"We will never know the love of a parent until we become parents ourselves." --- Henry Ward Beecher
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'Yes. I'm going to see my parents, Lexi and Scott Merchant. Can you drop me off? Please? I have no idea where to go from here,' I say to Jayden Price. The tattooed guy.
The hot tattooed guy.
He looks at me and suddenly smirks. The whir and hum of the engine is the only thing I can hear, and an occasional howl in the distance from a feral animal.
Jayden leans in closer to me and looks right into my eyes - not with intensity, like Archer - with something wild. Excitement? Eagerness?
Dominic Archer's hair was bronze-gold but Jayden's hair is a cleaner colour. It's dull blonde and straight, not slightly curly. Jayden's brown eyes, so far, seem to be filled with playfulness.
'What will I get?' he asks.
'Um... my gratitude?' I mumble.
He sighs.
'Oh come on. My amazing navigation skills are going to be used. Plus, all that petrol and an air-conditioned car? Surely you can give me something else?' he says misceiviously.
I sigh.
What do I possibly have to offer?
'What would you like?' I ask him.
He glances at my lips.
'A kiss.'
I freeze.
A kiss?
'W-what?' I whisper, my eyes wide, heart in my throat and thoughts all jumbled up.
He leans back and gets comfortable in his seat, looking right ahead, driving out of the edge of the forest to a rural place.
'Yep. A kiss. So, anyways. I was wondering, how long has it been since you last saw your parents?' he asks casually.
So casually.
He doesn't know how much it hurts.
The fact that he named my parents without a second thought... it's so strange.
People here, in this world beyond my old cell, mention parents like they're no big deal.
Like everyone has parents.
Oh, how wrong they are.
'How long?' I repeat his words.
A kiss.
A kiss.
A kiss.
'Yeah. Like, when you were off at the army,' he says.
And I can't take it anymore.
It's too much.
'I was never in the army. I despise that place,' I tell him, and he gives me a confused look as he continues driving ahead. I can see nothing up ahead. It's too dark and they're no lights.
'What do you mean?' he asks.
I don't know why I'm trusting this stranger. I have no idea why. But I am.
A kiss.
'I don't know how I got there. I don't know. All I know is I've been there my whole life. And when I was six, they locked me up,' I shiver and continue telling him.
YOU ARE READING
EVELYN (ON HOLD)
RomanceTRUE LOVE is when you fall for the soul before you touch the skin. ~ Dominic Archer had always been in love with her. But she didn't know. Thinking he's a heartless murderer, she escapes the social experiment she was a part of in the army base, in t...
