Chapter 16
Lauren
After Rye left, I couldn't settle down. I paced the little bungalow like a prisoner in a cell. Every fiber of my being wanted to get the hell out of there. I felt danger closing in around me like vines from the jungle. The instinct to run was so ingrained in me. Bliss and I had always skipped town—whatever town—at the first sign of trouble.
"It's a big world," she used to say. "What's the point of staying in one spot if it's too hot?"
But aside from my natural inclination to flee, something else ate at me. That last conversation with Rye. It made me … ashamed of myself.
I'd accused him of not trusting me. I'd made him think he was to blame for my unwillingness to accept his proposal. The real reason was my horrible confusion about the news Bliss had given me. I hadn'
