Running From Forever (21 page)

I was beginning to think of her as a really hot
sister (no incest intended)—someone I loved and wanted to protect
and really enjoyed hanging out with. I definitely wasn’t looking
for any kind of romantic involvement; we even irritated each other
like siblings. Though maybe I’ll pretend she’s Micah’s sister; then
the relationship observation isn’t so creepy when I check her
out.

As I came to this realization, I started nodding
my head. “Yeah, I do,” I started to say. “She means a lot to
me.”

My answer must have been sufficient, because a
grin curled his lips as he stood, then patted me on the shoulder.
“Just don’t hurt her,” he said, “or I’ll have to fucking kill you.”
He chuckled, but knew he was serious, and also that he could.

***

We ended up having
dinner with Matt and Leah before leaving. It’d been forever since I
attended a cookout, but Matt said it was the norm with them and we
should come back again before the weather got too cold for another
one. At a little after seven, we finally headed out. I had planned
to return Steve’s car after, but I wasn’t feeling it, so I texted
him to let him know that I had the Corvette and would bring it back
the next day. Of course, he didn’t care, and said to just bring it
back whenever.

“Do you mind stopping there for a minute?” Kayla
asked as we came to a stoplight with a mall on the right.

I looked at her like she had ten heads, knowing
that she was just as spent as I was. “You wanna go shopping?” I
asked incredulously.
Fucking women.

She shrugged her shoulders. “I need something to
wear to work tomorrow.”

It only took all of two seconds to process that
she wasn’t leaving tonight and was planning on staying. The rush of
joy that filled my insides eased the worry that was starting to
consume me. The thought of walking her home tonight and leaving her
to the life that she ran away from had been weighing heavily on me
all day. I didn’t know if I could do it, especially when I had no
clue why she ran in the first place.

“Yeah, we can stop,” was all that I said, trying
to channel the excitement that was humming my veins. I had more
time. I had more time with her before I had to give her back.

Forgetting that the mall closed at eight on
Sundays, it was like a mad dash to the finish line getting
everything that she needed to look presentable for the corporate
world. The sweatpants and t-shirt were good enough for me and
apparently her friends, too, but not the uppity people on the top
floor of ETV—they’d have a field day and hand her the pink slip if
she came in looking anything less than snooty.

Walking out with my hands full of bags, I
couldn’t think of anyone I knew that went on a shopping spree,
buying four business suits, three pairs of shoes, and a new set of
bras and panties on a whim, but I also had never known anyone like
Kayla—she was a runner, the girl version of me. Once we run, we
don’t return. Buying new clothes was what people like us did to
stay away—to avoid going back.

“You hungry?” I asked after getting
everything upstairs and my shoes finally off.

“We just ate.”

“Like two hours ago.”

She snickered as she rolled her eyes. “No, I’m
good.”

I warmed up some leftovers from the other night
and joined her on the couch. The bar was closed on Sundays, so I
didn’t need to be downstairs. She was watching some reality show
about a family managed by their crazy mom. The women on it were
hot, but had the most goddamn annoying voices ever.

“How do you get hooked on this crap? I don’t get
it”

“I thought you wouldn’t complain.” She raised
her eyebrows, referencing the good-looking girls.

“Maybe if it was on mute.” That got the gut
laugh out of her that always made me smile. It was pure,
heart-filling laughter and I loved it. “So, what’s the plan for
tomorrow?” I asked once her laughing subsided. I hoped it wasn’t
too out there to ask, but tomorrow was getting back to the real
world. She worked at the company that Miles Blackwell owned half
of. I was worried that shit was going to hit the fan, and curious
what her plan of action was to handle it.

She instantly sunk further into the cushion and
the smile that was on her face faded.
Fuck me!
I wanted to
kick myself in the ass for asking.

Running her hand through her hair and pulling it
to the side, she played nervously with a few strands, looking
blankly at the TV. “I don’t really know.”

“We don’t have to talk about it,” I came out and
said. It was a douche move asking; I should’ve known better. She
was still running inside; avoiding the truth…life.

She let out an exasperated breath. “No. No, I
gotta figure this out.” She turned to face me, legs crossed,
intertwined. “I don’t know what to do, Merrick.”

I felt it in my chest. She was lost, pleading
for help. I didn’t know if I was the best person to help her. I’d
lived just as fucked up a life myself. From the age I could run, I
did, staying at friend’s houses almost every day of the week,
stopping home quick after school just to make sure my mom hadn’t
overdosed and was dead on the floor. I did this almost my whole
life…up until I ran here.

“I can’t really help you, babe, if I don’t know
what happened,” I told her as sympathetically as I could, looking
into her sad eyes. Even if I wasn’t the most qualified person to
give advice, I wanted to help, but I also needed to know what
happened first.

Kayla rubbed her face with her hands, keeping
them over her eyes for a minute longer. She was thinking;
questioning if she was ready to spill. I didn’t want to force her
to do it, so I sat there quietly. I wish I could just sweep her up
and run far, far away; take her away from all the bad in her life
permanently, but that would mean I had to run again, and I was done
running. I couldn’t do it anymore.

“I loved him.” Her voice was a whisper. She
removed her hands from her face but only to look down to her
crisscrossed feet. She couldn’t look at me while she told me, and I
was okay with that. “I let my guard down when I knew I shouldn’t
have, but I couldn’t help it.”

I needed to do something, so I rested my hand on
her leg, rubbing it gently for comfort. It seemed to work, because
she glanced up to me and grinned before looking back down,
continuing to play with a loose string on her pants.

“How do you know when to stop?” she looked back
up to me in question.

“Stop what?” I asked.

“Running? How do you know when to stop?” She
took a break, pausing. “When is running no longer an option?”

I exhaled, stumped myself. I didn’t really have
an answer to that, except the only thing that came to my head. “You
just know, I guess.”

She nodded, agreeing. I thought it was a lousy
answer, but she must have thought differently.

“Did he cheat on you?” The words fell from my
tongue before I had a chance to retract them. I didn’t know why
they slipped, but I guess it was something that was weighing on my
mind.

She snorted, seeming somewhat amused before
looking at me with a smirk. “No, but I guess you can’t really cheat
on someone that you weren’t really with anyway.”

Not only was I confused as hell, but the anger
was building. I pretty much knew I’d hate the fucker even more once
I heard the story of what he did, but now that I was getting a
glimpse, the rage within was climbing. It was unclear why I
despised Miles in the first place—the only reasonable explanation I
had was that he’s just one of those people that leaves a bad taste
in my mouth. Almost like I knew he would eventually hurt someone I
cared about.

“He played you?”

She nodded her head. “Yeah…I guess you can say
that.”

That was my trigger. I had to stand, pace, do
something! I couldn’t imagine why
anyone
that had a chance
of being loved by Kayla would play her or do her
any
wrong.
I was livid, pacing the room.

“Merrick, sit down,” she demanded, making me
stop and look at her. “It wasn’t all him, I guess. I can’t really
say if he cared or not. I think he did, but he lied.”

I immediately looked at her, dumbfounded.
“What?”

“My ex. I left him. Right after he proposed…I
ran,” she began, getting my attention.

I didn’t join her on the couch because my blood
was still boiling, but I rested on the arm of the chair next to it
to listen.

“I don’t really know what happened, but somehow
Trevor knew Miles and got in touch with him.”

“He had a
vendetta
against you?” I asked,
my eyebrows scrunched, trying to fit together the pieces.

“I don’t know… I guess. I didn’t really stick
around for the details.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” I stood again, looking at
her in complete puzzlement. “So you think that he hired Miles or
something to spy or do something bad to you—like fake your
relationship?” I was ready to explode. If that was the case, I had
two guys to kill. This story was getting so fucked up that the idea
of swooping her up and running wasn’t looking so unreasonable
anymore. They had wronged her in the worse possible way.

She shrugged her shoulders, lost, with no
answers herself. “I don’t know. But Miles and I walked in on Trevor
in bed with my sister…”

Oh my fucking God.
I couldn’t handle it
anymore. I couldn’t hear another word of it. Not only did this
other fucker, her ex or whoever, work up a master plan to get back
at her, he nailed her sister on top of it—for her to walk in on!
The stupid fucking fucker.
I was done. I was going to be
sitting in a jail cell that night, I just knew it.

“So, I don’t know. I heard Miles yelling at
someone on the phone earlier in the night that the deal was off, so
maybe Trevor went to plan B. I don’t fucking know…I just left.”

A tear trickled down her face, and I ran to her
side to wrap my arms around her, holding her snug against my chest.
I wouldn’t let her go. I let her sob for however long we sat there,
just holding her while she cried. I knew she cared, and from the
way he looked in the bar last night, I knew Miles did, too. But I
wouldn’t let her go back. I wouldn’t let him have the satisfaction
of winning. Girls like Kayla didn’t come around often. There’s no
second chances on girls like her.

***