Free Every Soul by LK Collins

honesty. I really do. Probably more than you realize, and I’ll respect your decisions, whatever they may be.”
    Her smirk is back as she glances at me out of the corner of her eye. “Thank you.”

    “She looks good, don’t you think, son?”
    I nod my head answering my dad’s question as we drive back from visiting my mom in Virginia. He reminds me of a little kid, hanging on to so much hope that she’ll make it through this without relapsing. I myself am more of a realist and know that a high percentage of alcoholics will relapse within the first year alone. I can’t imagine what that would do to him.
    “You’re quiet today. Is everything all right?” he asks.
    “Yeah, I’m good. I’m just lost in my own head.”
    “It’s an easy thing to do. Listen, I have a convention is Seattle this weekend. Will you be all right while I’m gone?”
    “Dad, I’m twenty-two. I’ll be fine.”
    “I know, I just worry about you.”
    And I know right where this is going. He’s worried that I’m going to hurt myself like Kinsey did. Well, that’s not me. It’s not something I would ever contemplate doing.
    “I’ll be fine, I promise.”
    He looks over at me and smiles.
    “Thank you.”
    I couldn’t imagine putting him through that pain after experiencing it myself and seeing what it did to both him and my mom. Resting my head back, I close my eyes.
    Then my phone vibrates and I see a new text from Arion. I haven’t heard from her since I dropped her off after dinner. I wanted to fuck her so badly that night, but I respected her wishes of no overnight visits and it was late, so I was a gentleman. Since then, I have given her some space.
    You doing all right? I haven’t heard from you, her text reads.
    Yeah, I’m okay. Handling more family business, plus I wanted to give you a little space.
    I don’t need space, Bain. In fact I need the opposite.
    Now I’m completely confused. How does this work? I can’t have feelings, we can’t stay the night together, and she’s fresh off of losing her fiancé, but she wants me all up in her business?
    Please clarify for me what you need, because I’m fucking confused.
    I need you to not fall in love with me or ask me to spend the night with you. Apart from that, I’m down for anything. I wanna fuck. I wanna see you completely naked. I wanna feel your cock inside of me.
    Are there other rules?
    No.
    Can we fuck other people?
    If you want to, yes.
    Jesus. What kind of girl says shit like that? This is something that most guys would die for. I’m not sure what to do, or how to handle her. I guess with my dad going away for the weekend, I could put the ball in her court.
    I live on 118 Riverview Terrace Way; I’ll have the house to myself this weekend. You’re welcome to come by any time you want.
    Finally, my dad pulls his Range Rover into the driveway and it’s never felt so good to be home and out of the cramped quarters of a vehicle. Note to self, no more road trips for me.
    “When will you be home?” I ask my dad as we walk into the house, noticing Velma, our housekeeper, cleaned it to perfection while we were gone.
    “My flight gets back Monday morning. I had Velma stock the fridge so you should have everything you need here. But please—”
    Cutting him off, I give him a hug to relieve some of his anxiety. “Dad, I’ll be fine. I swear to God, you don’t have to worry about anything. I won’t put you through that pain.”
    He looks at me with tears in his eyes. “I’m going to go pack.”
    Smiling, I flop down on the sofa and still wonder to this day how in the world Kinsey could have done what she did. I mean, the way she did it was easy, but still, it’s the fact that she did it at all. She had to have thought about taking her life for weeks, even months, years, and all along she was hiding it from everyone.
    I just feel like there had to have been so much more bothering her, to make her go to those extremes. Something deeper – but what? If there