“You have a strange way of showing that. If you cared for me, you’d let me go home.”
Her jailer tilted their head and placed both hands on Sarah’s shoulders. “But you are home. This is where you belong. With me.”
The raving insanity in the words leaving the jailer’s mouth caused Sarah to despair. It made no sense why she was being kept here. Sarah felt tears sting her eyes. A couple escaped and rolled down her cheeks.
“Please,” she said. “Just let me go.”
“Ah-ah, no can do,” the jailer said, wagging a finger in front of Sarah’s face. The jailer leaned forward and placed a set of wet lips first on Sarah’s forehead, then on her mouth. Sarah shivered again.
“It’s okay,” the jailer said, caressing her cheek, leaning their forehead against hers. “Everything is going to be okay.”
Sarah couldn’t stop crying. She was so tired, exhausted, and had no idea how to deal with this strange person. All she knew was that she needed to get out of there.
Now.
Sarah lifted her hand with the nail in it, slid it to her fingertips, then jammed it into her jailer’s chest. The sound it made as it pierced through the flesh was nauseating, but much to Sarah’s surprise, she seemed to be so fueled by anger, she barely noticed. Her jailer let out a roar, and blood spurted out from the wound. Her jailer fell to the tiles, gasping and panting. Sarah acted quickly. She crawled on top of the person and slammed her fists into her jailer’s head until her jailer stopped moving. Then she stuck her hands into all the pockets and pulled out a set of keys. She then unlocked her chains with the keys, fumbling nervously with them as her jailer moaned in pain. Sarah almost dropped the keys before she finally succeeded in getting loose and could move her hands freely. She didn’t think twice but ran out of the small room, not looking back at her jailer on the floor. She ran down a hallway and spotted a set of stairs at the end of it. She almost gasped as she saw the sunlight coming down from above—almost like heaven was calling out for her, showing her the way.
Freedom, at last. At last.
Chapter 29
THEN:
“Oh-oh, I do not like the look on that face. What’s up?”
Lynn sat up straight in her chair as Jeff stormed in and sat down across from her. His eyes were red, and he hadn’t shaved in what looked like days. As usual, he was wearing a suit, but something about the way he wore it told her he hadn’t cared much for dressing himself this morning before going to work. He usually came to her in the late afternoons, after he finished at the office.
He looked like a mess.
Jeff exhaled, then sniffled.
“Take your time,” she said, trying to create a calm atmosphere, one where he felt safe. She couldn’t let him know how much it upset her, seeing him like this, how it made her stomach turn into a knot and her heart race. “There’s no rush.”
Jeff nodded, then scratched his neck and took a couple of deep breaths, very obviously calming himself. Then he leaned forward and threw out his arms.
“She left me.”
Lynn exhaled. “The new girl you were dating? Alice?”
He scoffed. “Can you believe it?”
No, she couldn’t, but she couldn’t say that. To her, Jeff was such a wonderful and perfect guy. She couldn’t understand why anyone would ever leave him or even want to hurt him. He was so handsome and charming, and to her, he had it all. But she couldn’t say that.
“Tell me what happened,” she said instead.
He shook his head. “I don’t know why I even bother. These women they’re…they’re…” he slapped his hand onto his thigh, startling Lynn. He then clenched his fist and said, “I hate her.”
“Tell me what happened. When did she break up with you?” she repeated.
“I came home from work two days ago, and she had her bags packed. We’ve only been dating for five months, but she had basically moved into my apartment and slept there every night. I thought she was the one; I really thought she was.”
“Did she say anything? Did she give you an explanation?” Lynn asked, not allowing herself to get as riled up on the outside as she felt on the inside. Who did this girl think she was?
“She’d been with someone else, she told me. Someone from her workplace and she was going to be with him instead. Just like that.”
“She cheated on you?” Lynn spat, sounding angrier than she intended.
“Yes, can you believe it?” Jeff said. “She cheated on me.”
Lynn shook her head and wrote on her notepad. It was odd that a guy like Jeff couldn’t find himself a nice girl to settle down with. Why were these women so stupid?
His wet eyes locked with hers as she lifted her gaze. “How am I supposed to live without her? Do you think I’ll ever find a girlfriend again? Someone who’ll want to stay with me?”
That broke her heart. This was the second breakup she had gone through with him. She nodded, leaned over, and placed a hand on his knee.
“Of course, you will.”
The hand lingered on his knee while he stared into her eyes. She felt a pinch in her stomach, and her entire body warmed up. Then she removed the hand, pulling it back quickly, blushing.
“I’m ugly,” he said. “No one will have me.”
That made Lynn chuckle. He gave her a puzzled look.
“You find it amusing?”
“No, it’s just that…well, you’re really handsome,” Lynn said. “I hope you realize that. You’re to die for.”
That made him smile, almost smirking. “Really? You think so?”
“Sure.”
“You’d actually die for me?”
She paused and felt a furrow grow between her eyes. “Well…figuratively speaking, of course. It’s a saying.”
He leaned back on the couch. “Huh.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Not for anything. I just…well…you want to sleep with me, don’t you? I can see it in your eyes, the way you look at me.”
Lynn took another deep breath. “We’ve been through this, Jeff. You can’t say stuff like that.”
“But you do, don’t you?”
“It’s of no importance whether or not I want to sleep with you, Jeff. You’re my client. It will never happen.”
He smiled and nodded. “But you want to. It’s okay, Doc. I won’t tell anyone. Your secret is safe with me.”
Chapter 30
The air between us was thick and the atmosphere awkward in the minivan as we drove toward Orlando and, more precisely, Winter Park. I kept thinking about the way Scott had leaned in toward me and tried to kiss me the day before, and every time I looked at him, I felt awful. I couldn’t believe him. I thought he loved Sarah. The air between us was so strange, so tense, I felt like screaming. We both reached for our coffee at the same time, and our hands brushed up against each other.
“I’m sorry,” I said and pulled mine away.
“No. No, you go,” he said.
“It’s okay.”
Then silence followed. Neither of us grabbed our coffees. I cleared my throat and passed a truck. We had barely spoken all morning. He came to my house so we could drive there in my car, and I could hardly look him in the eyes. I was frustrated with him yet had to admit, I was also secretly flattered. But it was wrong on so many levels, and now I feared it had ruined everything between us.