Catch-22 (Single Dad Romance)

by Brenda Ford

  I reached for the gun, but then looked back at Carl and hesitated.

  He was just such a pathetic excuse for a man. A pathetic excuse for a human being. If he fell off the face of the Earth – or took a bullet to the head and ended up in a shallow grave somewhere – someone like him wouldn't be missed. By anybody. He was a drain on society. And given his chosen profession, a cancer upon that society. A plague. The world would be better off without drug dealing scumbags like him in it.

  I pulled out the gun, and as soon as Carl saw it, he stepped back, hands in the air, a look of pure terror upon his face.

  “Whoa there, Elias,” he said. “If your plan is to rob me, you don't need to do that, man. I'll give you whatever you want. I just want to walk away alive. Just tell me what you want and I'll give it to you, man. It doesn't have to go down this way.”

  “Why?” I asked him. “So you can ruin someone else's life like you did Amy's? You deal poison, man. You're destroying people.”

  His face softened and his eyes shone with tears. “I have a daughter,” he said, “Her name is Sarah. I just want to get home to her, Elias. I just want to go home to my Sarah.”

  Of course he had a daughter. And I had no doubt he was ruining her life too. That's what scum like him did – ruined lives.

  “What kind of father can you be, huh?” I asked. “You can't be a good one, given the shit you do.”

  “I'm the best father I can be,” he said, still holding his hands up. “Since she doesn't have a mom. I try to do everything I can to make her life good and make up for her not having a mom, man.”

  Uh huh. Sure. Use my story against me. I had to give Carl some credit though, he was smarter than I thought. He thought he knew how to play on my heartstrings. But I knew he was full of shit.

  I clicked the safety off the gun, but hesitated. In the distance, I heard sirens. And they sounded like they were coming closer.

  Carl looked at me in shock and I returned his gaze, fury coloring my face.

  “Did you call the fucking cops?” he asked.

  “No. Why in the hell would I do that?” I asked. “I have a gun – ”

  Then it hit me.

  This was a set up.

  I had been set up all along. That son of a bitch set me up.

  Wiping my prints off the gun as fast as I could, I dropped the gun and told Carl, “Run. Get the hell out of here. Now. Go.”

  He didn't stop to ask any questions, he just took off toward the door. I took off in the opposite direction, but that's when I heard a gunshot. It echoed around the deserted old factory – and was quickly followed by the sound of Carl screaming in agony.

  I shouldn't have – my survival instinct told me to just keep running – but I couldn't And when I turned around, I came face-to-face with Jay. He had a predatory grin on his face and a gun in his hand. He looked at me like the only thing he wanted to do was put a bullet in my head.

  “Not so fast,” he said. “You had a job to do. And the way I see it, you ain't done it yet.”

  Carl was on the ground, bleeding from a wound in his abdomen, writhing in agony. The sound of his pained whimpering filled the air. He wasn't dead, but he was dying. Luckily, the sirens were getting closer. Well, lucky for him. They'd probably reach him before he bled out. It wasn't so lucky for me though.

  Jay raised his arm and pointed the gun at my face.

  “You're going to finish the job,” he said.

  “Like hell I am,” I said. “You hear the cops coming this way, don't you? Not even you can be that deaf or stupid.”

  “Of course I do,” he said. “I'm the one who called them.”

  Of course he did. I wasn't sure if Mav was behind this shitstorm or not – not with any certainty. This felt too smooth, too smart for something Jay put together. Which made me think that Mav was the one pulling the strings and that had been the plan all along. That the real plan was not to get rid of Carl – that would have been a happy by-product – but to get me arrested and sent to prison for murder.

  “Did Amy's folks put you up to this?” I growled. “I knew she wanted custody of Harley. Is this their fucking doing?”

  “Smart man,” he said. “Too bad you've already gotten your baby girl sent away to her grandparent's place. Oh, and your girlfriend is going to get a little visit from – ”

  “No, she's not,” I said, a smirk on my face. “So go ahead and shoot me. Pull the trigger, asshole. Because no matter what happens here, Amy's parents will never see Harley again. I've guaranteed that.”

  “Liar,” he said.

  I put my hands in the air and folded them on top of my head, intertwining my fingers – assuming the position.

  “Amy's folks don't get Harley and then Mav and you don't get the big payout from them either,” I said. “And who's fault will that be? So go ahead, kill me. Either way, I'm fuckin' winning, man. But more than that, my daughter wins because she won't have to live with those fucked up, twisted assholes.”

  Mav spoke up from deeper in the shadows of the factory, his voice echoing to us from the darkness like some damn malevolent spirit or something.

  “Don't do it, Jay,” he said. “Not yet at least.”

  Ahh, of course. Mav was there too. Of course he was. There was no way he wasn't going to be there to watch his victory unfold. He was like one of those kings in Medieval times who watched their armies fighting and dying on the fields below them, safely removed from even the remotest hint of danger. Fucking prick.

  Mav walked out into the open, gun in hand as well, and shook his head. “I'm so disappointed in you, Elias,” he said. “I had high hopes. Thought you might finally have grown some balls. But I guess not. Same old Elias – pussy to the end.”

  “I told you,” I said. “I'm not a murderer.”

  “Kill him and let's go before the cops roll in,” Mav said.

  But it was too late. For them, anyway.

  “POLICE! Drop your weapon!”

  The booming voice echoed around the inside of the factory and I watched as a dozen cops flooded into the factory, guns drawn, flashlights in hand. Jay kept his gun on me, while Mav turned his toward the police.

  I heard him growl as he squeezed the trigger. Shots rang out, echoing through the darkness. The muzzle flash from his gun chased away the shadows for a moment. Knowing what was coming, I threw myself to the ground and covered my head with my arms – a futile gesture, but all I could think to do in the moment.

  The sound of several dozen guns going off thundered in my ears and I heard Mav grunting as each bullet tore through him. He hit the ground with a wet, meaty thud. I looked up and was staring into his wide open eyes that were fixed and unfocused as he stared off into eternity. Blood seeped from his mouth and from the multiple gunshot wounds in his chest. A pool of blood was spreading out from beneath him and was slowly rolling my way. It was nauseating, but there was no way I was going to stand up in that moment. If I got Mav's blood all over me, so be it.

  I looked up and saw that Jay had thrown his gun down and had his hands in the air.

  “I give up,” he shouted. “I surrender.”

  Multiple voices were shouting at him to get down onto his knees and put his hands on top of his head. Jay complied, though he turned and looked at me and I could see an expression of pure hate and rage upon his face. The cops swarmed in and took him down, pushing him face down onto the concrete as the slapped cuffs onto him.

  I stayed exactly where I was, my hands up and over my head, waiting for them to come to me. It wasn't long before I had several cops putting cuffs on me, hauling me to my feet and marching me out of the factory. I complied with everything they said, not resisting, not so much as looking at them funny. I simply did as I was told. I hadn't done anything and they had nothing on me. All I could do at that point was hope for the best.

  As I sat in the back of the police car, I knew I could very well be in trouble. I was in a bad place at a bad time and shit went sideways. And I knew everything that happe
ned in that factory could be bad for me. Could be bad enough to cost me my daughter. But at the very least, I also knew she was still alive and well, and there was no way Amy's family would ever put their hands on her.

  No matter what, she and Paige were safe. And that was all that mattered to me in that moment.

  ooo000ooo

  Earlier that day

  Paige slid off her desk and wiggled back into her panties. She was so sexy and I felt the stirrings deep within me again. If she'd given me a couple more minutes, I might have just taken her right then and there one more time.

  But we didn't have time for that. The clock was ticking and I needed to get some things squared away. Quickly.

  “We still need to talk about Harley,” I said.

  “What about her?” Paige asked, growing concerned.

  “You know that trouble I'm caught up in?” I asked. “Well things are about to get very bad. And I'm afraid you're already caught up in it too. It's my fault for getting involved with you in the first place and dragging you into my shit. I'm sorry for that. For everything. ”

  I sighed and then told Paige everything. I held nothing back. I told her everything from Mav blackmailing me, to Amy's parents, to how they were watching her.

  “We need to get you out of here,” I said.

  “And Harley too?” she said, her voice rising in fear.

  “Yes, please,” I said. “You're the only person I trust with my daughter, and if I don't survive – ”

  “Don't say that,” she said, wiping at her eyes. “You will survive. You'll find a way, you have to. Your daughter needs you. I need you.”

  “Just in case,” I said, reaching for her hands.

  “Just in case,” she said. With a dry laugh, she said, “You know, I always said I wanted to get out of here, but I never thought it was possible. And this wasn't quite what I'd had in mind.”

  “You have to leave everything, Paige. Your job, everything,” I said. “I don't know how this is all going to shake out, but I need to know you and Harley are safe. That they can't touch you.”

  “I know,” she said. “And trust me, it's going to kill me. But if it'll keep Harley safe, I'll do it.”

  Kissing her hand, I thanked her with all of my heart.

  “They're after me too, right? So I guess I need to leave to be safe anyway,” she said.

  “I'm sorry.”

  “It's not your fault, you tried to warn me – I didn't stay away. I couldn't stay away.”

  “Still, if I could have avoided all this – ”

  “Then you'd have no one to take Harley,” she said. “Everything works out for a reason.”

  Of course, that would require a plan. A plan to sneak both of them out of the school without anyone noticing.

  18

  Paige

  Sitting on the bus, Harley asleep beside me, I wondered how I got there. Everything had happened so fast that my head was still spinning. I looked down at Harley with her newly short hair. She was breathing softly, sleeping peacefully. Not having the time to go by a salon, I'd cut her hair in my classroom – and I'd cut it short enough that she could have probably passed for a boy on that alone.

  But we needed to solidify the illusion, so her school outfit had been switched out for a tie dyed shirt from my class along with some gym shorts I stole from the gym class. Complete with a baseball cap, she looked like a little boy.

  It was a little extreme perhaps, but it was also the only way to sneak her out of the school. Of course, I had to change my appearance as well. My red hair was now temporarily dyed black, thanks to some paint I had in my classroom. It was messy, but it worked. A quick change of clothes thanks to the theatre department and I was a whole new woman.

  As we hustled out of the school, I remembered Chester, my cat. Because my place was being watched, I couldn't go back for him and my heart ached. But there was a key hidden for my mom to find. I couldn't text her and give her a heads up, but once she heard I was missing, I knew she'd go over there. She'd take my baby with her. She'd take care of him until it was safe for me to come back. My mom had a big heart and she knew how much that cat meant to me.

  It killed me to abandon Chester like that. But, it wasn't like I had a choice. I had to leave everything behind. My car was still in the parking lot at school. My apartment was still as it was when I'd left that morning. It broke my heart, but I knew that if things went badly, I might never see my parents again.

  Please, don't let things go badly, I thought to myself. Please, pretty please.

  I had to trust in Elias. I had to trust that he'd figure a way out of this mess – even if he didn't even trust himself to do it.

  Harley opened up her eyes and stared up at me, then out the window. Wiping at her little eyes, she tried to figure out where she was.

  “Where are we, Miss Cleary?”

  “Shhh,” I said, holding her close and looking around to see if anyone heard her say my name. Just in case someone had followed us. “We're headed somewhere fun. You're dad is going to meet us there. We're on a grand adventure, Harley. Isn't that exciting?”

  She nodded but I could see a look of concern in her eyes – as if she wasn't quite sure what to make of it all. But, that was okay, I wasn't sure what to make of it all either.

  Our grand adventure was going to take us to Mexico. Eventually, that was. We had several more hours until we made it to San Diego. And from there, if we didn't hear from Elias, we'd head down across the border. But hopefully, we were going to hear from him and everything would be fine. Maybe we wouldn't have to cross the border. Maybe we'd be able to go back home and get back to our normal, everyday lives.

  She yawned. “Daddy told me we'd be going somewhere fun, but he didn't say where.”

  “San Diego,” I said. “Ever been there?”

  She shook her head.

  “It's in California,” I said, trying to sound excited. “We'll be able to see the ocean.”

  Her eyes grew wide with excitement as she stared out the window. It was nothing but desert all around us at the moment. Nothing but boring, hot, desolate desert.

  “Not yet, silly,” I said. “We still have a few hours to go. Have you ever been to the ocean?”

  “No,” she said. “I've never been anywhere really.”

  “Well, that's about to change,” I said. “I haven't been to the beach since I was a kid, but I always loved it. And I just know you're going to love it too.”

  Her first time at the beach was a memory she should have been sharing with her father. Not me. There was still a lot of memories he needed to be there for. And once again, I felt myself slipping back into my little prayer, my plea to the universe that everything would come out alright in the end.

  “Why are you coming with us?” she asked me.

  “Because, well, your father and I are umm well, we're seeing each other.”

  Harley flashed a devious little smile. “As in you're dating?”

  “I guess you could say that,” I said, a small giggle escaping me. “Would it bother you if I date your father?”

  “Not at all,” she said. “It makes me happy.”

  “Good, because it makes me happy too,” I said.

  Two weeks ago, I never would have dreamed of dating a man with kids – much less one of my students. But my life as I knew it was about to change in so many ways. Was I ready for it? I had no idea. But either way, it was happening. And it was happening faster than I ever imagined it could.

  “Will you wake me when we see something interesting?” she asked me.

  “Of course,” I said.

  “Promise?”

  “I promise,” I said.

  She looked at me skeptically, so I crossed my heart for her just to seal the deal. Harley curled up next to me, pulling the baseball cap over her eyes to block out the sun, and fell asleep. Peaceful, calm and without a care in the world.

  That's how life should be for her.

  And I was going to do everything in my po
wer to make sure it stayed that way.

  ooo000ooo

  Harley was watching TV, but I couldn't focus on anything she was watching. I kept pacing the room, checking the windows, the doors. I was terrified that someone had followed us. I was also waiting for Elias to show up. The plan was for him to meet us here if it was safe for him to do so. We were going to wait a day or so and if we hadn't heard from him, we were going to head across the border and wait for him at our secondary rendezvous point.

  “Where's daddy?” Harley asked me again.

  “He'll be here soon,” I said and checked my watch again.

  We'd been there for six hours already. Although, truth be told, it felt like days already. And there had been no word from Elias. Nothing.

  I was starting to get antsy and fear the worst.

  I sat down on the bed and tried to watch Spongebob Squarepants with Harley. It was almost time for her to go to bed, even though she'd already slept most of the day away. I knew I wouldn't be able to fall asleep though. I was too keyed up and anxious. Every sound caused me to jump out of my skin.

  My entire life was on hold until I heard from Elias.

  If I hadn't heard from him by some point tomorrow, I was going to have to take Harley into Mexico. After that, Elias knew where to find us in Tijuana. All was set up and ready to go, if needed. But I hoped it wouldn't come to that. I hoped we wouldn't even have to cross the border. I hoped that he'd get in touch with us and we'd be able to go back home sooner rather than later.

  “Can we go to the beach tomorrow?” Harley asked.

  I hadn't taken her to the beach yet. I'd been delaying it because I wanted that to be something she experienced with her father. But the poor girl was growing impatient, and I didn't blame her. Having never seen the ocean before, she was chomping at the bit to go play in the waves. And honestly, I would like to go do that as well. But I also wanted – no, needed – to wait and see what was happening with Elias.