Ch. 53: Relief

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE:

I had felt like the living dead when I answered the door and saw Jake there. I felt frozen but had the urge to run into his arms. Suddenly it was already happening. I was being held and it was such a relief to feel something after all this time that everything came bubbling out of me. I don’t know how long I sat there in Jake’s arms heaving tears into him as he just stayed still. His steady, assuring presence felt like safety and it was like diving into water after being lost in the desert. I needed the release, and I needed it to be him. Jake had always been so da*n serious and protective, and that was exactly what I needed in my life. I felt so exhausted and so terribly unsafe every minute of the day that I wasn’t on the bus with him in the mornings, but this time, this private moment to just feel that care and safety wash over me was just… everything.

I was pretty sure I had made Evan and Nick feel uncomfortable, and I would’ve thought so for Jake too, but