Page 64 of Taste of Forever
I had done it. Actually done the thing that had been buried under excuses, fears, and justifications for months. I was free. I was also alone and without a place to stay.
As the sky began to lighten with oncoming daytime, I realized I was approaching the same park I hiked through to reach Sanguine. How funny that my internal autopilot would bring me back here.
I entered the park but took a different route, choosing to stop at a lookout spot to watch the sun rise and figure out my next moves. I kept the windows open as I turned the car off, letting the fresh air and sounds of birds and animal calls fill my senses.
Tonight I had to work. When I got off, I needed a place to stay. A hotel room would work for a little while, but I’d haveto figure out long term housing soon. Maybe someone at work could use a roommate. It would be a good place to start.
At some point I would have to go back to the apartment to retrieve my backpack, since I slid out of it to escape Justin. Hopefully he wouldn’t be too quick to sell my laptop and headphones that were in there.
I pulled out my phone and cursed. “Shit.” The battery was running out and my only charger was in the backpack too.
The phone vibrated to life in my hand, startling me. Justin was calling. I swiped the red button to end the call, but then the texts started flooding in.
Justin: Heather, please answer the phone. I just want to know you’re okay.
I rolled my eyes at that and stuck the phone back in the cup holder.
Justin: I will be patient and wait for you to come home. This is not the end of us.
Justin: We have a life together. I made mistakes, but don’t throw us away like this.
Justin: Just let me know you’re alive and I’ll give you the space you need.
He called a second time. I ended it without answering again, then turned my phone off to save the battery.
Motion flashed in my rearview mirror and I froze, wondering if it could be Soren or even Laith, following me from home and stomping all over my boundaries as usual. I reached for my keys, ready to stick them in the ignition and stomp on the gas pedal to get away from all prying eyes.
But it was only a flock of wild turkeys emerging from the brush and I sighed out my relief, sagging into the seat.
The sun rose slowly through the trees, casting long, orange shadows and I huffed out a laugh at my stupidity. Laith wouldn’t be out here in daylight. But Soren? Who knew. He might have a GPS tracker, cameras and microphones in my car. Shaking him wouldn’t be easy.
Unless you stayed in Sanguine.
The voice in my head now sounded less like resentment and more like a bolder version of me with dangerous, wild ideas. Where would I even stay in Sanguine? With the vampire who admitted to stalking and spying on me?
A thought came to me then, one that might have been pure coincidence but it held enough weight that I sat with it a while. Soren had never bothered me at home after that first night. He came up to me at work because he could get past the gate. Laith couldn’t.
Could Soren have been keeping his distance because of Laith? Was there actually a kernel of truth to Laith’s claim that he was protecting me?
I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel, glancing at my blank, silent phone. It was too early to call my apartment manager or check in to a hotel. I had hours to kill, needed sleep, and wasn’t too keen on napping in my car. Even if I closed all my windows and locked the car, I felt too vulnerable, too exposed.
There were a few coworkers I could call and ask to crash on their couches, but the idea was…off-putting. No one had any idea that Justin and I were rocky, plus they were just now getting off the night shift and had their own families and lives to manage. And if Soren had bugged my car, I didn’t want any more innocent people getting caught in his crosshairs.
Where else could I go?
The more my thoughts tumbled around, the more Sanguine and Laith seemed like the best of my shitty options. Despite what he’d done, I got the sense that his intentions had been pure. There was almost an innocence about him, a genuine earnestness that I wanted to believe in. But then again, I was clearly a shitty judge of character.
He’d at least come clean about following me, and didn’t try to deny it or twist my words into a situation that made me sound crazy.
I absently watched the family of turkeys cross the road, unable to believe I was making excuses for a guy who literally stalked me. But of the three men I was fed up with, Laith seemed the least likely to be using me for his own gain.
Well, aside from taking my blood. But at least he was honest about that.
After a few more minutes of hemming and hawing, I turned my phone back on. It buzzed and lit up with notifications, all texts and voicemails from Justin, of course.
“Motherfucker,” I hissed. My battery dropped to three percent.
I swiped away all the messages from Justin and paused when I saw one from Soren.
