Page 104 of Guilty Minds
"Oh no, don't do that. Just pack your bags and come here, you'll be staying with me. I have five extra bedrooms I'm not using, so you can bring half of Little Hope with you."
“Okay.” I don’t fight him. I got no energy left for that.
I get my bags ready. A suitcase would be nice right about now, but I've never traveled and never needed one, so I get three small bags packed with my clothes, toiletries, and art supplies. I load everything into my Jeep, then I gather all the stuff I have outside and bring it inside the trailer.
When I lock everything up and go to the car, I see a movement in the bushes. A familiar, sad face greets me.
"Hey, Frank. I'm not leaving forever; I'll be back, I promise."
He only looks at me with big, brown eyes in response. I wave at him and climb into the car.
I have two stops to make on the way. First is Freya.
She opens the door, and her face falls at the sight of me. "You're leaving, aren't you?"
“Yeah, I’m taking Archie up on his offer.” I force a smile on my face.
"What about Justin?" She asks, looking behind as if he's there.
“What about him?”
“I thought you two were together.” She sounds crestfallen. Just how I feel.
“I thought so too.” My face hardens as the memory I’m trying to suppress with all my might returns to the surface.
“I see.” She’s chewing on her lip. “Asshole.” She mutters under her breath. “What did he do?”
“Nothing. It’s all good. It’s just time for us to go our separate ways.” I don’t want to say too much because Justin is a big part of Alex’s life, and Alex is Freya’s life, and me mentioning what I saw will not go well.
She’s carefully watching my face. “Okay. But you will tell me when you’re ready, right?”
“Yeah, I will.” I smile sadly.
"Okay." I see a battle of emotions on her face. One side of her wants to grill me for information. Another wants to comfort me. And one more wants to rip Justin's balls off; I can tell because she still blames him for whatever happened. Mission failed.
“Kayla?” A low growl, Alex’s regular voice, comes from inside the house. “You’re leaving?”
"Yep. Going to school. Yay!" I try to sound enthusiastic, but by the look on his face, I fail.
"Good for you." He comes out and gives me a bear hug. Then Freya nudges him to the side and throws her arms around me, and I bury my face in her neck because I'm shorter, and she smells good.
“Call me when you get there, okay?”
"Of course," I assure her because she looks so worried, and I don’t want to dump my problems on her.
We say our goodbyes, and I go to my next stop—Marina. Her face is full of the bad kind of surprise when I tell her I'm leaving.
“What? Now?” She exclaims.
“Yeah.”
“Why? What about Justin?” She asks, way too upset. Would you look at that? Someone’s becoming Justin’s advocate.
“Justin’s done.”
“Why? What happened?” Marina brings her hand to her mouth.
“I wasn’t planning on telling anyone, but I know you can keep it a secret.” I take a deep breath. “I just found a naked woman on top of him.”
