It All Started With a Diary

anything

"I'm not sure exactly, honey. She said that she wanted to know where you were. What you were doing. How you were doing. She wants to talk to you directly. She wanted to know if you were okay—"

I couldn't stop the humorless laughter from tumbling out of my throat. "Okay?" I pushed myself off of the wall. "She wanted to know if I was okay? What in the hell makes her think I would even want to look at her, again? The only thing I'd like to look at is her fucking gravestone." The words fell out after one another, the hatred bubbling the longer I spoke.

Celeste grimaced at my words. "Baby—" When she tried to reach for me, I yanked my arm away. She shrunk back immediately at my rejection, a look of angst crossing her expression before slowly sinking into understanding.

I shook my head, as if that would casually remove the hurt. It did nothing. "I'm sorry Celeste, I just..." I couldn't finish before the words began to intertwine with my emotions.

Her expression softened. "No, no, baby. You have nothing to apologize for." Her head jerked at me. "I didn't give her a damn thing. Shay got her a couple of times with the spatula, and Griff tried to throw the cooking oil on her before she ran off. Your uncle made sure to get her license plate to report her for trying to violate the restraining order."

I nodded, dropping my head. Perhaps when my emotions were more clear, I could look back on the imagery, and laugh. "Thank you." I wasn't sure if she could even hear me. I could barely even hear myself, at this point.

I was okay. I was okay. I tried to repeat the words to myself, but with the stinging behind my eyes, I didn't know if it was working or not.

She couldn't find me. Her, and my brothers could never touch me again. I wouldn't let them. I wouldn't let them bring me back to that place. I wouldn't let them destroy every good thing I found here.

I hadn't even noticed Kade round the corner until I heard him. "Hey—" I felt his gaze weigh in heavy once he caught sight of my expression.

His footsteps quickened until he was in front of me. "Hey." He glanced to Celeste, who offered a shaky smile. Immediately, his eyes jerked to mine.

He grasped my face in two large hands, tipping my head up until I was forced to look at him. "What's wrong, baby?" His voice was as soft as his expression as he examined me over.

I couldn't bear to say the words aloud, right now. I could feel my energy slipping the longer I stayed here. In the same place that she was.

Kade read over my mind without difficulty, nodding his head once. His head tipped to Celeste. "We're gonna head out."

Celeste said nothing, instead squeezing my shoulder once as we passed. I offered a weak smile, then said a speedy goodbye to Shay and Griff.

Kade's arm lingered around my waist as he led me to the car. He disappeared back in the diner for only a minute before coming back. I didn't know exactly what he was doing, but I figured he was asking Celeste what happened.

I attempted to hold it all together as we pulled off, but once we were on the road, I didn't last long.

My eyes began to prickle with tears until they fell right over the gates. With my head pressed against the window, I shut my eyes as tight as they would go. I wished that simple act would make everything go away.