Page 22 of Pretty Little Shadow
"You can process while I'm here."
"I need to processalone."
The couch creaked again. "I think this thing is going to break if I keep sitting on it."
"It is, and you're avoiding the conversation."
"Am I?"
"Yes."
Darius made a noncommittal sound. "I might not be on board with you leaving for multiple days. I was thinking I'd just worm my way into your life. We can hang out together constantly. Do whatever you want. Go wherever you want. Kill whoever you want to kill."
"You have alife, Dare. I've seen it on the tracking website."
"I have a family. The rest of my life revolved around finding my soulmate. Now, it revolves around you."
My eyes widened slowly. In worry. Then in horror. "You want yourentire lifeto revolve around me?"
"Yeah."
"That's your plan? Shove your way into my life, become a part of it, and refuse to leave my side?"
"Yes?"
"No!"
"Look, I've got your phone. If you come back, we can?—"
I hung up and dropped Grayson's phone on the countertop, staring at it like it was a bomb that might go off at any point.
Grayson had already confirmed he was on Dare's side with everything that was going on. Asking him for help wasn't going to work out.
Darius wasn't going to be on board with me taking the time I needed to figure my shit out, either.
So, I was just going to have to vanish.
I found Grayson's wallet in the drawer he always left it in, scribbled on a sticky note, and stuck it to his phone.
Then I disappeared again, traveling through the shadows to a shitty motel in Monster Alley where no one would ever think to look for me.
five
DARIUS
Merrily handedme the sticky note, and I squinted down at the scribbled letters.
GTG
AFK, GL
"What the fuck does AFK, GL mean?" I asked.
"Away from keyboard, good luck," Grayson explained. "She's basically saying she's not going to answer her phone for a while, good luck with life while she's gone."
"How did she come up with that?" Merrily wondered.
"She plays a lot of online shooter video games."
