I continue reading...
After a thorough search of the residence, Josh Moran's body was discovered in the basement of the home. His body, badly decomposed, will be taken for an autopsy, but authorities have every reason to believe that Josh was, too, a victim of the late pastor’s.
"I can't read any more of this. I feel sick." I hand him back his phone and get up to get dressed. I feel faint, but I also feel this surprising sense of relief. As I'm unfolding my clothes to get dressed, my phone falls out and I remember that I had some sort of alert as well.
Turning it on, I see a text from Zed. I swipe the phone open and read it.
Z: You can stay in Redwood now. You're welcome.
There's a knock at the door, but we both completely ignore it. "Lars. Read this." I hand him my phone and pull my underwear and pants up.
His eyes flash to mine. Big and broad. "He did it. It was him."
Another knock has Lars walking over to the door. My body visibly shakes as I follow behind him.
The next few minutes are a daze as I process everything. Rick is gone. Rick is gone. And I'm free. We don't have to leave Redwood. I don't have to hide. Lars and I can still be together. Assuming that's what he still wants. I look over at him as he sits slouched in the chair, texting at rapid speed in his phone, while we wait for the doctor to come in. He's so strikingly handsome. Everything about him makes my heart skip and my knees weak. But, what if he doesn't want me or the baby anymore now that we'll be staying? Would I still ask him to go? I don't want to lose him. But, I'm me. An embarrassment to most. Unnoticed by many. Unwanted by all.
My soul aches at the thought of losing him forever.
The doctor comes in, but Lars' eyes never leave his phone.
"Good evening, Ms. Mack. I'm Doctor Shell." The polite older gentleman extends a hand. "I've had a look at your ultrasound and everything looks great. Are you still having the pain?"
"Actually, no. It stopped all of a sudden," I tell him, but I'm so focused on Lars right now as he stands up and walks out the door without a word. "Well, what you're feeling is pretty normal. At this stage of pregnancy, things are shifting and making room for the growing uterus. Ligaments tug and pull and sometimes, they can be pretty painful. But, I assure you, you're baby looks great. If you have any more concerns, just give us a call."
A sense of relief unravels through me.
The doctor walks me out and I look up and down the hall for Lars, but he’s nowhere in sight. "I think my...friend is in the waiting room. Thank you so much," I say, before going through the exit doors. When I reach the lobby we entered in, I still don't see him.
"Excuse me. Have you seen the guy I came here with?" I ask the receptionist. The same one that checked us in. She points to the exit and rolls her eyes.
"Thank you," I tell her before walking through the self-sliding doors.
It's dark and cloudy and there's a weird mood in the air. A feeling of dread and the unknown. Lars has his foot kicked up on the side of the building and a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. This is the first time I've ever seen Lars smoke. Never even smelled it on him, so I never suspected he did.
In a state of frustration, I walk over and snatch it from his mouth and drop it to the sidewalk. The heel of my foot digs into it, extinguishing the red cherry. "You left me. Didn't even stay to hear what the doctor said." My arms wrap around me as the wind picks up.
"I knew everything was fine. Baby was moving on that screen. Heartbeat was healthy."
"You left me!" I shout again. The realization that we're having our first real argument comes to light, but is it really an argument if it's one-sided? Because he doesn't even seem to be paying attention to what I'm saying. "You know what, forget it. Just take me....just take me somewhere." I almost said home. But where is home. I'll never go back to that house. Still, don't have any money. I'm homeless. I'm pregnant and homeless. A stray tear slides down my cheek.
Lars glances at me for second, giving me that sliver of a moment while he takes a break from his phone. I guess this is the end. He really is giving up on me. "Hey," he drops his hands to his side, "what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Pulling my lips between my teeth, I pinch my eyes shut, not allowing any of my tears to fall. "Willa. I'm sorry. This is just really big and I needed to talk to Tommy and Talon and see what the hell is going on."
"It is big. But, so was this visit." Maybe I'm being overly emotional. Lars is right. This is huge. Zed murdered Rick and sent him straight to hell. Josh's body was found and everyone thinks Rick killed him. Maybe he did kill him. Maybe Josh was a victim, too. "You're right. The baby is fine. We need to find out what happened. Let's just get out of here."
No longer needing the wheelchair, we wait for the valet to bring the car around. Instead of shutting his phone off for a few minutes, Lars makes a call through his Bluetooth as soon as we get inside. "You cold?" he asks as the sound of ringing surrounds us through the speakers.
I nod and he cranks the heat all the way
