If Ivy Could Untangle Ch. 02

***Author's Note and Updates***

My sincere apologies about the delay! Who doesn't love the holiday season!?

Between work and a few international trips, life got too busy for me. Equally, I've been writing other things (non-smutty) and focusing on those stories for a bit.

I've been starting my New Year's Resolution a bit early, as I plan to write at least one or two chapters per week of anything I'm working on. Nothing is harder than starting a story from scratch, but there is almost nothing easier than pumping out chapters once the ball starts rolling.

I plan to keep more chapters coming out, especially more often. Again, apologies! But also, I will be returning to my One More Sunset story very soon, so if you read it and enjoyed the rewrite of Chapter 7, then be excited, because more is on the way!

For now, I just want to say THANK YOU to all that read these silly sexy stories!

Also, my email is in my profile if you ever want to reach out. Plenty of people reach out to say their thanks, but if you ever need a ; ) mistress to keep control of you, I'd be happy to stay in close contact.

Keep touching yourselves you sexy freaks,

Love you xoxoxo

Sarah

Chapter 2

"North," Avery said as I asked once more. "He lives north of here."

Since I had heard of this man, I began to refer to this stranger as, "North," until I would gain any new information.

We talked occasionally, but mostly we just trudged forward.

The weather had cleared up, but the winter was still cold. The winds had mostly rushed away, but we still shivered slightly as we walked.

While we didn't speak often, it was clear that Avery and I weren't uncomfortable about our morning together. She had been correct. There was tension between us that was desperate to be worked out. However, I didn't think either of still felt that tension.

We laughed as we told short anecdotes about whatever popped into our mind. Silence was as welcomed as a quick conversation. I would hum songs in between Avery whistling softly.

It would be easy for us both to say we were happier, carefree, or even jovial, but realistically we were only distracting ourselves.

Escaping the Manor had been difficult to say the least. Yet we still had mountains ahead of us that blocked our paths. Neither of us knew the next steps that were required, for we also seemed to entirely avoid speaking of what would follow.

Maybe it was easier this way?

We travelled alongside the highway, careful to stay with the trees, rarely daring to exit them. For most of our first day after our night in the hotel, Avery and I followed the highway.

Then I noticed a frontage road on the opposite side of the highway. It would appear occasionally during a break in the trees, but after at least three miles, there was no doubting that the road would continue following the highway.

So, we waited for a gap in traffic before we sprinted across the four lanes of potential death.

Getting run over seemed more appetizing than being spotted by the Doctor.

Avery had her eyes peeled, careful to note any cars that could have been the Doc's BMW, or any other staff member for that matter, but it was too difficult to judge the cars from so far away. Eventually, we just made a mad dash across the road and hoped we hadn't been spotted from a few miles away.

The frontage roads were much easier to traverse, and we found our pace was quicker too. We walked openly on the road, careful to move aside into the trees if someone happened to be taking the roads. Maybe twice a day did we encounter someone, but they never slowed down or seemed as if they were searching for us.

Along the frontage roads, houses would pop up regularly. More accurately, driveways would pop up, and they would have signs that shouted, "Smile! You're on camera!" so we kept moving. Sometimes a snarling dog would sprint to us and stop on the property line. I jumped at every bark, but Avery stood tall.

Originally, Avery explained that North lived only an hour and a half's drive from Redwood Manor, so she guessed it might take a day or two to reach this place.

We voted to walk through the night, exhausted beyond words, but hopeful for a finish line. As if her mind was a GPS of its own, Avery and I followed the frontage road until we reached a cluster of gas stations, fast food restaurants, and motels popped up.

A Casey's Gas Station was still open as we approached midnight. There were a dozen cars in the gas stalls, filling up in between yawns of their sleepy drivers. Truckers were pulled over behind the building, napping as a few women with six-inch heels made their way to each of the cabs, hoping to be invited inside.

We stopped outside the station as I asked, "I've got a backpack. Think they'll want me to keep it out here?"

Avery shook her head, "I'm planning on filling it as we leave. Hopefully whoever works here isn't too vigilant tonight."

We opened the door, and our hearts were flooded with relief.

"Welcome in," was slurred at us from the cashier, whose weight was being advertised as the price of a gallon of gas outside. He ate some candy as we walked past him to the restrooms.

I sat in the stall next to Avery and said, "Toilet paper is something I will never take for granted again."

"Grab the rest of your roll and put it in the backpack when you're finished. I've got mine already."

We freshened up and ran some water over our faces.

"I'll grab a few waters." I said in between scrubs and splashes, "You find some snacks. Try to avoid the sugar. It's all over my teeth and I'm hating every second of it."

Avery laughed as her grabbed a paper towel and ran it over her face.

"Don't you just miss the compound?" She winked at me, "I'd consider going back full-time to avoid stealing toilet paper."

I rolled my eyes and tossed my paper towel away. As I held the door open, I gave Avery the backpack and said, "I'll be outside. See you in a few!"

She nodded and slid the backpack over the front of herself, keeping it partly unzipped.

The store was mostly empty, aside from the behemoth behind the cash register and a few sleepy-eyed customers that pushed through the store without a glimpse to anyone else.

Within a few moments, I had the waters up my sleeves of the hoodie. I made my way outside and waited for Avery to follow.

From the direction of the truckers, two women that reminded me of the hardened uncleanable stains of old kitchenware drunkenly stepped toward the entrance of the store. I moved aside and let them pass me, but only one of them entered. The other stood right alongside me and lit a cigarette. A cold breeze ripped through us and I warmed my chest with my hands under my armpits.

As she took a deep draw of the smoke, she looked over and offered it to me with a hand.

"No thanks," I said.

She took another puff and blew it out slowly.

"You look like you've been through some shit."

I laughed, "You could say that."

The woman coughed through her cigarette puff. "You're pretty close to passing. I've met lots of twinks like you. Can I call you that? Eh, I always get confused on what I can and can't call people these days. Anyway," She took another breather with her cigarette, "You're doing pretty good."

I didn't know how to react. "Thanks, I guess?"

"Oh anytime, honey. You're voice is really convincing! I would have never clocked you if we were just talking."

"What gave me away then?"

She laughed, "You ever read Huck Finn?"

I shook my head.

"Well, in it, Huck dresses as a girl to try to spend the night in an old grandma's home while he is on the run. So, she thinks that she is a he and she spills something on his lap to see how he'd move around. The way he gives himself away is within his mannerisms, it's in those things you grew up doing because they felt natural. The only problem is, us women move differently, not by much sometimes, but in smaller, more detailed ways. When you walked out here, you warmed yourself up like my exes would have."

She moved herself in front of me and said, "When you warmed yourself up, your hands went under your armpits. Our breasts get in the way. Bring your arms up and warm up the outsides of your arms."

I mimicked her, and she winked at me.

Behind me, Avery emerged. She gave me a head nod and she started to walk away.

"Thanks for that," I told the woman.

"Anytime. You're lookin' really good. Just watch your friend. Notice how she moves, and she doesn't move. Think about what feels instinctive, and then see if your friend does it."

She winked at me again, and took a puff on her cigarette.

I moved away from her and caught up with Avery. She asked, "Who is the new friend?"

I looked back and the woman was staring away into the night, "Just someone offer advice."

"Was it any good?"

"I think so."

Avery opened the backpack as we walked, "I've got a few goodies in here." Not only did she grab some food, but Avery also grabbed a few travel toothbrushes, some toothpaste and deodorant. "I figured if I'm going to steal from a store, why not steal a little more while I'm at it?! It's not like that cashier was about to lift a single finger to do anything."

"How much further are we going tonight?

"As far you can push yourself." Avery brought the backpack over her shoulder. "We should be there by sunrise."

I nodded, and we started on the road again.

---

The suburb approached quickly, and before the sun could rise, Avery and I were walking down the sidewalks, looking for street signs under the soft glow of occasional lamp posts.

The air grew colder in gusts, but with each passing moment, the sun grew closer. Very quickly, light began to tear across the sky, all while the sun was still hidden below the horizon.

Little pink houses were planted in between modest, blue-paneled, two-story homes. The white picket fences ran from one front door to the next. Edged lawns met waxed hood ornaments, and those were parked on stone driveways that carried more money in each pebble than I might have earned so far in Redwood Manor.

Flowerbeds were dead and gone and buried. So, in their place stood inflatable Christmas decorations; colorful lights outlined the houses that I remembered from my childhood bedroom window, yet the lights were never on my house.

I prodded, "If I'm being honest, I didn't expect to your contact to live in such an... uppity neighborhood."

"Our parents were neighbors growing up." She warmed herself up as she continued, "We were thick as thieves growing up. Then after high school we sorta... fell apart. His name is Steven by the way, and he became some software genius and owns some big company out of Raliegh. The guy is only thirty, but he has enough money to retire already! He wanted to come back to a place like this and ditch the bigger cities."

"'Come back,' that sounds like you also grew up in suburbia."

Avery laughed. "Any of these houses could have been mine by the looks alone. But no, we grew up far away from here."

"Where was that?"

"Asheville. One of those little big towns in North Carolina."

"I've actually driven through Asheville a few times."

Avery rolled her eyes and said, "Whatever. Sure you have."

"I'm serious!" I insisted, "When I finished college, I worked for this delivery company. I drove through Asheville a few times to get on the other side of the mountains. It's a cute city."

She breathed in a heavy waft of the morning air, "Yeah, it really is.

We walked for a minute more before I said, "Steven sounds like a cool guy."

"He was. We both were. To be honest, he and I were on and off for... our entire lives? We were each other's first kiss. We went a little too far with one another after some school dances. Stealing beers from our parents' fridges, trying CBD gummies when we'd be home from college. Steven and I got into quite a bit of trouble. The last time I saw him was nearly four years ago." She paused before she added, "And four years ago, I met the Doc for the first time."

Avery and I weren't even remotely an item. We had fooled around together to release tension. Neither of us flirted openly. Nothing could even be interpreted as a spark between us. Yet, meeting someone she had a history with suddenly filled me with an unsteady feeling of apprehension.

I was about to ask about their falling out, but Avery said, "This is the street, Toledo." We turned the corner as Avery looked at the passing houses.

Halfway down the street, she stopped and stared at the house on our left.

"This it," I asked?

"No doubt."

She started walking up the driveway, but I stayed back and asked, "How can you tell?"

Avery turned and pointed around with her fingers. "Because we just entered a surveillance state."

Then I began to see the cameras. Two in front of the garage. A doorbell camera. A few on trees. The motion-detector light went off as Avery approached. I began to feel a strong sense of déjà vu. Somehow, I had spent weeks escaping from Redwood Manor, only to wind up immediately back under someone else's watchful eye.

There was no answer as Avery knocked. She tried the doorbell, and the camera dinged at us as she rang it. Again, no answer.

"Maybe he isn't home," I suggested.

"Oh, he's home." Avery pointed at the doorbell camera. "And he's watching us to see who it is." She knocked again. "You know it's me, Avery! I need to talk to you."

Very softly, the doorbell camera began to speak to us. A voice, far away yet clear and well-spoken, crackled out of the speaker, "Avery?"

"Yeah, it's me."

There was silence for a minute. No noise came through the speaker. Then another soft, "I'll be down in a minute."

The lock of the door clicked.

Avery gave me a look as if to say, "Can't believe that worked!"

She turned the handle and entered the house.

Yet again, a feeling of apprehension came over me. I stared down at the doorbell camera. I felt as if the black hole, the lens of some inanimate machine, was really studying my every move. I could sense the scanners, judging me for every thought I possessed, every action I could take, and every word I held back from saying.

For one more moment, I stared at the camera before heading inside. As I shut the door behind me, I heard the bolt turn over.

An electric feeling of dread pulsed through my body, and I worried that I had just unknowingly made a choice that would set me on a path that I could never return from.