“Don’t worry about it,” I said, returning the hug. “I’ll make sure he understands the situation.”
Pulling back, she gave me a smile before laying a hand on Toby’s shoulder.
“Hey there,” I smiled at him. He had grown quite a bit over the months, and was now almost to my shoulders. His dark hair was cut and still slightly damp. “How are you doing today?”
He shrugged in answer, fiddling with the hem of his shirt.
“Having a bad day?” I asked.
“Most days are,” Melio said, pulling me into yet another side hug. “But we’re getting there. Just glad to have you back.”
“I’m happy to be back,” I said with a smile. I let my body lean into Melio’s, not that he gave me much choice as he held me tightly. “I’ve missed you all.”
“Well, you wouldn’t have had to miss us if you’d just have stayed here,” Melio declared.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I had to go find myself.”
“That you certainly did,” Melio said before letting me go.
“Do you want to go outside with me, Toby?” I asked him, letting my eyes stay on him even though he didn’t look my way.
He shrugged both shoulders.
“How about this,” I hedged. “I’m going outside to take a small walk to get a break from all these people. If you would like to join, you can.”
“What about Joshua?” Melio asked.
“Zach will watch over him,” I said with a smile. “He’s getting pretty good at that.”
“Huh,” Melio said in thought. “Never thought I’d see that.”
“He’s doing pretty well, surprisingly,” I replied.
With one last look at Toby, I made my way out the front door. Everyone here really only wanted to see Joshua, so I knew that I wouldn’t be missed. Zachariah would be the first that noticed I wasn’t in the house, but I figured someone would let him know where I went if he didn’t come looking for me first.
I had a feeling that Toby wasn’t a huge fan of all the people either, least of all with people he wasn’t too thrilled about as it was.
I took my time to go down each step once I was outside. I had no idea if Toby would follow me, but I felt it should be in his hands to take the step if he wanted to talk to me. I knew he wasn’t happy with me, but if Zach could forgive me for running, then I was sure that Toby would be able to in time.
The sun was out and already warming up the air as the minutes passed. It was slightly chilly, but not too bad. The grass was starting to turn a nice green color, and I spotted a few guards that were hanging around.
Of course, Zachariah still had guards around. He was a man of power, and anyone wouldn’t have thought twice about taking any one of us out. Just because Aaron was taken care of didn’t mean that there were no other threats out there.
I was about ten feet from the house when I heard rushed, but quiet, footsteps coming up behind me. I didn’t turn around or stop as I already was walking at a pretty slow pace. I had guessed that Toby would have taken longer to follow me, if he did at all.
Once he was right beside me, head down, I started to talk to him. It was what had worked before, so I hoped it would do the trick again.
“I really am sorry I left. I had to keep someone safe, and by leaving I could do that. There was no other way to protect someone that I loved very much.” I paused, thinking of how to say what needed to be said. Was there a way to say everything that needed to be said? I wasn’t so sure.
“I won’t be leaving again now that I know everyone I care about is safe,” I went on.
“Why did he want to hurt you?” he asked so quietly I almost didn’t catch it.
“Who?” I asked, not sure what person he meant. There were a number of people that wanted to hurt me. Some were deader than a doornail, and other would find out that if they did mess with me, they would wish for death.
“Your…Zachariah?” he asked, still not looking at me.
“He didn’t want to hurt me. It wasn’t actions, but words that really hurt, though. Zach didn’t want me to have something, and said some hurtful things,” I explained. “I didn’t agree with the way he said such things, and I had to leave to keep something I wanted very much.”
