by J. N. Pack
She doesn’t respond. I stop dead still waiting, hoping praying for a response. When nothing comes I shove away from her Dad and crawl to her side. I can see the panic on Jessi’s face. She tries to stop me before I can fully see her, but I shove her arm away and gasp myself. Her eyes are closed and her face is too pale. “Low?” I whisper. We wait, hoping for anything. I lift her and hold her in my arms and she finally moans. The only sign of life from her since we got here. I walk out of the house with her and towards my house. Moose grabs her Dad and shoves him in his truck and tells him to never bring his ass back or he would go to jail. Harley starts to follow me, but Jessi grabs her arms and drags her and Hanna to her and Moose’s house. Cass goes with them. Once Moose is sure their Dad is gone he comes to my house. I’m holding her, slightly panicking. She can’t die. Blood drips from her hand and Moose pries her phone from her hand. It broke during everything but she had started a text to me and couldn’t send it.
“Axel baby, I need you to lay her down so I can look at her.” my mom walked towards me slowly. I pull her closer to my chest. “Baby she might have some broken ribs or something.”
The door slams open and Drake rushes in. Taking in her and the state I’m in. He stops dead in his tracks.
Mom tries again, “Baby if you don’t let me see her, she might hurt worse.” It’s like I’m not even in my own body. I know I need to let Mom look at her, but my body is afraid to let her go. When she cries out, my attention turns to her and Drake walks towards me like I’m an animal on the attack, “Hey kiddo. Let me take her. I know you know I’m not going to hurt her. Let’s just lay her here and let your mom see her. You can stay right here ok.”
My arms begin to tremble and it’s Moose this time. He whispers, “It’s not your fault. Come on man.” I blink and a tear I didn’t know was there rolls down my cheek. It startles me and I gently lay her on the couch. I step back rubbing my hands through my hair looking at the blood on my arms and my clothes. I have been through some shit, but this. Drake keeps looking from me to her and he says, “You couldn’t have prevented this if you wanted to. This is done by a man who knows she doesn’t belong to him. He’s punishing her. There’s nothing you could have done.”
“But...I…” I start but I can’t find the words.
He leaves her side and comes to me he takes my shoulders and gently shakes me. “NO! You don’t get to take the blame for this. I know I said I’d hold you responsible, but not for this. This was malicious. He wanted to kill her. You couldn’t have stopped this if you wanted to.”
“Honestly I think she needs an ER. I can’t tell what is or isn’t broken.” Mom says wiping blood away from Harlow’s face.
Moose tenses and so do I. “She can’t go to the ER, DSS will take Hanna and Harley and you may as well have put a gun to her temple yourself.” I say.
Mom trembles and she says, “Son I don’t know what else to do.”
Drake says, “I got this.” He picks his phone up and minutes later an ambulance pulls in the drive. Harlow is put on a stretcher and an IV is ran. “Mr. King where are we taking her?”
Drake says, “My home.”
She moans again as the ambulance driver jostles the stretcher to put her in the ambulance. I glance over and find Harley and Hanna running full speed terrified towards the ambulance. I meet them half way grabbing Hanna around the waist and dragging her to the ground with me as the little girl cries out for Harlow. Jessi and Cass get to Harley before she could get to the ambulance. I rub the little girls hair and shhh her while she cries into my shoulder. How did this day turn to complete shit? Why did I feel like my heart was being wretched out of my chest and that I’d give anything to fix all of this for them.
Moose walks over still holding her phone in his hand and says, “She trusted you. The girl who trusts no one trusted you.” He hands me her phone and I look at it. She had a message typed out that said please help me, but was unable to send it. It was to be sent to my number. She trusted me. She let me in.
Chapter 18
Axel
The next few days are hell. I was there watching every move they made. She had bruises and belt whelps all over her body and face. She had three broken ribs. Her eyes were black and her hand was broken. Her legs were pretty much okay, bruised, but okay. I had to make Harley and Hanna go home and get some rest. Drake and mom tried to make me leave and I did that first day after everything settled. I went to her home. I scrubbed blood from the floors and the walls. I empty the trash and I cleaned her whole house. I felt useless. When I was done I took a shower and went back to her. I’ve been here for three days and I’m sure Drake just doesn’t have it in his heart to make me leave. She didn’t wake up any in those days, but the pain meds were keeping her pretty sedated.
On the fourth day, she started talking in her sleep. I’m sure Harley was blessed out a half dozen times in her sleep before she finally moans and her eyes start fluttering.
“Hey there sleeping beauty.” I whisper.
She tries to lift her arm and realizes its in a cast. She doesn’t look at me just at all the equipment in the room. Panic starts to rise in her eyes and I whisper, “It’s ok. It’s an IV with pain meds. How are you feeling? Do you need something?”
“RLey ...nana.” she whispers through a dry throat.
“I’ll get you some water. Harley and Hanna are fine. They are staying with my mom until you come home. Or at least Harley is. Hanna hasn’t left Jessi’s side.” I say to reassure her.
I get a glass of water and a straw and hit the nurse pager. A moment later a nurse pops through the door. She looks at Harlow and says, “Welcome back sweetie.”
I bring the straw to her lips and she moans as the cold water runs down her throat.
A second later Drake rushes through the door. Harlow starts to panic and I do what I can to calm her down, but she doesn’t trust people and she has a really good reason not too.
“Low this is Drake, you remember Drake?” I ask.
She nods slowly.
“Drake’s not going to hurt you. I’m going to step outside because he wants to speak to you.” Panic flares in her eyes and she tenses gripping my fingers with the uncasted hand.
Drake says, “It’s ok Axel, if she feels safer with you here it’s fine. I don’t care if you are here.”
I rub circles on her hand. Drake says, “Harlow, My name is Drake King. I knew your mother a long time ago. I knew your uncle Jack as well, they were wonderful people. Your mother and I grew fond of each other and developed a relationship. You are not that man’s child Harlow. You are my child.”
Her eyes flare and she whispers, “You’re my Dad?”
Drake smiles and shakes his head, “Yea beautiful girl I am your Dad. I had a son. He was a couple years older than you, he… he looked identical to you. His mother passed away and he blamed himself and he died a couple years back.”
Harlow’s eyes fly to mine and then back to Drake and back to me and I can see the pain in her eyes. She pries her hand from mine and I whisper, “I should have told you, but it wasn’t my place. I’m sorry Low.”
I can feel her building the wall layer by layer between us. So I give her the space she wants. Walking out of there was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but I screwed up and it has come back to bite me in the ass.
Drake says something, but I keep walking. I stop in the hallway and take a couple deep breaths, then I leave.
I end up at the track, testing the limits of my car. Pushing it further and further. I’m there for about an hour when Moose and Cass pull up. I climb out and sit on the hood of my car. Moose walks over and asks, “You good man?”
I smirk and say, “Far from it!”
Cass asked, “What happened?”
“Well let’s just say I knew something she didn’t and I didn’t tell her. When she found out I watched her put up every brick I knocked down.” I say sadly.
Moose looks concerned and asks, “Did you intentionally knock the
wall down?”
I look at the dirt and then down the road and then back at him, “Not intentionally, but when those bricks started falling I didn’t want to replace them. I liked talking to her. I liked having her around.”
Cass says, “I’ve never seen you like this.”
I drop my head again and whisper, “I feel like my insides are being ripped out. It’s this gut feeling that I fucked up something that I shouldn’t have.”
Moose pats my shoulder and waits till I lift my eyes to his and he says, “Sounds like she’s pretty special then huh?”
I shrug him off and say, “Man I don’t fuckin’ know!” Cass is quiet, but I can see the wheels turning in his head.
Harlow
What the hell? I try to sit, but this man I don’t know puts his hand on me and I can feel the panic start to close my throat. Noticing I’m on the verge of a nervous breakdown he moves it quickly. “Please don’t get up yet. You have broken ribs. What can I do for you? What can I get for you?” he asks.
“I… I… knew he wasn’t my Dad.” I whisper.
Drake eyebrow goes up and he says, “How?”
“Mom. She told me. She didn’t tell me who. She said I’d be targeted if I went looking for you and she couldn’t chance it.”
He smirks and says, “Your mom was a smart woman and she never would have left if it wasn’t for Marcus.” He says it almost as an afterthought.
“I want to go home. I need to be there with my sisters.” I say.
“I promise they are looked after and if your father shows up he will be escorted away from the property. You know Axel only kept this from you because it wasn’t his place to say.” Drake says.
“Doesn’t really matter. I really want to go home.” I argue.
He smirks and says, “You definitely get that stubborn streak from your mom. How about we make a compromise? What if I could get Harley and Hanna here until you can go back home? Would that work?”
I nod.
He picks up the phone and makes a call. When he hangs up he says, “You know you and your sisters are welcome to come stay here. If I had known about you I’d have never missed a single day without you.”
I shrug and say, “Life isn’t always what it’s meant to be.”
He smiles sadly and says, “How right you are? Get some rest, your sisters will be here within the hour.” He gives my uncasted hand a squeeze and walked away.
My chest is tight. I feel like I was betrayed, but honestly can I blame him. I don’t know why it bothers me so much that he didn’t tell me.
Chapter 19
About thirty minutes after Drake walked out, Moose and Cass open the door and my sister shove past them running to my side. Jessi comes in behind them. They stand back and give my sisters the chance to come to me before they walk forward. Harley and Hanna both have tears in their eyes. Harley whispers, “I thought he killed you.” she touches my cheek as tears start to fall down her face.
“I’m fine Harley.” I say trying to comfort her.
“You’re not fine! I thought you were dead. I’ve had nightmares that were sweet compared to walking in and finding you like that.” Jessi says.
I shrug and try to look away, but Hanna grabs a mirror and shoves it in my face, “You’re not ok! He tried to kill you! Look at yourself?” I close my eyes trying not to see the damage knowing it would break me.
She screams, “Open your eyes! Look what he did to you!”
Cass comes forward and passes Hanna off to Moose who holds her against his side.
Cass stepped up next to Harley and he grips my hand. I tense and he releases my hand. I strain to look around them all. Cass whispers, “He’s not here.” sadly.
Harley says, “We can leave sissy! WE can go anywhere you want. He wants to be able to find you or us. We’ll be safe!”
Cass grips her hand. “Let's think about that when she's healed. Calm down.”
Tears spill over my cheek as I say, “I can’t leave now.”
“Why?” Harley whimpers.
“Because I finally found him.” I whisper.
Her eyes go wide and she says, “Your Dad? How?”
Drake walks in at that moment and the second her sober eyes land on him she glances from him to me and then back again. “You’re her Dad? I should have seen it. Why didn’t you look for her? Try to find her?”
Drake nervously looks around. “I...I didn’t know she existed until the track. I would have never had to look had I known.”
That quiets Harley, but not Hanna. Hanna screams, “You can’t have her! She’s all we’ve got!”
He smiles and squats to get eye level with her, “I have no intentions of taking her from you! I have no intentions of separating her from the only family she knows, but I’m also not going to put any of you at risk. I will allow her to go back to the house with you all once she has healed, but if he shows up I’m snatching all of you out of that house and you will stay here.”
She hides behind Moose’s back and looks from Drake to me, “Ok.”
Drake rises and askes Moose where Axel is and Moose nervously looks around. He talks so low I can barely make out the words her was saying, “He’s made it through two thirds of a bottle of Jack. You know the last time he was in a situation like this was when Andrew OD’d. Seeing her like that and then having her shut him out has him spiraling.”
They both looked at me and my eyes widened in disbelief. I don’t understand. It’s not like we were… It’s not…. Wait I let him in, but did he let me in too. “What do you mean spiraling?” I ask.
Moose looks away, but doesn’t respond.
“Tell me, what's going on.” I growl.
Cass says, “You think you’re the only one who doesn’t let people in? You think you’re the only one who doesn’t get close to people. Aside from us, Axel doesn’t make new friends. He doesn’t date, but he let you get close to him. When Drew…when he overdosed Axel tried to save him when he couldn’t he shut the world out. He stayed in his room for months. It took almost a year before Moose and I could get him back in his car.”
I look around eyeballing everyone in the room. Cass says, “I didn’t mean to come across as a jerk, I’m sorry. I really am. I hope you get to feeling better soon.” and he turns and walks out.
Jessi and Moose come to my side and she whispers, “Feel better. Cass is just worried about Axel, he didn’t mean anything by it I promise.” She kisses my forehead and Moose squeezes my hand. They turn and leave.
Harley and Hanna sit in the chairs beside the bed and Drake says, “I’ll leave you girls to it.” and he walks out.
I finally allow tears to fill my eyes and then allow them to stream down my face. Harley notices and she leans closer to me and wipes the tears. “We will be ok sissy. We will be ok now.”
She doesn’t understand and I can’t explain them. Hanna turns on a cartoon and we watch it with her. At some point I fall asleep.
Chapter 20
After a week of being a prisoner and being poked and prodded I’m about to go insane. “I want to go home!!!! Today! Now!” I growl at Drake.
He looks stunned.
Harley says, “Stop being cranky.”
“No I want to go home. This is nice really nice, but I want my own bed. My couch with the broken spring. My almost empty fridge. My own fuckin’ toilet.” I yell pacing around the living room.
Drake busts out laughing. After a second so does Hanna and Harley.
“It’s not funny!” I whine.
Harley looks to Drake and says, “She’s not going to give in.”
He blows out some air and says, “Yeah I know. She’s just like your mother.” and he laughs. “I kind of did something.”
My eyes widen and I growl, “What?”
“New locks. Fixed some pipes. And filled the fridge. Cass and Moose painted the living room. That’s it I promise!” He says.
I start pacing again, “Soooo can I go home?”
“If you can put some pa
nts on with no help, you can go home.” Drake says.
I snatch my pants Harley brought me off the chair and maneuver so I am able to get in them. Legs in and wiggle them up my hip using my one good hand to pull them on myself.
They are twisted, but they are on. I hold my hands up and say, “Tada!”
They all burst out laughing and Harley comes to my rescue. She helps twist them straight.
Drake says, “Harley has to drive Betty!” and he smirks.
I pale and sit back on the bed.
Harley smiles and says, “I got this.”
I pale even more. “I can drive with one hand. It want be so bad.”
“Hmmm nope! Doc says you don’t drive for another week.” Drake says.
Cass walks in at that very moment and before anyone can say anything, I rush and say, “Is Moose with you? Can you drive us home in Betty?” HE freezes and everyone in the room laugh. Drake smirks and says, “That's why he’s here. I asked Axel to send someone to take you girls home. I was just teasing you about Harley driving.”
I hadn’t seen Axel in over a week and I was disappointed that he hadn’t shown up. I was hoping it would be him. I feel like I messed up. Cass searches my eyes, but he doesn’t say anything.
I look at Drake and say, “Can I go now? Right now?”
He nods and says, “You’d think I was a bad host?”
I shake my head and say, “No I just wanna go home.”
He nods and says, “I understand. Maybe someday you’ll consider this home as well.”
I shrug, “Maybe.”
Harley’s mouth falls open, “So fuckin’ rude.”
Drake laughs, “I wouldn’t have her any other way.”
Cass laughs and says, “This is the most I’ve heard her talk since I’ve met her.”
“Can we go already?” I whine.
I limp to the door slowly and Drake opens it walking us to the door. When I get to the door I turn and he says, “Dinner at least a couple times a week and I’ll keep checking in. Promise?”
I nod and he hugs me. I turn and walk to the car. Hanna and Harley behind me as Cass opens the door for me.
