Chapter 38
Sophie's POV
I sat glaring at my father from the passanger's seat of my father's rental Jeep. Even here, he couldn't be without a Jeep for 5 min. The muscle in his jaw twitched every now and then. Finally after an excruciating 5 min of silence, he broke the tension.
"You're a mystery to me, kid. Always have been, probably always will," he ran a wrinkled hand through his hair before replacing it on the steering wheel and tossing me a sideways glance. "You flip-flop. You're up, you're down, you're in, you're out. Right now, I can't begin to understand what you're going through. Heck, I ain't no woman, and what that man did to you..." he shook his head and blew out like he was releasing steam. "It's gotta be tough, that's all. And right now, I'd think you would need your family. When I got here, you were all happy to see me and now, you're practically driving me out of town. So, please, help me understand what's going on in that head of yours, cuz quite frankly I haven't got a clue."
I felt for him, truly I did. In the years, growing up with my father, I'd never seen him look quite so discouraged as he'd been over the past week. Then again, nothing like this had ever happened to one of his kids before.
"Listen, your Mom, she's threatening to take me to court if I try to take you from her. She thinks Florida is the best thing for you right now, but I can't say I agree. I want to take you back home with me where we can sort this out. I get that you're scared to press charges and try to find this guy, but right now, he's running loose out there somewhere and God only knows what he might do to someone else."
I stared at the floor away from him. I knew he was right, but I couldn't admit it, not now. Besides, from what I could tell, my "friend" already knew where I was and had known for some time. Perhaps Florida was the right place especially since I'd become so good at burning bridges around here. I thought briefly of my last interaction with Damon and flinched. I'd been horrible when he'd only tried to protect me, but again, that was half the problem here. I was being smothered. No one would let me just live. At least if I went to Florida, my mother wouldn't push. Yeah, she might recommend treatment programs and try to get me on board, but at the end of the day, Renee was a pushover and if I said I was done, she'd be OK with it.
"No," I shook my head, "Florida sounds good. The sooner the better." The texts I'd been getting lately were starting to get to me. Sure, I had a house full of vampires and a wolf to keep an eye on me here, but perhaps if I went back to Florida, I could throw him off my track and get my life back.
"What?" my father looked like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You can't be serious."
"I want to go to Florida and I want to leave tonight," I stated, firmly. While I knew the family would throw a stink over my decision, I also knew my mother would get her way in the end. She was my mother after all. "Just turn around so I can pack."
Without another word, my father tight-lipped turned the vehicle around and headed back in the direction of the house.