Free FIGHT FOR ME by AJ Crowe

promise to come visit you soon. It won’t be ten months again, I promise.”
    Jess smiled. “Okay, sis. Remember to call when you’re home so we know you got there safe.”
    “I want to talk to Auntie Ivy on the phone!” Emma said excitedly. She seemed to be cured of her melancholy instantly.
    “You can definitely do that,” Ivy said, smiling. She would really, really miss them. “Love you.”
    As she started the car, she tried to stop thinking about how long it might be before she saw Jess and Emma again. As she left Paisley, her thoughts traveled from Jess and Emma to Lucas.
    She might never see him again.
    She drove down the highway with a cold, clenched heart. She didn’t want to leave Paisley. Every second that she drove farther away she felt worse.
    When she became too tired to drive, she pulled off the highway into a tiny roadside town a lot like Paisley. Same two street downtown, same single park, same low, well-maintained elementary school.
    Lucas. She checked her phone after pulling into a hotel parking lot. Nothing.
    The man behind the office counter had the same shaggy black hair as Lucas, and a tattoo on one arm that was not completely covered by his shirt. Though that was where the resemblances ended –the man was easily ten years older than Lucas and forty pounds heavier –it prompted Ivy to check her phone once again.
    Nothing. Just the time in big white numbers.
    She should really be in bed.
    “Cheapest room you have, please. It’s just me. One night.”
    The guy nodded and handed her a key after she paid.
    The room was tiny. The hotel was decidedly not a five star establishment. A skinny lady with a hoarse voice had asked her for a light while she walked to her first floor room. The room smelled both stale and like some intense cleaning solution.
    Other than that, it was really a fine place to stay one night. Ivy’s wallet thanked her, if nothing else.
    She was brushing her teeth, feeling alone and empty, when her phone rang. The caller ID clearly said “Lucas.” She rinsed out her mouth in record time. She picked up the phone before it had time to go voicemail.
    “Hello?” she answered, a little out of breath.
    “Hi.” His voice sounded good over the phone. Just as deep and smooth as in person. He could be a voice actor or one of those guys who made audio books.
    “Lucas,” she said, not quite sure where she was going but knowing that she had a lot to say. “Why didn’t you say goodbye?”
    He was silent for a moment. “Ivy—”
    “You’re not telling me something,” Ivy said. She was sitting on the foot of her hotel bed in her pajamas. “I know it. You tell me little tidbits about your past but you don’t want to tell me everything. Why? What could be so bad that you can’t tell me?”
    Silence.
    “You’re different than anyone I’ve ever had before. And I don’t know if that’s a good thing. There’s something about you that just… just… grips me but… but I’m not ready to give that up. I…” She trailed off. She couldn’t put what she wanted to say next into words.
    “Ivy,” he said again. She could see his face in front of hers; feel his soft warm lips against her forehead as he said her name. She felt herself begin to tear up. She hadn’t expected this huge rush of emotion when they finally talked again.
    “I know,” she said, cutting him off one more time. “I know, we only met each other like a month ago and I shouldn’t be this attached already but… I really fucking like you. And I need to know if you feel the same.”
    “Are you nearby?” he asked.
    “No,” she said. “I’m hours away.”
    “Okay,” he said. She heard a bit of static on the line. He had taken a deep breath. “Ivy –let me finish –I… I feel more strongly for you than anyone I have in the past. I’ve never been in a relationship like this. I can be myself with you. I think… I think I could tell you anything.”
    “Lucas…”
    “No, I’m not done. I need you