AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Only a child would be taking this better than I am. It makes me proud knowing I’ve raised such a strong little girl. I make sure she has her backpack, and I grab my large purse before we head downstairs together. By the time we reach the dining room, I realize my father isn’t even home. Not even my brother is sitting at the table waiting for us.
With a conspiratory glance at Alexis, we both giggle, take our seats, and start on the feast waiting at the table for us. By the time both of us are finished it feels like we're in a food coma. With a lot of effort, I manage to convince Alexis to head out to the car.
Before long we are pulling into the school line, and I can feel my nerves rising once more. Finally, I’ll get some answers and maybe today will be the day we can finally be free. Though, we will never truly be free from my father's grasp until he’s in jail or dead. A good daughter would hope for at least jail, but I never claimed I was that. No, I hope he will be dead. Then he would never be able to reach me.
As we slowly make it through the car line, I see Knox waiting for us once again. Instead of waving us forward, he motions for us to head into the parking lot. Holding my breath, I follow where he points and pull the Jeep into a parking spot next to a large black truck.
“Little Vixen,” I hear Trevor’s deep voice growl when I step out of the car. A huge sigh releases from me as I realize he’s alive and isn’t the fighter who was killed. Turning towards him I see he’s in the driver's seat of the truck. “Grab your things quickly and get in the backseat. Leave your keys. Knox will move your Jeep so it isn’t at the school.”
Immediately I’m opening Alexis’s door and helping her to get out of the car and into the truck. Following his instructions, I leave the keys on the driver's seat and climb in behind Alexis. What we're doing is crazy and reckless, but hell it’s so worth it. My father will kill me if he ever gets his hands on me for what I’m doing, but it’s Trevor, the father of my child and the love of my life. I would take the risk a million times over again if it means spending whatever time I have left in this world by his side. Sure we have shit to work through, like him leaving for ten years without a word but that’s something we can do together, far away from the city limits of Evercrest.
SEVENTEEN
TREVOR
All morning while I waited for Emma to arrive at the elementary school, my anxiety was at an all-time high. My knee bounced as I watched each vehicle pull into the parking lot and it wasn’t her purple Jeep. At first, our plan was to wait until the middle of the week before we took both my girls and hid them away until Robert was dealt with. After having one of the fighters die in the ring Friday night, that plan changed. My brothers knew I needed to get Emma and Alexis out sooner rather than later. We barely had enough time to get the last couple of items in place for this to hopefully work.
We all agreed that her Jeep couldn’t be left at the school; it would raise too many questions. I had thought about allowing Alexis to attend a class for a little bit but then the school would record who pulled her out, and I didn’t want Emma’s name on that paperwork. No, it was better to let her father track them to the school and think they came here, but then something came up, and they left. It wasn’t the best laid-out plan, but in a time crunch, it would have to work.
Looking back in the rearview mirror I see Emma and Alexis huddled together in the backseat. Alexis doesn’t look scared, just worried. Emma, however, looks terrified. She keeps looking over her shoulder out the back window. I follow her gaze and can see Knox getting into her Jeep and following out behind us. He’s going to take it to a dead-end field and make it look like they went hiking or something. We’re hoping it’ll keep Robert’s resources occupied for a while checking the woods. Again, not the best idea but it’s what we have to work with.
“Relax, Vixen.” I smile reassuringly in the rearview when I catch Emma’s eyes. “Why don’t you both get comfy? It’s going to be a little bit of a drive until we get there.”
“Where are we going?” Emma questions finally buckling her seatbelt.
“Couple towns over. We have a safe house. It’s not exactly as far away as I’d like, but we still need to be close so I can continue the fights while compiling intelligence on your father.” I shrug and start to get comfortable while driving. I’d much prefer to have Emma sitting in the front seat beside me, but until Alexis gets comfortable around me, I can understand why she chose the back.
Emma doesn’t answer and instead turns to look out the window. I turn the radio up and let the music fill the cab as I focus on the road. Steel is already in place at the safe house making sure the last of the supplies are there, and then he will be heading out shortly after we arrive. The silence of the drive is maddening, but I can’t figure out what to say to even start a conversation. At least not one that will do a lot of good. I’m just happy that both my girls are about to be safe and it’s one less thing to constantly be worried about. Now, I can really up my game against Robert and don’t need to worry about their safety or retaliation against them because of me.
“Trev,” Emma whispers as she crawls up into the front seat beside me.
“Everything okay?” I start to panic and look back to see Alexis passed out using their bags as a pillow.
“She’s asleep,” Emma answers as she buckles in. “Thank you for getting us out. Things”—she sighs and takes a deep breath—“things have been hard since you left, especially when I found out I was pregnant with Alexis. As you can imagine, my father was pissed.”
“Are you sure you want to do this now?” I question, not sure if this is the best time for this conversation. Then again there isn’t really a good time to tell her I left to protect her when clearly that didn’t happen like it was supposed to.
“No better time than the present since you said we will be in the car for a bit. Plus with Alexis sleeping in the back, we will need to keep our voices down.” Her tone is even, but I can still hear some of the bites in it.
She deserves answers, and only I can give them to her. My only hope is that she doesn’t hate me after I tell her the truth. I take another look in the rearview mirror at our daughter's sleeping form knowing Emma deserves the answers on why she had to raise our little girl on her own for nine years. Looking back now, I don’t think any of my reasons are good enough. I hate that I missed all this time. With a deep breath, I start to explain the best I can.
“Remember how through high school I was involved in all those unsanctioned fights?” I started my explanation.
“Yeah, it was why you wanted to keep distance between us until you realized it was better to have me there with you even if I took a beating when I got home for it.” Emma’s voice is hesitant as she’s trying to understand where this is going.
“What I never told you is when I left for that one year I was training, your father basically paid my family to send me away because he didn’t like how close we were. He thought if we were apart and he threatened me with you, it would help us stay apart. There was no way I could risk you getting hurt, no matter how much it killed me.” I pause and let the words sink in. She knew in high school how much she meant to me. That day at the park, after I came back, was proof alone that she knew I was doing everything for her. Every decision I have made in my life was for the good of her.
“I knew your father abused you when it came to me and I hated seeing you in pain. I told you about that the day in the park. Only problem was that we couldn’t stay apart even when we tried. If anything being apart made the fire between us burn even hotter. There was no way we could stay away from one another. That’s when I made a deal with your father.”
“You what!?” she hisses loudly before quickly turning to make sure Alexis didn’t wake. “What the fuck would you do something like that?”
“It was the only way I could think to protect you. I told him that if I won so many fights for him in the underground, he would never harm you again.” I growl as my hands clench the wheel tiger. Just thinking back to that time angers me. I failed even when I tried everything a high school boy could think to do.
“That’s why the beatings lessened?” she questioned, her expression shocked.
“For a time, yes. Until we stopped staying away from one another in the halls and when you started coming to my fights. I knew he started to beat you again. It was in the way you moved and held yourself. You would avoid letting me touch you in certain places but if my fingers grazed one of the spots I saw you flinch.”
God, I hated the hell he put Emma through. All because she refused to conform to what he wanted his family to represent. She was a wild child who wanted to make her own decisions and find her own path to follow. I loved her fiery spirit. It was what helped draw me to her after I saved her from being kidnapped. Her father blamed me and said I was the reason she was like that, but it wasn’t true; it was all her.
