Hello! I'm back from my family reunion at the beach - and it's true - I need a vacation from my vacation. Caught up this morning on some much needed sleep and I'm feeling ready to attack the day! (Maybe after another nap LOL)

Fran betas, but all mistakes are mine since I tinker up until the minute I post. Thanks to Dani, Ariel, and Gemma for prereading.

I learn all the hours by myself on the road gives me a lot of time to think. To dwell. To work myself up into a sweat-inducing panic. I don't know if this feeling of dread will ever go away. It was naive of me to think that distance alone could rid me of this feeling of always having to look over my shoulder. There are now miles and miles of desolate roads and abandoned highways put between him and me, yet I still can't shake the fear.

I have every reason to be scared.

I didn't think this through.

I think about the way I left the house we shared and wish I hadn't.

I had left behind the small trail of blood I had gotten when I stumbled backward into the glass coffee table, childishly thinking it would make him think foul play had been involved instead of me leaving on my own. I left without taking anything with me; if I had been a victim of some type of home invasion, I wouldn't have had time to run upstairs and grab anything to bring with me while I was gone.

But what happens when he goes to Rose? To Alice? What if he already has? He'll know they're covering for me. He'll know Rose would never rest easy knowing I was out there, missing from their lives. He'll know she would be the first one to start looking and the last one to rest until I was home safe again.

He'll know she helped me escape.

And he'll kill her for it.

I break down and call her two days after I've left. She tells me he hasn't reached out to her yet, even though this has been the longest I've ever been out of his sight for as long as I've known him.

"He won't," Rose insists when I tell her my fears. "That will draw too much attention to himself—you missing and me dead? He's too smart for that."

"I need to come back," I worry my lip between my teeth as I lean my head against the car window at a rest stop along the highway. It's a nice day, and I let the sun warm my cheeks, hoping it will help me stay awake for the rest of my drive for today. I want to put a few more hours of distance between us before I rest for the night.

"You know what will happen if you come back."

We stay silent for a moment after she speaks, both of us quiet in our acknowledgment of the truth of her words.

"Why do you think he hasn't come to you yet? Or the police?" I ask. "Facebook is quiet, Rose. No one even knows I'm gone."

"I don't understand anything that man does," she retorts, and I can almost see her eyes roll through the phone.

"He's planning something, Rose. I know it." I try to breathe my panic back down to a functional level. "He's never going to let me get away with this."

"He doesn't need to know I know anything about what happened that day. And he won't, Bella. Emmett and I are making sure all bases, yours and ours, are covered."

"Okay."

"Just keep driving. Keep looking forward."

I repeat what she says to me over and over. With each passing mile, I become a little more comfortable with my new life.

But, just to be safe, I drive past the destination I had planned on stopping at tonight and push through a few more hours.

Just to be safe.

Thank you so much for reading and for your reviews! See you tomorrow!