Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
K AYLA
I sit and watch the open door where Justin just disappeared.
Did I dream the whole encounter? Was he really here, and did we really have a near kiss?
If not for the car horn outside, I’m pretty sure I’d know how my teenage dream tastes by now.
I bet it would taste good… despite the look of pure horror on his face when he reared back.
As if the idea of touching me makes him want to vomit.
Such a wonderful hit to my already low self-esteem.
I take a deep breath, trying to calm my erratic heartbeat that went into overdrive the moment it sensed Justin in proximity.
My situation sucks. The first couple of hours locked up, I just wanted to claw Jake’s face off, to destroy his pretty-boy looks and leave my mark all over him so that every time he looks in the mirror, he’d see my face.
But after hours passed, my anger dissolved into resignedness, and I just wanted out .
I just wanted to get out of that building, curl into a ball, and forget that the day ever happened. I didn’t have any energy left to fight.
When Justin appeared like my own knight in shining denim, I thought he’d come to torment me some more too.
Turns out I was wrong. He was so pissed at Jake—it was glorious.
For the first time in forever, I saw him angry with someone other than me.
Seething. Practically foaming at the mouth.
At one point, I thought he was going to punch Jake, and I wouldn’t have stopped him.
In fact, I’d be on the sidelines cheering him on, shaking my pom-poms.
Then in the car… I still don’t know why he offered me a ride. I mean, I kind of figured he wanted to talk me out of suing Jake (a battle I’m sure I’d win if I chose to go through with it), but I just wanted it all to be over. I just want them to leave me alone.
And then he decided to follow me inside the diner. Just awesome. How did that work out for us?
So now, I’m sitting alone in the diner with no car and no means to get home. To call Marina is out of the question; she’ll want to know what happened, and I can’t lie to her, and if I told her the truth, I’m sure that shotgun under the table would see some action. So that leaves Freya.
“Hey.” Her voice is cheerful, as usual. I don’t know when this woman isn’t ebullient, even though her life hasn’t exactly been rainbows and butterflies lately. I admire her for that.
“Hey, Frey.” I swallow down the dryness in my throat. “Can you give me a lift home from the diner?”
There is a bit of stunned silence for a moment before her voice somehow becomes even more cheerful.
“Of course! Such a good idea! I’m with Stella at their house—” Alex’s stepmom who lives nearby— “so it’s perfect timing.
See you there!” She hangs up a moment later.
I shake my head, musing that I should have probably called Marina.
Freya will be grilling me the whole evening now.
She arrives fifteen minutes later with a bottle of wine and a box of pizza that she proudly shows me the moment I open the door.
Her smile is wide and bright. “I got us some goodies!” she declares as I climb into the car.
Thank God she traded that old Impala—I mean, it was super cool, but so impractical.
I can feel the side-eye the entire way to my place. Curiosity eating at her.
When I finally can’t take it anymore, I break. “Okay, what?” I bark.
“Oh, I don’t know. Is there anything you want to share with me?” She blinks her big, deceitfully innocent eyes at me.
I sigh—might as well get it over with. I tell all about The Big Tow, the tale of the DMV debacle, my little stint in jail, and Justin’s visit. By the time I’m done, she’s white-knuckling the steering wheel. “What a fuckin’ asshole,” she hisses through gritted teeth. “Both of them.”
She quietly stews in her rage for a long moment before she calms down enough to form complete sentences. She promises to cut only one of his nuts off instead of both.
I keep my mouth shut, a difficult thing for me to do.
While I agree with her fury wholeheartedly, I also don’t want her to get into trouble with them.
The three of them share their own history, especially with Jake, and my jail story shouldn’t break their bond, even if I want her to beat his ass so badly.
At this point, I loathe Jake, but I can’t be selfish and ask Freya to share my feelings.
When we’re home, she parks the car and follows me inside. “Who’s picking the movie? ”
“You can.” I shrug. “I’m fine with whatever.”
She finds Mean Girls on my iPad , and we spend the rest of the evening wishing we were Regina rather than Cady. Regina may be a mega bitch, but she goes after what she wants and takes no shit.
By the time the movie is over, she’s ready to go.
I know she alternates between staying at Alex’s cabin and his parents’ house.
I offer her a spot to sleep here, but she makes up some excuses and goes to Alex’s cabin.
It’s sad that she still feels embarrassed about waiting for him.
I think it’s sweet, and that’s how it should be.
He’ll come home eventually, and then I can hug him, thank him for helping me that night, and then kick him in the nuts for leaving Freya for so long. In that order.
When morning comes, I’m still lacking wheels. Desperate, I call Freya again. She answers the phone on the sixth ring with a groan. “Yeah?” That can’t be good.
“Hey, wanna play Uber again? I’ll make you your favorite coffee for waking up so early.” I try to bribe her. She’s clearly in a foul mood at seven thirty in the morning, even with half the town buzzing around already. Small towns wake up early.
“Sure, and thanks.” She yawns. “God knows I need that. Be there in a few.”
Thirty minutes later, she beeps for me to come out. I get my purse and run outside. Once I’m in the car, I notice that her gaze is transfixed on something in the woods, and it’s then that I see Frank’s suspicious face locked on Freya’s.
“I will never understand your weird friendship with him,” she comments uncertainly, nodding at Frank .
“That’s okay. The most important thing is that Frank and I do.” I wink at her with a smile.
“Weird-ass town.” She rolls her eyes and reverses the car, causing me to double over with laughter—seeing how Freya’s adjusting to life in our small town is a whole comedy show.
“So, how is the search going?” I ask, referring to the PTSD center she’s planning to open.
“Jonah promised to show me a few places today and said he has a very good feeling about one of them.” Ah, Jonah. My gut feeling suggests I should thank him for sending Justin to my rescue, if that was him like I suspect. Hopefully, he’ll permanently move here—we can certainly use more good people.
“That’s amazing!”
“I know.” She yawns. “It’s exhausting. I never knew it would be like this. So many preparations.”
“You’re doing a good thing, Frey. I’m proud of you.” And I totally mean that. Freya is one of few people who doesn’t just sit on their butt complaining about the world without doing anything about it—instead, she’s truly trying to change it for the better. Also, having millions helps.
Her cheeks turn a cute pink shade, and she smiles sheepishly. “Keeps me busy.”
“And that too. Though you could always go back to being a nurse. I know you really loved being one,” I suggest, heavily implying that she shouldn’t let her creep of an ex destroy her love of helping people. She put a lot of work into her nursing career before he completely derailed it.
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that. Once we open the center, I’ll see if my heart will call for it.” She sounds almost shy.
“I think that’s a great idea.” I fully support everyone following their dreams and their hearts. Even though I don’t follow mine—I can’t—I can still be happy for others pursuing their individual paths.
“What the hell?” Her eyes bulge.
“What happened?” I ask, suddenly scared—at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if the diner was flooded by a tsunami.
“Isn’t that your car?” She points at something, and I follow her finger.
It is, in fact, my Jeep. My old boy is parked in front of the diner in broad daylight. I pinch my hand just to see if I’m dreaming. “That’s… I mean, yeah, but… what ?”
She looks confused. “You didn’t tell me you got it back!”
“I didn’t know I did.”
“Huh?” Her forehead wrinkles. “I’m lost.”
“Me too, man.” I blink rapidly to see if the car will disappear. “Yesterday, I was told I had to pay two grand to get it back, and now it’s sitting right here.”
“You didn’t pay it yourself?” Her voice is full of wonder.
“I don’t have two grand, so no.”
She turns to me with a wide smile. “I guess you got a fairy godmother.”
I guess I do.