I took a deep breath and cleared my mind as I tried to calm myself to try and figure out what all I was okay with telling him. I decided to just tell him about basically everything about clay and the abxse and running away.

“It was really hard actually leaving. For the longest time I felt like that was going to be all I knew because I cared for him so much and he always told me he was going to change. When I was attacked by someone at the bar and he accused me of cheating and attacked me, that was my last straw. That day Clay broke me for the last time.”

He put his hand on my arm and squeezed lightly, “I am so sorry you had to deal with that. Do you think that he is still looking for you?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure but I am too afraid to even really think about it.” I ran one of my hands through my hair trying to fight back tears, “I know you are probably thinking, how can a guy my size with the profession that I had be so afraid of him and run away like a scared puppy.” My sight started to get blurry and I felt a single tear run down my face.

“Oh Corey no honey, I do not think that at all. You loved him and never thought he would do something like that. And from what you have told me and the kindness you have shown me, I do not think you would ever lay a finger on someone you care about.”

I finally pulled into my driveway and stopped the car and finally just let it all out. Finally talking to someone and not bottling up all my fears and emotions just all erupted into hard gasping sobs.

I covered my face with my hands and tried to stifle my loud sobs. I heard Louie unbuckle his seatbelt and he shifted to look at me. He lightly grabbed my hand and tried to get me to look at him, “I know it is hard but crying is good. Keeping all of that secret must have been so hard and scary. There is nothing wrong in confiding in people around you with what you are going through, that is what friends and family are for.”

He put his delicate hand on my face and wiped away some of my tears. “Unfortunately I had no one but Clay back then. All of my friends were his friends and he was in the closet. I never would have outed him. That would have been worse than him hitting me.”

Louie shook his head at me and pulled me in for a tight hug, “You are not a bad person. I know this for certain. If you need to talk about anything, just like you are here to listen to me, I am here to listen to you. I want to try and help you work through what happened to you.”

I nuzzled my head into his chest and heaved trying to steady my breathing so I could calm down. “I would really appreciate that, but I think we should worry about you right now. I am no longer in any danger and Clay is not a threat to me anymore.”

“If you think that is what you want to focus on, we can. But remember if you have anything that is bothering you, I am just a phone call away.” 

We separated and looked at each other. He was smiling at me through a few tears of his own. I wiped off his face and sniffled, “Enough of that for now. Lets get inside and maybe get you out of these dirty clothes.”

He looked down at himself and chuckled, “Yeah I guess I forgot to ask Noelle to bring me fresh clothes. I must smell awful.” He pulled his flannel up to sniff it and scowled.

I chuckled and shrugged, “Nahh, I think you are fine. I have smelled some really rank people and you smell just fine to me."

“Oh lord. I do not wish to smell those people because I smell awful.”

We both got out of the car and walked up the sidewalk to the house but something on the porch made me stop in my tracks.

Sitting there in front of my door was a large box with Louies name on it. We both walked up to it cautiously, “Louie?” I asked crouching down, inspecting it closer, “Did you tell anyone that you would be coming back to my house?”

He let out a small whimper and shook his head, “N-no. I haven’t even told Ma that I was out of the hospital yet. Do you think I should call Cleesworth and have him take a look at it?”

I stood up and poked at it with my foot, “I’m not really sure how much help that crazy officer would be with something like this. Hxll, he still thinks Abigale killed herself. And I just don’t quite like the guy.”

He chuckled nervously and bent over and picked up the box, “I suppose so. This handwriting does look familiar but I’m not sure why.”