Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
“They’ll be okay with me coming?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said before I could even finish speaking. “Trust me. They’re a really welcoming crew.”
“What is the town like?” I asked. “I’ve really only ever been to Arkansas and Oklahoma,” I admitted, trying not to feel embarrassed about my lack of traveling. Work and money just never allowed me to stray far from my hometown.
“It’s not like the California you see on TV,” he warned. “We’re far from the coast. Completely landlocked. And the clubhouse practically backs up to the Death Valley mountains. It’s a very small, not very populated town. Oh,” he said, tensing a bit over what he just thought of.
“What is it?” I asked.
“It’s a prison town,” he admitted. “Meaning, there’s a big prison set back from the town a bit. It used to be a factory town. Then the factory shut down, and all the jobs dried up. Most of the people left. But the prison was built, and created work in the area again, so the town is coming back a bit. I just thought you might want to know that part.”
“That… doesn’t bother me,” I decided. At least those bad guys were locked up, right? Not like my captor and his friends, out to roam free and hurt whoever they wanted to with no repercussions.
“I just didn’t want you to go there without knowing all the details.”
“I appreciate that,” I said.
Though, honestly, what choice did I have? If I wasn’t going to go to the police with my issues, what other path could I take but to go with him? I had no home, no family, no job, no way to get back on my feet.
I distinctly remember checking my bank account balance on the day I’d been abducted, hemming and hawing if I could splurge on one of those fancy frozen coffees or not. I never got to make that decision, as it would turn out. But I still remembered that I had less than a hundred dollars in my account to get me to my next paycheck, four days from then. Sure, I imagine my last paycheck had been put into that account, but that was only a couple more hundred. Not enough to start over.
I needed to go with Riff.
He would give me a chance to get back on my feet.
I didn’t even know what that would look like.
I didn’t even feel like any of this was truly real, to be honest. Riff, and now Vernon, were the only tangible things anchoring me to this reality. Where I was free. Where my stomach was full and no one was going to come in to abuse me anymore.
I couldn’t fathom what it would be like to have things together enough to get up every day, go to work, do chores, exercise, prepare meals, have a social life, all the things that made, well, a life.
“You alright?” Riff asked, head tipped to the side as he watched me.
“Fine.”
“Darlin’…”
“I was just… thinking about how I don’t know how I am going to start over.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know, get a job, an apartment, friends…”
“Vienna,” Riff said, his voice a soft caress over frazzled nerves. “The only thing you have to think about right now is healing, getting healthy. That’s it.”
“I can’t just mooch—“
“Yeah, I’m gonna stop you right there,” he said. “You’ve been through hell, darlin’. You can take as much time as you need to get back on your feet. Months, years, everyone will understand.”
“But—“
“What’s the main concern here?” he asked.
“I have no money,” I started.
“I have money. You can have as much of it as you want.”
“I can’t take your money.”
He completely ignored that.
“What else?”
“I don’t have a place to live.”
“You do.”
“I can’t live in the clubhouse forever.”
“You can stay as long as you want. But if you don’t feel comfortable there, I’ll get you an apartment.”
“You can’t just—“
“How about I decide what I can do to help you, okay?” he asked. “You don’t have anything to worry about when it comes to a roof and food and bills.”
“People don’t just pay for other people’s bills,” I insisted.
“Sure they do. I have no living expenses, Vienna,” he leveled with me. “I get a salary, but I live at the clubhouse or on the road, which is paid for by the club. I have plenty of money to spend however I want to. This is how I want to spend it.”
I believed he meant that. I truly did. The thing was… for how long? He was feeling protective because he’d saved me, because we’d bonded by surviving together in the woods.
But, eventually, his life would open up and expand again. Leaving me… where?
Sure, I might be able to take a week or two to decompress, but I would need to start making plans to rebuild my life.