I reached for the candy bar and broke it in half before eating it. We ate in silence. I was afraid to try to talk to him. He wanted to know why I was doing this. He didn't think I should. I could tell by the way he was acting.

"He didn't know you were leaving. Didn't even have a clue. That sucks, Della. It really does. The dude's gonna take this real hard."

I stopped eating and stood up. "I can't think about that right now, okay? I need to think about other things. Not that. It's what was best for him. That's all I can tell you. Please, let's not talk about it."

Tripp let out a weary sigh, then nodded. "Fine. We won't talk about it. Not right now, anyway. Eat some worms, they're good for you," he said with a smirk as he pushed the bag of gummy worms toward me.

"I'm not hungry." I wasn't. I felt sick now.

"Fine. I'll take this with us. You'll get hungry again soon. You barely ate anything."

"Can I use your phone to call my friend Braden?"

Tripp nodded and pulled his phone out of his pocket to hand it to me.

"Thanks," I replied as I took it from him.

I walked far enough away that he wouldn't hear me. I was going to lie to Braden some, if only to keep her from telling Woods the truth.

Dialing her number, I held my breath, hoping that I could find a way to tell her and make it believable. She would go straight to Woods with my location and reason for leaving if she knew the truth.

"Hello?" Braden's voice sounded curious. She didn't recognize the number.

"It's me," I said into the phone.

"Della? Where are you?"

"I'm traveling the world. Living life. Woods's life isn't what I want for myself. I need adventure."

Braden didn't respond. She was thinking. I knew the look on her face even though I couldn't see it.

"What happened? Stop bullshitting me and tell me where you are and what's wrong." I was a horrible liar and Braden knew me better than anyone.

"I'm traveling. I'm not alone and I'm okay. I just need some time. I'll check in when I can but I need time to move on from things. This is why I got in your car and took off to begin with, anyway. Woods changed that but it was only temporary. I need to do this for me."

"I'm still calling bullshit. I don't believe you but I won't push. Call me when you can, and be safe. Can I trust who you're with to keep you safe?"

"Yes," I replied.

"You won't tell me who it is?"

"No. I need you to not tell Woods that you talked to me. Tell him nothing. He will come after me and I don't want him to."

Braden let out a small growl of frustration. "He loves you, Della," she said.

"And I love him. But it's time I lived. I can't be locked up in that small town."

"I hope you're not making the biggest mistake of your life," she said in a defeated tone.

"It was the best chapter. I'll have more chapters though."

"I love you," Braden said.

"I love you, too," I replied.

"Call me soon."

"I will."

I hung up and walked back over to Tripp, who was watching me.

"Thanks," I said, handing back his phone.

"Did you have yours turned off so he couldn't track you?" he asked, standing up.

I nodded.

"Damn, girl. You didn't leave the boy a bone, did you?"

"Can we go? I just want to ride."

"Yeah, let's go," he said, and headed for the Harley parked near the table.

Woods

She hadn't left me anything but a note. She'd taken all her things. I held the pillow she'd slept on last night and pressed my face to it. It smelled like her. The sexy sweet scent that was Della.

How was I supposed to let her go? She didn't want me to find her . . . she wanted to live. This wasn't living for her. She had started out on a journey to see the world and she'd met me. Now she wanted more.

I'd hovered over her. I had tried to keep her safe and not let her do things she wanted. I'd controlled her job and what she did. She wanted to spread her wings and I'd clipped them. So she'd found another way to fly.

My chest was so tight that each breath I took was painful. I hadn't called anyone. I hadn't left my house for hours. I held the pillow closer and glanced over at the clock. It was after nine. I'd been home for five hours. How long had she been gone? Had she known last night that she was leaving me?

The look in her eyes as she'd made love to me had been different. There had been something in them that bothered me. But she had been so passionate and needy that I'd forgotten about everything other than the pleasure. If I had just looked deeper and talked to her . . . Instead, it had been about sex. When she had fallen to her knees in the kitchen, I was lost to whatever she wanted.

If I'd only looked deeper.

How had she left me?

Slowly, a realization came to me and I stood up, still holding her pillow. The phone call from Tripp. He hadn't made sense but he'd been trying to tell me. Motherfucker! She'd left with Tripp. She had called him and he had come for her.

The pain slowly started heating up as anger---no, fury---consumed me. She had left with Tripp. He had taken her from me. His call wouldn't have made sense to anyone. It had been his way of being able to say he had warned me when he knew I wouldn't understand him.