Page 32 of Scapegoat

The girl, not the wolf. My beast receded, having taken me where I needed to go, so it was a very naked, very sore girl who stumbled forward towards the back entrance to the truck stop in Granville.

“What in the world…?”

The back door was pushed open and Melva stepped out, taking me in with one look, eyes wide, before she whipped her apron off, wrapping it around me as I collapsed into her arms.

“Oh, sweetheart! What happened? I’ll call the police, your family. Who do I need—?”

“Water…” I croaked out, my mouth feeling as parched as the desert right now.

“Water, right, we can do that. Just come inside, love. I’ve got a few old uniforms in the cupboard. They’ll probably swamp your skinny little frame, but that’s better than nothing.”

I stepped into the warmth of the truck stop kitchen, and stood shakily while Melva pulled out some uniform tops and bottoms. I donned the shirt she gave me, but the skirts were all too loose, so I had to use the apron as a kind of skirt instead.

“Now,” she sat me down on a low stool near the prep bench, then handed me a big glass of water. “Drink that up, not too fast now.”

I saw the wisdom of her words, knowing that if I gulped the water down, I’d vomit it straight back up, so I sipped and sipped, slowly feeling my heart rate begin to settle.

“Now, what’s happened?” There was something all too knowing, all too sad in her eyes. “No girl comes in here—looking like you do—without it being bad. You can tell me, love. I’ve seen things that’d make your hair curl, and I don’t mind having a word with the local police if you need me to.”

“No.” Although I keenly felt the need for justice, felt I deserved it—for so many fucking things I’d been made to suffer—I couldn’t get out of my head the notion that once the summer ended, we were recognised as adults. Well, I was going to set aside childish notions of fairness and honesty, of people getting what they deserved, because that was obviously not the way the world worked. “I don’t need that,” I told Melva, staring into her soft, compassionate eyes, while feeling that my eyes probably looked as hard as rock, as hard as my heart was feeling. “I just need to get the hell away from here.”

Chapter 19

“How’s it going, Melva?”

I looked up from the booth I was sitting in. Melva had bustled me out into the restaurant part of the truck stop, and had made me a plate piled high with food. To start with I had just pushed it around with my fork. Then I’d got irritated with that, with neglecting my body, when it’d been made clear that the only person who’d look after me was me. So I’d been shoving forkfuls of delicious food into my mouth and chewing, even as they turned to glue once I tried to swallow them. I looked up from my basic efforts at self-care to see a tall, rangy-looking woman standing at the counter, wearing an old pair of jeans and a worn jumper, with a battered cap on her head.

“Slow this time of night,” Melva replied. “You know how it is. What can I get ya, Jamie?”

“Some dinner and some company. Been on the road for too bloody long this time. Sick of talking to the idiots on the CB radio. Be nice to see the actual face of the person I’m talking to for once.”

“You got it.”

I tried not to listen to their conversation, but it felt like all my instincts were on high alert, that I needed to know everything that was going on around me. And then there were all the other questions that circled around in my head. What was I going to do? Had the guys tracked me here? But why would they? They had what they wanted. They’d claimed Anna and… Not for the first time tonight, I scowled at the implications, as much as at the extent, of my mother’s bullshit. When guys claimed their mate like that? It was usually immediately followed by a mating frenzy, which meant that the couple, throuple, or whatever combination that worked, would not be seen for days as they consolidated the bond. But Anna was just fourteen—

And not my problem.

I stabbed my fork into a chunk of carrot, right as the two ladies joined me.

“Those boiled carrots do something to offend you?” the stranger said with a smile. She held out a hand and I shook it. “I’m Jamie.”

“Kai…” I swallowed, aware I shouldn’t be giving out my full name. “Just Kai.”

“OK, just Kai, what’re you doing out here in one of Melva’s uniforms?” Jamie asked.

“Kai… is spending some time, collecting her thoughts,” Melva replied for me and I loved and hated that, at the same time. “Something happened: I don’t know what, but she says she wants to get out of town.” She looked at Jamie. “Maybe you could help her with that?”

Jamie settled down in the seat on the opposite side of the booth then smiled at me as she looked me over more closely.

“Well, you’re young enough, pretty enough that most truckers passing through here would give you a ride, but me? I’m probably one of the few that would keep my hands to myself. I know the look of a woman on the edge.” She nodded slowly. “Been that way myself. I’ll take you out of here, if that’s what you want. I’m heading towards Adelaide. That work for you?”

“Anywhere but here.”

My voice was all croaky, rusty, like it’d been a long time since I’d spoken and in a way it had been. It had been a long time since I wasn’t the Campbell boys’ mate or my mother’s daughter, even my sister’s sibling. I wasn’t Kaia anymore, but Kai. Just myself.

“Well, all right, kid,” Jamie said, picking up her knife and fork. “We’ll be staying in Granville for tonight. Might drop into one of the local shops before we go, though, and grab you some clothes. Then we’ll get on the road. You’ll need to pull your weight though.”

“I’m stronger than I look,” I assured her, knowing, after the events of the day, that it was as true of my emotional strength as it was of my physical strength.

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