She holds the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she cruises down the empty road. It’s about twelve o’clock in the morning now. She would've gone to get Chris sooner, but she couldn't show up smelling like sweat and sex. Plus, she needed time to calm down. She broke down in tears as soon as she set foot in her apartment; all the pressure suddenly got to her, and she lost her mind. Now she’s numb and ready to handle this situation rationally.
The phone just keeps on ringing in Leah’s ear, still trying to get to Riley. This is the third time she’s tried to call her, and Riley still hasn't picked up. It feels like hours to Leah since she even dialed the number. If Riley doesn’t say “hello” anytime soon, Leah thinks, I’m going to flip shit.
Accepting the fact that Riley will not be answering, she hangs up with an annoyed groan and throws it at the passenger’s seat. She flinches at the sound of her phone hitting the door, and she frowns. That’s probably cracked now, she thinks, which only upsets her even more. Good going, Leah. She doesn’t even give the phone a quick glance; the last thing she wants right now is more stress on her shoulders.
She turns right into the parking lot. She finds a space instantly, and it’s not far from the doorway at all. She turns the car off and gets out quickly, leaving everything she brought with her right where they are. She makes her way to the entrance; at some unknown point, her walking pace slowly sped up until she broke into a jog. She didn’t know why she felt the need to do that, but it soothed her quite a bit. She could run for miles at the moment just to keep the feeling going.
She bursts through the entrance into the facility and continues her jog to the front desk. She puts her hands out to stop herself from crashing and grips the edge of the counter. She looks over at the guard. “I need to speak to Mr. Huertas. Now.”
He raises an eyebrow at her as if she’s crazy. “I-I’m sorry, but he’s busy at the moment. I can, uh, take a message--“
“Let me guess: he’s putting one of the For the Better program’s participants back in a cell.”
The guard stares at her, speechless. He’s not quite sure how she knows that, which makes Leah think he might just be new here.
“You need to take me to him now, or arrest me for kicking your ass.” She raises her eyebrows, challenging him. He looks to young, nineteen or twenty, so she can only hope she intimidated him enough.
She certainly did scare him. He gets up from his seat and escorts her through the door she walked through the very first time she came here. He walks between Leah and the cells and leads her down the row.
Such great security, she thinks. Just sound tough, offer an empty threat, and you’re in. Leah keeps an eye on each cell; she can’t remember which one was Chris’, or if he’s even going back into the same one he had in the first place. Finally, up ahead, she sees the exact man she’s looking for: Mr. Huertas. He orders them to close the cell. “I’m sorry, Chris. Maybe next year.”
Chris! Leah is very much relieved to hear that name. She came just in time. She’s unsure why they’re just now locking him up, though. He was probably being inspected and having the tracker removed. At least, she hopes they removed the tracker. She’s seen him hitting the part of his arm where it was inserted. It seemed like it was bothering him a lot.
“Go to hell,” the Australian-accented voice says.
“Very mature, Mr. Hemsworth,” Mr. Huertas replies. He must’ve heard footsteps, because he looks right in Leah and the guard’s direction. He smiles kindly and nods his head as a hello.
