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She looks past ht, Lance"

He corumpy and mutters, "What the hell is this Adams? Jesus My retriever does a better job than this" He snatches the tape from my hands where I have squished it a little bit

She is like Michelle She is ined I’ve created aa late-afternoon flight to see her parents and go over the final plan for theon her real birthday in a week I am scared to have to show theives elo out?"

I nod, "I think o to jail"

He steps forward, "I don’t care about jail"

I nod at the showers, "Let’s wait for hie room"

The look in his eyes is insane There is no way he can have a norrab the bags and pull him to the Tahoe

He is vibrating e get to the truck "Why is she doing this? What could she possibly want to hurt me that bad for?"

I look at his I want to say, "She is a bad person, Stu She doesn’t love you She doesn’t That’s not love That is awful I don’t even knohat to say about it, except that you need toyou along with the texts and trying to make you jealous, but I honestly think it’s done"

He opens histo say

I drive us to lances at my workout clothes, "Hello, dear"

I point at the truck, "Can he stay with you? He’s been through a bad breakup and we’re all he has"

Her face turns worried She opens the door, "Of course I’ll have Franklin make all his favorite foods"

I frown, "Where is Franklin?" She never answers the door

She sot to put in the order"

It rocery store

I walk to the door of the truck and open it, "Co confused, "What?"

My mom smiles sweetly, "Stuart, honey Come inside and I’ll ives o and see the Mastermen family You can’t be alone"

My s him inside, "We’ll pour you a nice bubble bath and you can relax, and afterward you can tell h and kiss my mom on the cheek, "See you toe but I know he lovesto me in every way, but she adores Stuart, as does my dad It’s easy to love him, they know none of his secrets

She closes the door, winking at me He won’t have time to feel sorry for himself She will drive him insane with her snobbery and bizarre stories of who caet to Chicago at seven and drive for their neighborhood Richard answers the door with a bea therateful and alive inside They even went on a cruise a few s h et inside, "Eli!" She wraps herself aroundand smile

I wish they had been the parents I had coh, they will love her and welco else My parents were so cold and detached They saw my failure They knew I didn’t protect her like I should have Helen and Richard are not like that

"So how is she?"

I smile, "She is blissfully normal It’s ridiculous how far she has come in the last few months since Christmas"

Helen’s eyes water and Richard inhales slowly as if trying not to cry

"Does she still want to see us on her birthday?" Helen’s voice breaks I can see the preparation for disappointment in her eyes I nod, "She does She really does We walk up the stairs and I start the explanation for hoill all go It was Jane’s original plan to be part of it, but she will have no part in this

"Will we finally ic"

They both gasp I nod, "Heart condition"

It isn’t so far froone froo with the last of the money she will ever see fro She would get jail ti whipped by his physician and taught to like being dominated I didn’t take pictures of the encounter years later, where I dominated her and fucked her I would hate for her to have anything she could enjoy

Richard passes me a cold beer It is the only house in the world where I drink beer, because I don’t have the heart to tell thee and she is no longer trapped by anything She is free and ready to meet you"