Her Road|Book 2|

Day 5|I

DAY 4

I collapsed on the bed, physically empty. That massive dinner I'd eaten suddenly not existing anymore. Luckily I had a left over chocolate I didn't eat on the way so that saved me from facing my father.

It was strange how fast it happened. The rush of thoughts, the feeling, the release. Complete storm of ecstasy. It must've been pent up from lack of anything, to be honest.

I thought maybe now that I'd actually touched myself the thoughts would stop but it was the opposite. It was like the release was a dam wall, now broken and spewing every desire and dirty thought as I settled for the night.

DAY 5

"Alice."

"Yeah." I answered, awake for some time now. He opened the door to find me looking up at the ceiling already. "I'm awake."

"You okay?" I nodded and sat up, waiting. "I'm gonna head out now. We'll be back around eleven for the tour. Just wanted to let you know."

I rubbed my head even though I didn't have a headache. "Okay, enjoy. I'll be ready."

"Okay." He made his way to my door but stopped. "Oh yeah, your mom said she might be coming tonight or early tomorrow. Either or."

That snapped me out of my drowsiness. "What about Zayne?"

"He said he'd take care of the house. It's paid off so he doesn't have to worry about it but it's in his hands. If he ends up trashing it then that's his business." He disappeared into the hallway, leaving me with a raised eyebrow.

Okay... Since when do parents let their eldest take care of their home and not care what he does with it? If I wasn't so out of it I would've questioned it more but all night I've been thinking about that water flowing out of the dam.

I turned my attention to the town instead. The mysterious boy had made me forget temporarily but now I remembered. I had stupidly, idiotically, almost walked into a alleyway. Of metaphorical meaning of course. Except here in Ridgeway gangsters hung out on beaches.

Gangster paradise, quite literally.

Just like the boxes sitting downstairs, it was a reminder that this town was different. Nevermind the beautiful houses and scenery, the shadows were bigger, larger than any building.

Maybe not him though. But basing a town on a hot boy I spoke to for a few minutes was a major no-no if I've ever seen one.

I still hadn't gotten new clothes so I had to sit in my towel all morning waiting for the my clothes to wash and dry. At least the clouds had cleared up for the tour so I didn't have to worry about wearing my hoodie.

For a brief second I wondered if I might see him again but I quickly squashed whatever that was forming. How would he see me from what I would assume would be the back of a police cruiser? I just had to hope and pray that I didn't get out for anything in case he did.

I made sure to eat the left over pizza and a piece of chicken when a horn sounded. I guess growing up with my father working for the department made it the norm to see cruisers outside so I wasn't surprised to see an unmarked '18 charger infront.

A petite woman was leaning on the hood in a denim jacket. She looked tiny, just taller than me which meant really, really tiny. But I knew she meant business by the way she stood, relaxed yet lethal. Trigger ready. Not with her firearm but action, she could probably switch moods real fast.

"You ready?" My dad appeared next to me. I nodded and followed him outside, until I was infront of her.

Startling, broken green eyes met mine. "So, you're Alice...Nice to meet you. My name is Naomi and welcome to Ridgeway."

She was unexpectedly warm but I smiled back, nonetheless. "Thanks. Nice car, by the way. I keep telling my old man to ditch the everest but he just won't let up."

She laughed a little, looking accusingly at my father who raised his arms up. "Hey, at least it's not a Tahoe."

"Okay, enough. Let's get going." Chief Naomi got in and I followed suit. I sighed a little when I realized there were no bars separating us.

"Believe it or not, Ridgeway isn't as crazy as you've probably come to believe." She calmly stated over the whine over the V8. She glanced over at us as we passed stores and restaurants. "Oh, if you saw the sign, sorry about that. I didn't want to take it down. Have you seen it at night?"

"Yeah, we drove past it when we arrived. Pretty crazy actually. A real introduction." My dad agreed. I remembered the crazy words floating in the night sky.

"There isn't a lot that actually happens around here." She continued, unfazed, stopping at a light. "Yeah we've got a backlog but we're pretty much the same as most towns. Except for the occasional robbery or drug bust."

She paused. "I shouldn't actually be talking to you about this, Alice but I guess that's what I get from hanging around Harry so much."