I Want To Be Free

23. Death And Reunion

[Awesome cover on the side made by the lovely @BAMbooks!]

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CHAPTER | TWENTY-THREE

"What the hell were you thinking?! Oh my god, I can't even explain what I feel right now. You are grounded! From now on, you are to stand by my side twenty-four seven! You are not allowed to be alone without me. I don't care what it is; you are not allowed to be alone, got it? I ought to buy a tracking device just so I can keep an eye on you. Goodness, how could you be so stupid and reckless?!"

"Are you done yet?" I asked, keeping my arms folded tightly across my chest.

Max flared his nostrils, his face flushed with anger and hands clenched at his sides. "No, I'm not done! Don't interrupt me when I'm yelling here! Do you realize what you have done?! Not only is dad after you, the fucking police are after you, too! Do you have any idea how close your damn secret was spilled right in front of Joselyn, Danny, and Mandy? It was this close, Kelly! This close!" He pinched his fingers together, leaving only a tiny space between.

He sighed loudly, running his hands through his hair as he paced around the area of the woods. We sat outside with the moon shining down on us and thankful it wasn't as hot as it was during the day.

I had hid from Max the whole day when he first arrived. I didn't want to be alone knowing Max was going to blow up on me the moment he had me cornered. But when Danny wanted cereal, Max took the opportunity and snatched me away when I least expected.

I sighed. "Look, I know you are mad—"

"That's an understatement." He cut me off, scoffing.

"—and you have every right to be," I continued like if wasn't interrupted, "But look on the bright side! I saved Lucas from father!"

Max pinched the bridge of his nose, taking big deep breaths. "I know," He said quietly, "I know you saved him, but why didn't you tell me that Jasper was in New York?"

"I met him in the bathroom. How was I supposed to tell you that he was in the city? Send you a sibling telepathic message? That doesn't work, Max. Not unless if we were twins. 'Sides, we are all alive. Lucas is okay. Jasper is okay. I'm okay. Everything turned out okay."

"You call being hunted down by the authority and have our psychotic dad back on our trail okay?"

"Aside from that, everyone is okay. No one got seriously injured. And we now got Hunter with us. We should be okay, Max. That's what counts."

"But for how long? Kelly, you are wanted and there is no more running from the police and dad. They are just going to come from left to right. How the hell are we supposed to escape from this one?"

I slowly shook my head. "I don't know, Max. I don't know."

Max sighed, running his hand down his face. I could tell he was already stressed with the way he had bags under his eyes, his posture slightly off than the usual. And I didn't blame him. He was stressing over my lapse of concentration. I should had paid attention to the damn cameras, paid attention that I was in public.

I sighed, wrapping my arms around myself tighter and looked down at my feet. I honestly didn't know what to do, where to run, or how to protect my loved ones. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't curl myself up in ball and beat myself over my mistakes. What was done was done. I couldn't change it, no matter how much I wished I could.

I was fucked. If I ran, I could get caught either by my father, or the police. I couldn't tell which was worse. I had nowhere to run. I didn't know many people and while I'm grateful for Hunter's help, I knew it wouldn't last long. The reason why he was helping me, of all people, was still unknown to me.