Ash's Darling | ✔

Chapter 21

~Esther~

I made it to the mall a few minutes before Indi so I went inside and decided to wait for her in the food court. I walked towards a small table and set my little purse on it, sitting down in one of the chairs I pulled out my phone to tell her I was in the food court when I saw someone walking towards me out of the corner of my eye.

I looked up to see who it was and found Indi waving at me. I stood up from my chair and walked towards her to give her a hug. Indi always gives the best hugs and after yesterday I definitely need one. "Hey, how'd you know I was here? I was just about to text you." I asked as I walked into her outstretched arms and let her squeeze the daylights out of me while I wrapped my hands around her back in return.

"Ashton was still in the parking lot and when I parked next to him he told me you were going to the food court." I smiled, knowing he must've been waiting for Indi to come so he knew I wasn't alone. He never likes me going to the mall alone since it's not in the greatest part of this city.

It'd be so much easier if we had a mall in our town but instead we have to drive 45 minutes to get to the only mall in a hundred mile radius. We pulled away from the hug and I grabbed my small black purse so we could begin our shopping. "How have you been, girl? I've missed you. We've barely hung out recently."

"I know we've both been busy. I've missed you too. I have a lot to tell you." I followed Indi as she turned around and started walking out of the food court, towards all the stores.

"Then you better start talking, girl. I'm sure there's a lot I need to catch up on."

"Uh yeah, there's quite a bit actually."

Indi turned to me and raised an eyebrow, sensing something was off. "Is everything okay, Esther?"

I quickly nodded. "Yeah, everything's fine." I planned on telling her that I told Ash about the whole stalker thing before I mentioned that I had a panic attack because I saw him in the police station.

"Spit it out. I can see you're nervous, it's better to just get it over with than to keep it hidden." She tried to encourage me. I didn't know why I was so nervous, she knew about everything I've gone through. She was even there for me when I went through depression almost five years ago, before the stalker thing.

I was so young then and it was one of the roughest parts of my life. For almost a year I never thought I would be happy again. It crushed me, I felt like a burden and I stayed in my room all day. I didn't even want to talk to Indi during that time but she was always there for me, through everything she was the one thing I could count on and for that I am forever grateful.

I pulled myself out of my thoughts and finally started telling her everything. "I told Ash about everything that happened a few years ago. About the stalker."

Her eyes widened in surprise as she tried to gauge how he reacted from the look on my face. "What did he say?" She finally asked.

"He said he should've killed the man when he had the chance and just called it an accident."

"What? Now I'm confused. When did he ever have the chance to kill that bitch?" She asked, confusion lacing her voice.

I grabbed her hand and sat down on one of the benches that lined the wall so we could sit down while I explained things. She sat down and looked at me worriedly as I started explaining.

"Ash works for the FBI. I think I told you that already. Anyway, yesterday he had to go catch a stalker that the police weren't able to catch. He brought the stalker into the station and then left since that was all he normally does but this morning the chief of police called him because apparently all of the normal interrogators were busy so he wanted Ash to come interrogate the stalker he had brought in."