Page 254 of Sin With Me

Camming.

My life.

Out here, I’m nothing but me, Evelyn Jean Meyer. I’m not a preacher's daughter or a stepsister. I’m not a camgirl or a failure of a friend. I’m no one's sunshine, sweetheart or the golden child.

I’m not Goldie.

My eyes burn and I fight the urge to blink the tears away like I usually do.

If I’m none of those things, then maybe it’s okay not to hide.

Find myself. Own my space. Take off the mask.

The vast Georgia wilderness stretches out before me, and my eyes follow it all the way to the horizon. What would it be like to fly over the thicket of trees below? To be free enough to exist in a world where nothing is expected of me? To live so close to the sun, darkness never touches my soul again?

My phone vibrates in my pocket, interrupting my thoughts and I slide it out, hope and anxiety twisting my gut.

Isaac.

Again.

I hesitate, my thumb hovering over the little letters as I contemplate a response, but the longer I stare at his words, the worse the dread becomes. Instead, I scroll through the barrage of texts he’s sent over the last few weeks, each of them more intense than the last.

Isaac:

Where are you?

Isaac:

I’m worried about you.

Isaac:

Come home, Eve. You’re needed here.

Isaac:

Answer me.

Isaac:

Are you with him?

Isaac:

Pick up the goddamned phone.

Isaac:

You’re acting like a child, Eve. You’re blowing everything out of proportion. Come home so we can talk about it.

Isaac:

This is why I’ve never trusted you to be on your own. You can’t handle the world.

With each text, my heart begins to race, and my palms sweat around my phone. I try to swallow the lump clogging my throat, but I can’t as I reread the newest text. Nerves dance across my spine as fear coils in my veins.

Isaac:

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