Shattered

Chapter 48: Unexpected

"I will not be another flower, picked for my beauty and left to die. I will be wild, difficult to find, and impossible to forget."- Erin Van Vuren

My phone started ringing and I saw Alek's name flash across the screen. Still stuck smiling like a dork thanks to Kaden, I swiped to answer and put him on speaker phone.

"Did you get him pregnant yet?" I asked.

"Not for lack of trying," Alek answered, making me laugh. "We're kinda screwed though, we had to bail on Vegas with all this insanity going on."

"Why?" I frowned. "What insanity?"

"Girl, I swear to God, you never keep up with the news," he sighed. "You haven't seen this shit? It's insane. I mean, I haven't checked on any of the news reports myself, I assume it's everywhere, we just had to get the fuck out of there so we're on the road."

"What happened?"

"A fucking massacre is what happened," he said, making my eyes go wide. "I don't even know what the hell is going on. We split up our stay in two different hotels because I wanted to pretend I was rich and stay in a fancy place, but we can't afford the whole stay in a fancy place, so we had just gotten in the car to move to the other hotel and there's just bodies and blood everywhere. Thankfully, I didn't see whoever was doing it but fuck, Vi, there was blood everywhere and people were running around screaming. So we just sped out of town immediately."

"Shit," I sighed. What the hell was this, another shooting? "I'm sorry. I'm so glad you're safe. Are you okay?"

"Kinda shaken up, honestly," he admitted. "But we're fine, just glad the timing worked out. I would not have wanted to navigate that if we were in a casino or something."

He went on to describe everyone in a panic, how getting out of the city was hard because people were freaking out and screaming and there were bodies in the road. It all sounded horrifying, I was just thankful they made it out okay. I asked him what they were doing now, if they were headed home, if they were a safe distance away. I did a mental recap of anyone I knew around Vegas but most of the people I knew in Nevada didn't live in Vegas, they lived farther North.

"I mean, yeah, we don't have a lot of options, money kinda all went to that."

"You could always stay at my safehouse," I offered. "Isolated cabin in the woods, could be a horror movie vibe or a romantic vibe depending on how you set the mood. It's on your way home anyway."

"Oh," Alek said, his tone lifting. "That really pretty one right on the border of Cali and Oregon?"

"That's the one," I nodded. "I'll give you the code."

"You know... That actually sounds nice, especially after all that bullshit," Alek said. "We'll take it. I'll call you when we're closer so you can tell me the code."

"Okay, but you lose service right after the turn onto the dirt road so call before that."

"All right," he agreed. "Thanks babe. Oh, by the way, when will you be home today?"

"Probably not until after seven or eight, why?"

"I'm having groceries delivered to your apartment again," he informed me. "Don't worry, only microwavable dinners and supplies to make rice krispy treats and cocoa."

"You don't have to do that," I sighed. Alek would randomly send me groceries I would actually eat because all I had to do was stick it in the microwave. It wasn't the best food given it was microwavable dinners but it didn't matter, I only needed it for fuel, not to enjoy. I didn't have time to enjoy food.