Damaged Love - Jaxson Kidman Page 0,4

beach house or on the beach for the rest of my life.

That meant some big decisions needed to be made.

I could stay and keep going.

Or I could stay and admit I remembered.

I could play it off though… that I remembered everything except the accident.

I looked that up on my phone and that happened a lot to people. If they were in a terrible car accident or something, they’d come to and be just fine but have no recollection of the accident itself.

Why didn’t I just do that from the beginning?

“Because the accident wasn’t an accident at all,” I said.

I couldn’t do that.

But I could just leave.

Go back to the castle and make a new plan for my life.

Without a doubt I could call Dad and tell him what I wanted to do and he would support it.

Again… that wouldn’t finish what was started here.

I had this urge to stay.

Like I needed to stay.

It wouldn’t feel right to just leave. Like I was running from Noah, Easton, and Xavier. I liked them on their toes. I wanted to hurt them more. I wanted to make sure-

“Beep! Beep!” a voice yelled from behind me.

I jumped out of the way and turned.

Gia ran right by me like I wasn’t even there.

My instinct was to run after her.

My feet started moving but I stopped myself.

I gently reminded myself what happened the last time I tried to chase her down.

She was gone in seconds.

I had no idea how she could run that fast on the beach.

I opened my mouth to yell for her, but that was pointless.

She was gone.

And she had earbuds in her ears when she ran by me.

At the same time… what the fuck was the point of that?

To remind me that she could run fast? To remind me that she was still near me?

My heart climbed into my throat.

There was nothing I could do about Gia right now.

I turned and walked back to the beach house.

I climbed the steps of the deck and went inside.

There was a note from my mother.

She had gone out already.

And she wasn’t planning on coming back tonight.

It was nice of her to leave some money on the counter, but I still had plenty of money hidden under my bed.

I threw her note out and the doorbell rang again.

I let out a yell when I heard the noise.

All I could picture was Noah sending me more flowers.

But it wasn’t flowers. It had nothing to do with Noah at all.

It was Val.

Gia’s mom.

“Winter,” she said. “I was hoping to see you.”

“Me? Why?”

“I wanted to check up on you,” Val said. “Haven’t seen you…”

“Oh. Right. I’m fine. Just, you know, womanly issues.”

“I have a remedy for that,” Val said. “I wish I knew. I could have made you a drink. It tastes really bad but it’s worth it. Takes the cramps away instantly.”

“Oh, wow. Well, thanks anyway.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Val asked.

“I… well… how’s Gia?”

“Gia?” Val asked. “She’s out for her run.”

“Yeah. I saw her. This time I didn’t try to chase her. Learned my lesson.”

Val smiled. “She’s something else, isn’t she? And don’t mind her lately. She goes through her ups and downs. I’ve been helping her. Just give it time. She’ll come around.”

I nodded. “I hope so. I do miss her.”

Val sighed. “I’m sorry about that. Just be there for her.” Val took a deep breath. “Anyway. I just wanted to check on you. And, honestly, I hope you don’t give up on Gia. She means well. Don’t hate her.”

“I don’t hate her,” I said. “I haven’t been feeling good myself.”

“Okay. Good. I feel better now. If you ever need anything for cramps or headaches, I’ve got you covered. I love your mother but she doesn’t believe in my stuff. She’ll just take the pills and drugs and be happy. Which is fine. I just think there’s other ways around it.”

“Thank you. Again. Thanks.”

Val put her hands together and backed away.

I shut the door.

The last few days had been really weird.

Today was even weirder.

The weirdest part of the day was how lonely and quiet it was for me.

No calls. No texts.

No seeing my mother.

No other surprises from Noah or Easton.

No word from Xavier either.

Gia… Talon…

The list went on and on.

I sat outside and read a book for a little while.

I ate when I was hungry.

I drank when I was thirsty.

The hours moved by at a steady pace.

Like the waves of the ocean and time were linked up.

It was right about when I had that thought I realized