Page 40 of Voracious

Though he ended up ruining it anyway, so I guess it was all for nothing.

There are guards everywhere, standing around with guns. None of them look at me, and I keep walking until I reach a section of grass beside the water. I stare at the spot while the wind whips at my hair – the place we lay years ago and made everything official. Where the guards nearly caught us and we had to hide until we fully dressed and ran for it.

I remember how happy I was – the pain in my cheeks from how hard I was smiling and laughing as we sprinted to the pool house and finished what we’d started. Kade had pinned me to the wall then taken me slow and hard.

Back then, my days were at least a little simpler. I was still worried Chris would find out about Kade and force me to stop seeing him. Hide me away in the Fields’ manor for the rest of my life or try to beat up Kade.

There’s a ding from my back pocket, and I pull out my phone Barry got from Chris’s room. I smile at the screen.

Barry:TobiasMitchell is no longer in solitary confinement. He’s demanding to talk to you. Are you coming back inside anytime soon?

I glance over my shoulder to the shadow standing by the outdoor pool. The past week he’s been stuck to me like glue. He keeps telling me that Kade will come, that he’s getting time off, but I’m starting to think he’s only saying it to keep me calm.

He won’t tell me anything – who his boss is, what she does, where I can find them. I ask him to call the police, or do something himself, but he tells me to stay out of it for my own good.

I sigh and head back in, seeing each breath I let out in the cold air while I check my messages from Tylar. She’s been sending me videos and pictures from Festival of Fright Night, and how great my students did in their performances.

A lump lodges in my throat. I missed it. Ty had to do everything because I was stuck here, recovering, or held prisoner by Chris. They still managed to raise a lot for the studio and our three nominated charities though.

Her next message makes me roll my eyes and laugh.

I show it to Barry as we walk into the manor through the kitchen, and he shakes his head. “That’s not a good idea.”

I tut. “My friend can be insistent.”

Tylar wants to throw a Halloween-themed party in the manor as a joint thing for me and Luciella, since we both turn twenty-two this month. A way to cheer everyone up, because even she can tell there’s tension.

She asks me nearly daily if I’m okay, and I tell her I’ll talk to her about everything soon.

Which also triggers her to ask more questions.

“I have an offer,” Barry says, and I look up at him questioningly. “I have a lot of connections who could get you a new identity, a new passport and bank account. I could hide you, maybe in America. You’re in a lot of danger, Miss Rhodes, and Mr Mitchell won’t be happy if something happens to you.Iwon’t be happy if something happens to you.”

I stop walking. “You could do that?”

He nods. “I can – just give me the word, and I’ll get you out. I can come with you. Lisa and our child too. You’d be heavily protected, with no trace to be found.” He gestures to the house. “Think about it and let me know.”

“Thank you,” I say, following him through the manor with my brows knitting together. Leaving everything behind sounds terrible, but to feel safe? To be able to go outside and not worry about my life being threatened? No Chris, no Sawyers.

Aria is sitting on the sofa, her knees crossed, and beams up at me when she sees me. “Oh, there she is now. Do you have time left?”

She nods at whatever he answers. “Don’t you dare get caught with that phone, Tobias.”

She hands it to me then asks Barry if he’d like some tea, to which he says, “Sure,” and they walk out of the room.

I press the phone to my ear and drop to the couch. “Hello?”

“Little one,” Tobias says, his voice low. “I wanted to check in with you and see how you are. Aria filled me in on everything.”

“I’m… okay.” Am I? Strangely, I think I will be. Yes, I took lives, and I still think I imagined that happening, but if I hadn’t fought back, I would’ve been raped… again.

“You sent me fifteen voicemails – in five of them you were crying for over half an hour. Admitting you aren’t okay isn’t a bad thing.”

“Are you?” He’d been locked up alone for weeks. “Aria said she was filing a complaint because you were held in solitary confinement with no evidence of you breaking any rules.”

“I got out last week, but I had a few… adjustment issues. But I’ll admit I’m not okay. In fact, I want to put my fist through a wall, but I like my hands, so I’m holding back.”

He’s not even joking.

---