Page 35 of The Space Between
“Thank you, Gruene” she whispers.
I nod, but inside me, something’s burning. Because this was the start, not the end.
He found her once. He’ll try again. Men like that don’t just walk away. He will be back… and next time, I won’t just throw him… I’ll bury him if I have to.
He will never hurt Blakelyn again.
CHAPTER 7
Blakelyn
I don’t sleep.I can’t. I lie awake in the dark, staring at the ceiling, curled under the blanket Gruene left with the taste of metal in my mouth and the echo of my heartbeat pounding like a warning bell in my chest.
He stayed for a few hours after it happened. Didn’t say much. Didn’t touch me unless I reached for him first. When he finally stood, he looked at me like I was still in danger—even in my own bed, and then, he left.
He didn’t promise to come back. He didn’t try to hold me. He didn’t say goodbye but when I got up an hour later and checked the window, his porch light was still on. And his front door was wide open like he was waiting to hear me scream.
He doesn’t offer comfort. He offerspresence,and somehow, that feels like more than I deserve.
I’m sittingon the floor of my bathroom just after sunrise. My back is pressed against the cabinet with my knees pulled to mychest. The tile is icy. My coffee’s long gone cold and I’m still in his shirt from yesterday.
I haven’t cried. I don’t think I can.
It’s not shock. It’s not strength. It’s something closer to steel—like whatever was soft in me has been cauterized. Tyler’s face… his voice… his smug grin… the way he said my name like I still belong to him… it’s burned a hole through every inch of peace I thought I’d earned.
I thought I’d run far enough but yesterday proves thatdistance doesn’t mean freedom.
I have to do something.
By ten,I’m parked in front of Juniper Falls Middle School, my engine ticking in the heat. The building is locked up for the summer, but the principal, Mrs. Leland, has agreed to meet with me.
She sounded surprised and cautious when I called earlier.
“I just want to clear something up,” I’d said.
She replied to come meet her in person.
Opening the passenger door, I dig out the folder I tucked deep in my glove box three weeks ago—my hiring packet, teacher orientation info, the official copy of my contract. My legal name is printed on every page.
Blakelyn Rose Walker.
Not Blakelyn Vaughn as I’ve gone by for years, even though Tyler and I were never married.
The school needed my real information for payroll, background check, district insurance. I didn’t have a choice. I told myself it would be safe. That no one would connect me tothis little river town. That Juniper Falls was so far off the map, he’d never think to look for me using my actual name.
I should have known better.
I knew better.
The office smellslike fresh paint and copier toner.
Mrs. Leland stands from her desk as I enter. She’s neat and composed in a beige pantsuit, her silver hair swept into a low bun. Her expression is unreadable.
“Miss Walker,” she says. I nod and she gestures to the chair across from her desk. “What did you want to meet with me a about?”
I sit, carefully smoothing my hands over my linen shorts. My palms are damp. “I wanted to talk to you about—what happened yesterday. I assume you heard. Juniper Falls isn’t a big town.”
She nods. “The altercation at the tube shop,” she says. “I heard.”
