something within a two-hour drive or maybe I would find a job that paid really well around here.

“I’m feeling overwhelmed,” I pulled a strand of my hair over my shoulder and twisted it.

She rolled her blue eyes. “I’m not asking about being in the city. I’m asking about how you’re feeling about Brian. What happened? I called you like twelve times on your way here!”

I glanced at the clock. “Aren’t you tired?” It was almost midnight.

Her eyes grew round. “Tired? I’m living for this tea. It’s the only thing keeping me going!”

I sighed and it seemed to take some weight off of my shoulders. “I told him he hit like a bitch and that he was one.”

Which wasn’t exactly what I said, but it was the truth. He was a bitch and I was glad I’d lost that weight.

She grinned with all of her teeth and launched herself across the small space separating us. “You didnot!”

“I did so,” I waggled my eyebrows at her as she fell over in a fit of laughter.

“God, I hated him so much.” She grabbed my phone off the couch and I watched her with a raised brow. “Ohhhhh! We should get you a Tinder!”

I snatched my phone from her hands as she was unlocking it. “No, thanks!”

“You’ve got to get back out there!” She squealed and tried to get my phone again.

“No, I don’t.” I held my phone out of her reach. When she started climbing over me to get it, I pressed the bottom of my foot into her stomach. “I will launch you across this room.”

She giggled and propelled herself forward, forcing her chin into my forehead. “Just let me see!”

“No!” I pushed her with my foot but she was like a monkey, she just kept climbing. She scrambled up me like she had something to lose. “You’re insane!”

“I’ve been waiting all day for you to get here! Next time just let us pay to have everything shipped here! Car included!”

---