by Seven Steps
I released Cassia’s hand and placed both hands on the wheel, tightening them until my knuckles were white.
“I didn’t ask you those things to upset you,” she said. “I asked them to remind you of who you’re fighting for. I figured that if you thought of them, you wouldn’t give up.”
We stopped at a red light, and I closed my eyes, squeezing back the tears.
“It’s so hard not to give up,” I whispered. “I know I said I’d fix this but, honestly, I have no idea how I’m going to do that. And if I don’t have any ideas…”
My voice trailed off again, and I focused firmly on the road.
I had to keep it together.
If I didn’t, I’d lose everything.
Cassia’s hand went to my back.
“You’ll save them,” she said. “I know you will.”
I wanted to believe her. I was desperate to believe her. But one word kept circling my brain.
How?
24
We made it within two blocks of my apartment when I saw sirens. Lights that spun and whirled, turning the world red and blue.
People were standing outside of their homes in house coats and sweatshirts, staring down the block.
I pulled to a stop next to an older woman with rollers in her hair.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“There’s a girl missing,” she said softly, as if the police might hear her. “Some man came with a flood of police cars. Now they’re looking for her.”
Cassia and I looked at each other, then at the woman.
“Do you know who the girl is?” I asked.
“The policemen said she was a blonde, on the heavy side.”
Cassia quickly sank lower into my hoodie.
It was dark outside, and in the car. I hoped that was enough for the woman not to notice her.
I thanked the woman for the information, made a quick three-point turn and headed back the way we’d come.
“It must be my father,” Cassia said.
“But how would he know to look for you here?”
“When I sent the limo driver home, I turned off my phone. He must’ve come back to get me, and when I didn’t show up, he called my father. When my father couldn’t locate me, he must’ve called the police.”
“There are at least ten cop cars in front of my building. Maybe more.”
“Dad will call in the SWAT team if he has to. He won’t stop until he finds me.”
I let out a deep breath.
“Is your phone still at my house?”
“No. It’s in my purse.”
I nodded, a plan starting to form in my mind.
“We’d better head back to the docks,” I said. “Jeff will be back soon.”
“But we don’t have the money,” Cassia protested.
“I know.”
“Alex, I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I don’t want to get hurt either. But I have to go back. I have to figure this all out.”
She nodded and took my hand.
“Promise me you’ll come back safe?”
I couldn’t promise that. I couldn’t promise her anything because the reality of it was that I didn’t know if I was coming back from the docks alive.
All I knew was that I had to go there and try.
I squeezed her hand, not answering, and focused on the road.
The sniffling in the seat next to me threatened to make me turn around, but I couldn’t now.
I’d started this.
It was time to finish it.
25
When we pulled up to the docks, Jeff was already there.
Lindsey and Ms. Tuck sat on the ground, back to back, with their mouths taped and their arms bound behind them.
My rage threated to overtake me, but I forced myself to keep cool.
I had to keep my head on straight, or else all hope would be lost.
I pulled the car to a stop and turned to face Cassia.
“I need for you to make me a promise,” I said.
Her eyes widened. “Anything.”
“Promise me you’ll stay in the car. No matter what happens.”
“But Alex-”
“Please, Cassia. Please, please promise me.”
I saw the hope drain from her eyes.
And the rest of my hope drained with it.
“Okay.”
I reached over, hugging her tight, pulling her into me until I could feel every inch of her. I breathed in her hair and I memorized her scent.
If I was going to die tonight, I wanted my last memory to be of the way she smelled like a tropical island breeze.
Finally, I let her go.
Her tear streaked face almost melted my resolve, but I couldn’t stay with her. I had to see this through.
“Stay here,” I commanded. Then, I locked the doors from the inside, threw her the keys, and slammed the door behind me.
To face Jeff, man to man.
“Well, well, well, look whose back.” A sly grin spread across Jeff’s face.
“You knew I’d come back.”
“You got my money?”
I shook my head, keeping my hands in the air, and moving smoothly toward Jeff.
“No.”
He looked to the left, his jaw tight.
“I told you what would happen if you came up short on me.”
“Jeff, please. Let Lindsey and Tuck go and take me instead.”
“Nah. That doesn’t work for me.”
“Jeff, please.”
“How about I kill all three of you, right now. Rid the world of two more thieves.” He clicked his tongue. “And one sweet old lady.”
“Let them go, Jeff. Please. I’m begging you.”
“You brought this on yourself, kid. You and your sister.”
“But Ms. Tuck had no part of this.”
“She saw my face. Rode in my truck. Heard my conversations. If I let her live, it’d be a loose end that might come back to haunt me.”
“She won’t say anything. I swear.”
“Look, I’m a nice guy. I have a grandma. Sisters. Brothers. I know the importance of family. I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you all sixty seconds to say goodbye, and then I’ll kill all three of you, and take back the rest of my money. How’s that sound?”
“Jeff, please-”
“Max. Set a timer for sixty seconds. Then, call the boys down here to clean up a mess.”
Max nodded, then pulled out his phone and spoke into it.
“Set timer to sixty seconds.”
His phone responded.
“Roger that. Sixty seconds and counting.”
Fitting that the last voice I’d hear would be Siri’s.
I was an Android guy.
But now, it didn’t matter what phone I was loyal to.
This was it.
I had exactly one minute to say my goodbyes.
“Better hurry up with those goodbyes, bro,” Jeff said. “Times running out.”
I sprinted over to Ms. Tuck and Lindsey, ripping the tape from their mouths.
They screamed in pain, but only for a moment. I started working on their ropes.
“No,” Lindsey said. “There’s no time for that.”
I looked, wide eyed at my sister. “But-”
“Why did you come back?” Lindsey asked, tears streaming down her face. “You should have stayed away.”
“I couldn’t leave you.”
“We’re as good as dead, anyway,” she sobbed. “Why didn’t you stay away?”
I pulled Lindsey and Ms. Tuck to me. The two pillars of my world. Of my life.
“Fifteen seconds left,” Max called out.
There was no time left for anything.
No last-minute reconciliations.
No. Outpouring of affections.
No time to say our regrets or our fears.
I could only hold them and pull them close.
“I love you both,” Ms. Tuck said. “You are the bes
t things that have ever happened to me.”
“I love you too, Tuck,” Lindsey said.
“Five seconds,” Max called out.
I heard a gun click behind me, and I closed my eyes.
Death reached its cold hands out to me, gripping my shoulders.
With my life slipping away, there was only one thing I had left to say.
“I love you.”
The time went off.
I stopped breathing.
And then…
Sirens wailed behind me.
“Police, put down the gun, now!”
My head popped up and I looked around. We were surrounded by cop cars, each with a gun pointed at Jeff and his two cronies.
“I said, drop your weapons,” a policeman bellowed.
Guns clanged to the floor as Jeff and his men’s hands raised high into the air.
“On your knees,” the officer cried out.
The two men sank to their knees. It was only then that the officers came from behind their cars, guns drawn, and advanced towards us.
I didn’t know whether to move or not, so I kept my arms around Lindsey and Ms. Tuck, willing them to be still.
“Where is my daughter?” another voice cried out.
I recognized that voice.
It was Mr. Johnstone.
He stormed past me and stood in Jeff’s face.
“Where is my daughter, you piece of-”
“Daddy!”
Cassia bolted out of the car past me and flung herself into his arms.
The police slammed Jeff and his men to the ground and sat on their backs while they cuffed them. It was only then that I felt safe enough to stand up and pull up Ms. Tuck and Lindsey with me. I started undoing their ropes, anxious to have them free and in my arms.
“I was so worried,” Mr. Johnstone said. “Your phone was off, and the limo driver came home without you. I thought something had happened to you.”
“I’m fine, Dad,” Cassia said. “But how did you know where I was?”
“I tracked down your phone.”
“But my phone was off.”
“I turned it back on,” I said, standing up straight and stepping forward. Tuck and Lindsey were free now, clutching me, and each other.
“I needed help,” I said. “And I knew that you’d come.”
Mr. Johnstone narrowed his eyes at me.
“I came because I loved my daughter. Not to get involved in some drug dealer disagreement.”
Technically, he was half right. But I didn’t correct him.
Mr. Johnstone was angry and afraid. I knew the feeling. So, I allowed him to take his anger out on me. In some ways, I deserved it.
“From now on, stay away from me and my daughter,” he said. “I mean that.”
Cassia gasped. “But-”
“Not now, Cassia. Get in the car. We’re going home.”
“But, daddy-”
“Get in the car!”
Welcome to the fall out.
With one last look back at me, Cassia followed her father to the car and sped away. Leaving me with my mom, my sister, and a whole lot of police officers to tell my tale to.
I wonder if they knew how ready I was to talk.
I’d put everyone through so much. It was time to cleanse my soul and take a shot at redemption.
26
I’d taken hours to tell the police every that’d happened. From Lindsey taking the money to Jeff finally being thrown to the ground. They’d asked me questions about exactly where I spent the money. They called the bank and inquired about the status of Ms. Tuck’s loan. They’d even investigated the dry cleaners I dropped off my suites to. In the end, I figured I’d never see the outside of a prison cell again.
I’d spent money that wasn’t mine. Granted, a lot of it probably wasn’t Jeff’s either. Still, I’d done something wrong and I was going to be punished for it. I was going to go to jail for the rest of my life, with only my memories to sustain me.
At some point, between me coming into the precinct and me sitting in the interrogation room, I’d made my peace with my fate.
I’d done a bad thing and now I was paying for it.
This was right.
But it still didn’t make it any easier.
I pressed my forehead to the table and closed my eyes.
Goodbye, scholarships.
Goodbye, future.
Goodbye, seeing the world.
Goodbye, Cassia.
My body felt heavy and, suddenly, I was exhausted.
I wonder if they’d add onto my prison sentence if I fell asleep right here.
The door clicked open, but I didn’t raise my head.
I had no will left in me to move.
“Alex?”
My head shot up.
“Cass?”
Cassia stood in the doorway, looking like an angel in her white dress and golden hair in a top bun.
Was she really here? Was I dreaming?
She walked over to me, laying a hand on my back.
“Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
Warmth from her hand infused my soul, giving me energy I’d never felt before. I wrapped my arms around her waist and laid my head on her soft belly.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I whispered.
“I said the same thing.” Mr. Johnstone’s voice echoed through the room. My heart jumped, and I snatched my hands from their very comfortable position around his daughter’s waist. “But my daughter is persuasive. And, for some reason, she likes you.”
My eyes darted from Mr. Johnstone to Cassia in confusion.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
She smiled wide. “Daddy’s getting you out of here. You and Lindsey?”
My chest tightened with shock, then filled with relief. Gratitude. And joy.
“What? How?”
“When you have good lawyers, anything is possible.” Mr. Johnstone said. “Of course, you will have to do some community service in my office. I’ll consider it a payback for all the anxiety that you put me and my family through. And it will give me some time to get to know the boy that my daughter hasn’t stopped talking about since last night.”
I was so shocked by the whole thing that I could hardly speak.
“Thank you.”
I squeezed Cassia’s hand.
“Thank both of you.”
“Now, come along. There’s a girl outside who wants to see you.”
The energy that had seeped out my body a minute ago was now back in full force. I leapt from the seat and followed Mr. Johnstone and my girlfriend -I loved saying that- out of the police station. Standing in front of the station, next to a limousine, was Lindsey. She flung herself into my arms, and we held each other for a long time.
“I don’t know how this happened,” she whispered.
I grinned. “I’ll tell you later.”
She pulled away. Her eyes were red and puffy. She’d been crying. Still, her chin was set in a determined sort of way. She’d been wounded, but she wasn’t broken yet.
Classic Lindsey.
“Let’s go home,” she said.
“Yeah. Let’s go home.”
27
There are somethings that we were allowed to keep. The clothes, all except the underwear and socks, had to go back to the boutique, but the condo was still paid off, as well as my other investment.
Ms. Tuck was happy about that. No more mortgage payments to stress her out. Just the taxes, which Lindsey, with her new job as a receptionist at Mr. Johnstone’s company, covered. She and Ms. Tuck had never been closer. She still gave me the stink eye when I called Ms. Tuck mom, but even that was slowly fading away.
Ms. Tuck still worked at the grocery store a few nights a week. I wondered why, since her pension covered the bills and then some.
I got my answer a few weeks later, when Ms. Tuck sat us down at the kitchen table, and slid over two, laminated sheets of paper to us.
Our new birth certificates.
Alex Wells and Lindsey Wells were now Alex and Lindsey Tuck.
Ms. Tuck was no longer just our legal guardian. She was, officially, our mother.
The joy that flooded my heart was indescribable.
All this time our family had been so broken.
Now, it was finally coming together.
“Well, I guess now I can’t say you’re just keeping us for the foster checks,” Lindsey said.
“Honey, if I just kept you for the check, I would have given you back long ago.” She chuckled. “There was no check worth that mouth.”
“So why did you keep me?”
She put her hand over Lindsey’s. “Because you and your brother needed someone to love you. And I needed someone to love. And love is patient and kind. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.”
“Love never fails.” I added.
Lindsey gave Tuck a watery smile, and the two best women in my life threw their arms around each other, laughing and crying.
Just like mother and daughter.
A tear might have escaped my eyes too, but I wiped it away before anyone could see.
I held my paper up to the kitchen light and gazed at it.
Alex Tuck.
Warmth filled my heart.
Yeah. I liked the sound of that.
28
I slid into math class, next to the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen.
She smiled and tilted her chin up for a kiss. I loved it when she did that. And I kindly obliged.
“You’re late,” Cassia said.
“I was running an errand.”
“This early?”
“It was a very important errand.”
“A legal errand, I hope.”
“Always legal, my dear. Always legal.”
I opened my math book, and she opened hers. Beneath the table, our hands clutched each other’s. It felt like my entire body started where our hands touched. All the heat and hope and joy that came from Cassia poured into me.
I was never as happy as when I was next to Cassia.
This was peace.
That’s what Cassia was.
My peace.
She slid out a sheet of paper and wrote, Television Shows starting with the letter F.
Right off the bat, I thought of three. I should have won this game, but I let her win. Yeah, I liked winning against her, but nothing felt as good as happy Cassia kisses when she won. I was probably setting myself up for a lifetime of losing games, but I didn’t care. Just being with Cassia was more than worth it.
