Guilty By Association

Chapter 23 - Away

Chapter 23 – Away

Kelsey eventually decided to take Verona up on her offer. She was right. With everything going on, if she lived alone, she’d go insane from paranoia.

Every creak, every sound she’d hear would have her ready to call the police. If that wasn’t paranoia, she wasn’t sure what was. She knew that she didn’t want to leave LA. She would continue her job as it was.

Dylan was already getting better and he offered to be Kelsey’s professional escort whenever she needed it after a little persuasion from Verona. Kelsey couldn’t believe it, but it seemed like Dylan actually really liked her cousin and was happy to be in a relationship with her. She wished Alex would be a little more like that.

She sighed.

It seemed like Alex had fallen off of the face of the Earth. She’d hear Dylan and Verona talking about him, but they’d quiet whenever she entered the room. She was hurt that Alex really didn’t want anything to do with her, but she was also happy that she was able to let him go before she got too involved with him.

It was just a stupid crush. It would pass. But the ache in her heart told her it wouldn’t. She’d be lying to herself if she said that she was okay with what happened, what she’d done.

It had been after Alex left her house, got into his truck, and drove off that Kelsey realized what she had done. This had been her first real relationship that felt so real. Sure, they hadn’t been intimidate with each other, but that didn’t matter. She’d been a virgin for twenty-nine years. She could hold on to it for a little longer. Or forever.

Then again, her virginity was the least of her problems.

She’d let Alex go and he’d gone. She didn’t want him to go. She’d wanted him to tell her that he wanted to be with her regardless of whether he caught Caleb Rocha or not, and that would have been selfish of her.

She knew Alex loved his job, and that was one of the reasons she liked him so much, because he was so dedicated to his work. She respected him for it. Now? Now, she resented him for it.

She liked him, dammit!

And she was frustrated because she liked him and she didn’t know what to do about it. Sometimes, he acted like he really cared. Then, he tried to get rid of her, moving her cities, or even states, away. She didn’t understand.

She thought about all those times when she’d see a couple fighting. She wondered what they were fighting about. They should be able to resolve it and move on. Now, now she knew.

Kelsey jumped when the front door to Verona’s little apartment flung open and Dylan came inside. Seeing Dylan in Verona’s apartment was funny.

Her cousin’s apartment was small, yes, but it was cute. But when Dylan came over. He was not small and cute. He looked massive in Verona’s apartment and it got her every time.

“Hey professor.” Dylan greeted her with his usual greeting. Kelsey looked up at him and gave her friend a slight nod. “What’s going?”

“Just working on some papers.” She responded, even though her attention hadn’t been on her papers for quite some time, now. Dylan had resumed his job, but he never spoke about Alex and Kelsey never asked.

“Ah!” Dylan plopped down on the sofa beside her. “Where’s Rona?”

“Out.” Kelsey responded. The urge to ask Dylan what Alex was doing was strong. She really wanted to know what was going on at work. Maybe she could get answers out of him without exactly talking about Alex. “So, how close are you to catching Caleb Rocha?”