by Zoey Parker
I looked around, my head pounding every time I moved. “Uh, there’s a billboard on the other side of the road for a dentist’s office.”
“I know where you mean,” he said. “It’s maybe five miles away. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“And hey, bring backup,” I said. I had to lay down for a minute, to get myself together before he got there. “Bring maybe three guys. There were four guys total who beat me, and that Connor twat.”
“Fuck,” Mason muttered. I heard murder in his voice. I knew how he felt.
While I waited, I came up with a plan. I would go back to her mother’s—I might have lucked out, he might not have taken them anywhere. I didn’t remember anything after Ellie told him she would go with him. I wished she hadn’t, but I could see how scared she would be. He threatened to kill his own daughter. How sick did a person have to be to do something like that? There was no way she could have said she wouldn’t go.
Then his guys beat me again, and I guessed they found a way to get me into the van. I was too out of it to remember anything they did. I hoped they left my bike alone. I would have killed them just for wrecking it, if nothing else.
And then it would be a matter of finding Ellie. I had to find her. There was no other option. But how?
I must have gone in and out of consciousness for a minute or two, because before I knew it, I heard the sound of motorcycles coming closer.
“Shit!” Mason. Feet running to me. I opened my eyes, looked. There he was, and Hook, and Ryder.
“Come on. We gotta get you outta here.” Ryder and Mason helped me to my feet. I groaned, biting my tongue to stay quiet and conscious.
“You’ve gotta go to a hospital,” Hook said. He looked horrified.
“Do I look that bad?” I joked. I took a step, then another. My legs worked fine. It was the rest of me that hurt like a bitch.
“Not too bad,” Ryder said, but his voice was tight.
“I can’t go to a hospital. He took them. Connor. He took them both.”
“No.” Hook looked devastated. For a big, crusty thing like him, I was pretty sure he might cry. “I was just with her! I was just at the diner a little while ago!”
“Yeah, well, while you were there, he was at her mom’s. Shit. We have to go there. Her mom was unconscious when I got there. She might still be out, or she might need help. Come on.” For once, I was willing to ride on the back of another man’s bike. I would only have done it for Ellie and Isabella.
We took off, with me giving Ryder directions and the others following us. I could only imagine what people in passing cars and on the sidewalks thought about me. I would look at myself when I got to Ellie’s mom’s, maybe clean up a little. The air on my face helped a lot. It cleared my head.
When we got there, the front door still stood open. I went up the stairs, while Ryder pulled his gun. “I just wanna be ready,” he muttered, nodding for me to open the door.
Ellie’s mom jumped. She was sitting on the couch, holding her head when I walked in. I held up my hands to show her I didn’t mean any harm. Her face went white when she saw me. “Oh God! What happened?”
“Are you okay? I was here before. You were unconscious.”
“I have such a headache,” she moaned. “And Isabella! Where is Isabella? He took her. I tried to stop him…” She trailed off, sounding like she was ready to cry.
“We’ve gotta work together on this,” I said. “He came back with friends of his. They have Isabella and Ellie now. And they left me for dead on the side of the road.”
“Oh God. Parker. Please find them.”
“I plan on it.” The rest of my guys came in. She looked scared—I didn’t know if she was more scared of them or of the thought that her daughter and granddaughter were in danger.
“You should go to the hospital,” she said, reaching for me. “At least go to the powder room to wash up before you do anything else. Do you need painkillers? I have some from a surgery I had last year.”
“Yeah. Gimme some of those.”
“You’ve gotta ride,” Ryder reminded me. “Your bike looks fine.”
“Yeah, but if I’m gonna ride, I need a mountain of painkillers. They never mess with my head. I’ll be fine.” I followed Ellie’s mom to the powder room. She took a bottle out of the cabinet, leaving it on the counter, and handed me a washcloth.
I looked at myself in the mirror and recoiled. Dried blood all down the side of my face from a gash along my temple. A bloody mouth, a bloody nose. Not broken, though. I could breathe just fine through it. I washed my face, wincing whenever I touched the washcloth to the gash. Ellie’s mom came back with antiseptic.
“Please, it’s the least I can do,” she said, wiping the wound with antiseptic-soaked cotton, then taping gauze to it. “There. You don’t want to get an infection.”
“What about you?” I asked.
“Moms don’t feel these things.” She looked me in the eye. “Find them. Please.”
“I’ll do everything I can.” I popped two pills, then she put the bottle in my pocket.
“Just in case you need them. I wouldn’t advocate riding while on these, but I know you need them right now. Can I give you anything else? You must be thirsty or something.”
I realized I was. “Yeah, some water, please. We’ll figure something out.” We went to the kitchen while I went back to the living room. The guys watched me, waiting for me to say something.
“I don’t know where to start,” I admitted. Ellie’s mom came back, handing me a glass of water. “Is there anywhere special he would have taken them?”
She looked up at the ceiling like she was thinking about it. “They took a road trip on their honeymoon. Connor was always obsessed with the desert. Said he felt the call of it or something, I don’t know. They visited a few national parks, that sort of thing.”
“Okay. It’s a start, anyway.”
“Yeah, a start in a state filled with deserts,” Mason muttered. “It’s like a needle in a haystack.”
“But it’s something, anyway.” Ryder stared at me. “What do you think?”
I was about to open my mouth and suggest calling the police again, the way I had before Connor came back, when there was a knock at the door. Ellie’s mom let out a little yelp when Ryder, Mason and Hook pulled their guns. I went to the door. It was an old man.
“You know him?” I asked, and Ellie’s mom said it was her next door neighbor.
“I wanted to call the police,” he said, coming in, “but I didn’t know what to tell them.”
“What happened? What did you see?”
“I saw that man putting Ellie in a car, with the little girl in her arms.” He looked like he could hardly see five feet in front of him, a thick pair of glasses on his face. I reminded myself not to get too excited based on what he said he saw.
“Did they say anything?” Ryder asked.
“She kept asking where they were going. He said the Petrified Forest. She repeated it. I know she knew I was watching. She wanted me to know where they were going.”
“Thank you,” I said, shaking his hand. And thank you, Ellie. Smart girl.
“Okay. That’s where we go.” The others nodded.
Ellie’s mom touched my arm. “Please be careful,” she whispered.
I gave her an impulsive hug. “I will,” I said. “I’ll bring them home. You, call the ambulance. You need to get to a hospital. You might have a concussion or something.”
“I’ll wait,” she said. “Have my daughter call me when you find her, and then I’ll go.”
I nodded, wondering if that moment would come. Would it already be too late by the time I found them? What the fuck did Connor have in mind?
I went outside, and Ryder handed me a pistol. “Here. Brought you an extra one, just in case.”
“Thanks. Those sons of bitches took mine. Oh, I want them so bad,” I said.
“I know. One thing at a time. First, we have to find the girls.” He looked grim
, determined. He turned on the bike, the engine purring.
“You sure you’re up for this?” I asked, out of earshot of the other guys.
“I don’t know. Are you? You look like you’re ready to fucking drop.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said.
“Then I will be, too. Come on. Let’s catch up with that piece of shit.”
I couldn’t agree more, and when I got back on my bike, it was with a pounding heart. Ellie. We’re coming.
The four of us headed east, on our way to the Petrified Forest.
Chapter 27
Ellie
It felt like we drove forever, yet at the same time, it went by in the blink of an eye. My brain whirred at a frantic pace, making it nearly impossible to hang on to any one thought for too long. Things went by in a flash. Panic. Terror. Confusion. And under it all a red-hot, boiling current of hatred. I hated Connor with every fiber of my being, point-blank.
I had to hold it all back for my baby. She sat in my lap, her arms around my neck. I held onto her, trying to soothe her with every lullaby and song I knew. “You wanna sing with me?” I whispered, brushing sweaty strands of hair back from her forehead. She shook her head, mute. She didn’t have any songs left inside her. I knew how she felt, but forced myself to sound cheerful anyway.
“What are you singing back there?” How could he act like nothing was wrong? How could he sound lighthearted, happy, carefree? The way a man would ask his wife and child what they were singing during happy times, when he hadn’t kidnapped them at gunpoint.
“Nothing,” I said. He didn’t get to know. He didn’t get to know anything about us, from the song I sang to what Isabella like to eat for dinner. Nothing. He had forfeited that right. I saw him frown in the rearview mirror. Good. Let him frown, the bastard.
I rocked Isabella, humming the tune to every song from Frozen. For once, I was glad she’d made me memorize it from beginning to end. I would do anything I could to calm her, to make it easier on her.
“Can you please turn up the air conditioning?” I asked. “It’s a little warm back here.” He obliged, which surprised me. I assumed he would want to punish me. I pushed Isabella’s hair back from her head, then fixed her ponytail so her neck could be cool. “See, honey? It’s gonna be real comfortable back here in just a minute,” I crooned. “And we’ll be just fine. Nothing to worry about.”
She shivered, though I knew it wasn’t from the cool air pouring through the vent. “Is Grandma okay?” she whispered, pulling me down so her mouth was close to my ear.
“Oh, sure, honey. Just fine. She went to sleep for a little while on the couch, but she’ll be okay. I’m sure she’s awake by now.”
Isabella didn’t look so sure, her eyes filled with trouble and fear. “I saw Daddy hit her,” she whispered.
“What are you whispering about?” Connor asked. I heard the edge of anger in his voice.
“About how you hit her grandma and made her go to sleep. I told her she was probably awake by now.”
“Oh, sure, pumpkin. I didn’t hit her very hard. Just enough to get her to stop fighting with me. I only wanted to take you because I love you, but your grandma didn’t want to hear that. So I had to show her I was serious.” I could tell he tried to soothe and reassure Isabella, but he had no idea how to. Once again, everything was somebody else’s fault. This time my mother’s, for trying to protect her granddaughter. I wondered what it was like in his head, where nothing was his fault.
I wished I’d had time to change out of my uniform at least, the polyester dress uncomfortable as anything. I didn’t like the way Connor looked at my body when I wore it, as though I were giving him permission to think nasty thoughts about me. My blood ran cold. I would never let him touch me, not ever. But what if he didn’t give me a choice in the matter? I clutched Isabella even tighter. No way. I couldn’t let it happen. Not while my daughter was around. I wouldn’t let him scar her like that.
“We’re going to be a family again,” Connor reminded me. It wasn’t the first time he’d said it. “You’ll see. We’ll start over after today. We’ll recommit to each other and be happy again.”
When were we ever happy? It amazed me how delusional he truly was. He thought we were happy at one point, but he was the one who was happy. He had a slave at home, in every way. I cooked, cleaned, did the laundry, ran the errands, and had to be available to him whenever he wanted me. I guessed it was when I made myself unavailable that he became unhappy.
“Is that what this is all about?” I asked, trying to make sense of a senseless situation. “This whole trip? So we can start over?”
“That’s right. We’re starting over where we started in the first place. On our little road trip through the desert.”
I tried to remember that time, but it seemed like a lifetime had passed since then. I was happy then—he wasn’t wrong about that. I had hope in those days. I didn’t know what my marriage would become, what I would become by letting Connor dictate my life. I didn’t know what he would turn into. No, he hadn’t just turned into that person. He was always there, waiting to be let out.
“Is Parker okay?” Isabella’s eyes were big, tear-filled. I didn’t know how to answer that one. She had whispered it so softly, Connor hadn’t heard. He was too busy walking down memory lane to pay attention to what really happened around him.
I tried to tackle the topic as carefully as possible. “I don’t know, honey. I hope he is. I hope he’s gonna help us.”
“How?” Her chin quivered. I held her tighter, her little body so tremulous in my arms.
“I think Mr. Leonard saw us, and heard what I said when Daddy put us in the car. So if Parker comes, or the police come, he’ll tell them where we’re going. They’ll know where to find us.”
“What if they don’t? What if Daddy doesn’t take us there?”
“Then I’m not sure, sweetheart. The police are very smart, though, and so is Parker. They’ll find a way. I know they will.” I hoped I wasn’t lying to her. I wanted them to find us, of course, more than anything. But Connor was such a loose cannon, there was no telling where he would take us or how long we’d stay. In his mind, he was reliving his honeymoon. We’d made a lot of stops in that short time. There was no telling how long he’d wanted to stay in the Petrified Forest, or where we would go after that. If anybody were to catch up with us, they would have to make it fast.
“Remember when we went there before, honey?” Connor’s endearments made me gag.
“Yeah, I remember,” I said once I was sure I wouldn’t gag again.
“I think that’s the night we made her. What do you think?” I couldn’t believe he would talk about something like that, in front of our daughter, too.
“I don’t know. I was never quite sure,” I admitted.
His eyes met mine in the mirror. “Why are you always so contrary?” he asked. “Why can’t you play along for once, for the sake of all of us? I’m trying to get us on the path to a new beginning, and all you can do is shoot me down. Nothing’s changed, has it?”
Plenty had changed. I had the balls to stand up to him for once, though I didn’t dare do it for my daughter’s sake. I wasn’t sure how unstable he was, but I was willing to bet he ranged somewhere between “very” and “extremely.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, repeating the same lines I’d delivered so many times before. “It’s all my fault. I should have thought before I spoke. I know you’re only doing your best.” I felt dead inside saying the things I knew he wanted to hear. I felt like I was letting him win, giving him what he wanted. What else could I do, considering the little person in my lap? I couldn’t push him, couldn’t make him even more mental. I had to play the game his way.
“That’s right. I’m just doing my best.” I’d placated him. That was a relief, and I breathed deeply to center myself better. I needed to have command of my faculties. I had to protect my girl.
“What was your favorite part of that whole trip?” Connor asked.
I thought it over. “Feeling like we had our whole lives ahead of us. It was an adventure,” I said. “I thought our whole life together would be one big adventure. It was like something out of a fairytale for me. I was pretty young, though, wasn’t I?”
“If you wanted a fairytale, you shouldn’t have left. Wives don’t leave in fairytales. You’ve never known what you wanted.”
“That’s true,” I admitted, though he had no idea quite what he was talking about. I only thought I wanted a husband back then, because it was the way I thought life was supposed to be. He wasn’t wrong when he accused me of expecting things to be perfect, thanks to the way my parents had raised me. I did expect that. And when I got married, I did so because it seemed I needed to in order to have that perfect life. I didn’t know, and nobody told me, that it was possible to have a good life without a husband. Plenty of the girls I went to school with weren’t married yet. They lived their lives—traveling, enjoying themselves, working jobs they loved with people they loved. Dating, learning more about themselves and what the world had to offer. They hadn’t given up after meeting the first man who ever paid attention to them. He was right. I didn’t know what I wanted back then.
