Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 180438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 902(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 601(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 180438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 902(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 601(@300wpm)
I don’t know when I picked up this vindictive streak, but somewhere between the time I first saw her post and now, I had made up my mind to be petty as shit. I plan to show all the people who have come between us that we are stronger and better than ever. Maybe that’s why I threw caution to the wind and leaned over to brush her lips softly with mine.
The flashes went crazy then, and there were even a few whispers from the other diners, some of who used that opportunity to take some pictures of their own. Good, by tomorrow, the Internet will be buzzing about us. I wasn’t even worried about Janie’s impending arrival any longer. Nothing was going to put a damper on our reunion; I won’t let it. And since I was here, I was going to make sure that Janie didn’t get within ten feet of her, or I’d make her pay worse than she could imagine.
Chapter 76
*Janie*
The closer I got to my destination, the more nervous I became. I’d been driving for hours, only stopping for gas and to grab some snacks here and there when hunger broke through the high of the pills I’d finished a while back. I was surprised that I’d made it this far since I’d had that gnawing feeling of being hunted since leaving California, what must’ve been days ago.
But now, with the lights of the city up ahead, I felt like I could relax, but first, I had to find a place to stay. There was no way I could stay in the city without being recognized, and I didn’t know how much money I had left. I gave some thought to heading to Jersey and my parents’ home before I remembered that it was no longer theirs.
I started to panic, but then the thought hit and stuck that maybe no one had taken possession of the place as yet. I have no idea how that stuff works since I’d never bought a home before. When we got married, I’d just moved in with Ryder and never had to pay any bills. Just thinking about all I stood to lose if I didn’t get to the bottom of this mess made my chest hurt, and if that bitch Elena had been in my sight, I’d have run her over ten times.
This was all her fault. If she’d just stayed gone or disappeared forever, none of this would be happening. I felt all the hate and anger I had for her over the past few years building up inside me until I wanted to scream, and so I did. I didn’t stop until I noticed the people in the car next to me watching, one of them with a phone in the air, no doubt recording me.
I rolled down the window and screamed at them to get the fuck away from me, but they just laughed and drove off when the light changed. As I made the turn, I thought I recognized the car that made the turn behind me, but that couldn’t be. I don’t know much about cars, so maybe that’s why this one looked similar to the one that had been following behind me in California, because the shape of the lights was similar.
Since they weren’t paying me any attention, I decided that I was overthinking things and went on my merry way. I was tired as hell, only now realizing that I hadn’t really slept, or if I had, I don’t remember doing it, and my arms and ass were starting to hurt.
Thankfully it was almost dark out by the time I reached my old neighborhood, and I drove by the house first to make sure the coast was clear. Do you know that feeling you get when something is within your reach and all the hard work you’ve put in is about to pay off? That’s how I felt. Almost like when you have to use the bathroom in the worst way, and just as soon as you see the toilet, you start wetting yourself; it was pretty much like that.
I wasn’t tired before and hadn’t felt the fatigue of pushing myself both physically and mentally for so long until I saw the house and knew I could soon take a break. It was as if all the pent-up emotion I’d been holding onto chose that moment, the moment when safety was finally in sight, to release itself.
I parked a few houses down before jogging back to the house just to be on the safe side. I didn’t know if my old key would work and started to fret, wondering about security and what would happen if I had to break a window but, in the end, it didn’t matter because it did.