Page 6 of Runaway Girl
It didn’t work. I felt the mattress dip before warm arms wrapped me up tight from behind. Which only made me sob harder.
Alexis remained calm, stroking my hair as she repeated, “I’m here.”
With the soothing presence of my sister, my tongue soon loosened, unloading my pathetic existence for her to weigh and judge.
Alexis surprised me.
She blamed herself for not being there for me.Preposterous.
She even offered to help hide the body of a certain man… a very handsome, charismatic traitor of a man.Okay, not so preposterous.
We continued to talk into the night, a sense of peace settling over us both as we shared our thoughts like so many times before. That I decided to unburden myself with my last remaining reservation. “It’s been a week, and my work has been calling, asking for a return date.”
Alexis had an idea of the case I was working on since I had confided in her throughout.
“What do you want to do?” she asked.
Familiar guilt slashed through me. “Dad… I can’t leave him.”
“Yes, you can.” I turned on my side, her silhouette sharpening with her words. “I will move back temporarily with Austin. Having him around will help with Dad’s recovery while also keeping Mum busy.”
I sighed. “Alexis, you don’t have to—”
“I want to.” She cut me off. “You know I’ve been contemplating moving Austin out of the city for a while. I can also help Dad if I stay here with them, use my presence as an excuse to bully him into listening to the doctors instead of ignoring them.”
I fell quiet, letting what she said sink in.Was it fair to leave her behind in this?Then Alexis bulldozed through my reservations with her own concerns.
“Will you be okay though, Ali? Going back there, I mean… If you see him?” she asked. “I don’t want you to be alone if that happens.”
Bitterness rushed forth at the mere mention ofhim.
I may have been using my family crisis as a distraction to not think about that video. Or, more specifically, the main person highlighted in that video.
Even so, the reminder would always hit me unawares. When I paused to take a breather or when I had a spare minute of the day. My thoughts would always unintentionally sway back to that two-minute window where my character was entirely destroyed on screen.
Yeah, his scathing words hurt. But that was nothing compared to the humiliation. Some person even ranted online about how I should respect myself, going so far as to start a hashtag #runawaygirl. The whole internet saw him reject me and feltsorryfor me... And that just made me fuckinglivid.
“Fuck him. He will not run me out just because ofhisfucked up actions. I have nothing to be ashamed of. And, oh”—I clicked on my phone to check the incriminating clip again—“three million random people on the internet agree with me so far.”Geez, three million and counting.The only consolation was knowing that he was getting absolutely roasted online.Good. Wallow in despair, asshole.
Chapter 5
ETHAN
I raced over to Alicia’s apartment as soon as I knew she had arrived back in the city. It had been just over a week since my life imploded, and I’d heard no word from her. Not even a damn smoke signal.
How irresponsible!I needed to know if she was safe and staying off the internet.
As someone always in the limelight, I knew how cruel people could be—proven by everyone who was currently hunting me down with pitchforks. Sure, it didn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but I didn’t give a fuck. I was only concerned for Alicia.
I thought of the messages I had sent earlier that fateful night. The ones that actually went through.
“Alright, I get it. I’ll give you some space then come and see you when I’m back.”
Straight after I had found out about the video and received the worst verbal lashing from my Dad. I booked the first flight home.
All calls to Alicia bounced, which I accepted. What I didn’t expect was to find her apartment empty when I arrived.
“I was just shocked, love. You know I’m not good at that stuff. We will talk soon.”
