CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Zane
I’m numb as I walk through the airport, the smiling faces all a blur, a ringing in my ears that I haven’t been able to shake since I left Nathan’s condo.
The adrenaline from our fight has well and truly worn off, and now I’m empty, unsure what I’m supposed to do or where I’m supposed to be.
Someone knocks into me and my heart stops as I struggle to take in air.
I’m not sure how much time passes but I somehow make it to a cab, and it’s not until we’re speeding down the highway, my window down, the fresh air filling my lungs, that my head finally clears enough to replay the conversation I had with the officer.
“Circumstances have changed.”
Circumstances. Have. Changed.
I don’t want to believe it but that can only mean one thing. Right?
He died.
After all this time, Landon fucking died. That piece of shit is about to ruin more lives and he’ll never even know it.
I stopped him to save my friends and destroyed myself in the process.
A loud cough drags me from my thoughts, and I glance up to see my driver staring at me through the rearview mirror.
“We’re almost there. Anywhere specific you want me to drop you?”
I’m heading to my hometown. My parents live there, my old friends, yet I have nowhere to go.
“The extended-stay hotel downtown,” I tell him, turning back to the window.
“That’s a dump.”
“I know. But that’s where I want to be dropped.
” I half laugh at the reality I’ve found myself in.
My life’s a mess; it makes sense to stay in a dump.
Plus, it’s where I’m least likely to be seen.
If I’m right, and the news goes public, I’m going to be hounded, and I need time to think before I make a statement.
I need to say something that will keep Blair and… my sister out of the news.
My phone buzzes with another text from Cade, but just like the one before, I don’t even open it. It’s not hard to guess it’ll be some kind of big brother threat.
If I knew he’d show up here and beat the shit out of me, I’d welcome it. I deserve it. But I’m not stupid. He’d send Blair, and right now, she needs to stay the hell away from me.
For her sake and mine.