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“I don’t want to hang out here for long,” Storm murmurs to me as we climb off our bikes and I nod, scanning the street again.
“Agreed.”
Storm guides Peyton into the restaurant with Kodiak and me guarding his back. We bypass the hostess stand and walk over to the booth all the way in the corner. He lets Peyton slide onto the seat closest to the door before sitting next to her and Kodiak and I sit across from them, watching the door. A flustered waitress rushes up to our table and pastes a smile on her face.
“Hi. Can I get y’all anything to drink?”
Storm nods to Peyton. “Go ahead and order whatever you want. To go.”
Nodding, she looks up at the waitress and orders a root beer, a cheeseburger, and fries. The waitress looks to each of us, silently asking if we want anything and we all shake our heads. The faster we can get out of here the better.
“Okay,” Storm says as the waitress walks away to put Peyton’s order in. “Why don’t you tell us what happened?”
Tears well up in her eyes and guilt swamps me. We have been going over how to best help her for days but we couldn’t agree on anything and in the end, she was on her own to deal with his abuse.
“Yesterday, I got distracted while I was cooking dinner and accidentally burned it.” She shudders. “It sent him into a rage and when he was finished beating me, I couldn’t even get up off of the floor. He realized that I was seriously hurt so he picked me up and carried me to the car before taking me to this friend of his who was a medic in the Army. He examined me and stitched up this cut on my arm.” She points to a nasty gash on the underside of her arm that I didn’t notice before and my stomach rolls. “This guy, I think he felt bad for me, so he slipped me some painkillers that he had left over when Dustin wasn’t looking and I hid them in my bra.”
“So what happened today?” Kodiak asks, his voice soft.
“He ordered me to make him his lunch and I remembered that I still had the pills in my bra so I snuck off to the bathroom and crushed them up and put them in his drink.”
Storm meets my eyes. “Is he…uh…”
“Alive?” she asks, nodding. “Yes. He’s just passed out.”
“And that’s how you were able to sneak out of the house?” I ask. She shakes her head.
“No. That’s how I was able to get his phone and unlock it with his fingerprint. The code for the security system is saved in his notes so I found it and called you guys.”
I stare at her for a second before I start laughing and the guys join in.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her. “I know it’s not funny but…”
She shakes her head. “No. It is funny and I’m sure I will think it’s even funnier when it doesn’t hurt so much to laugh.”
“We can get you into a doctor to make sure nothing is broken.”
Sighing, she practically deflates in front of us. “I would appreciate that.”
“Please tell me you left your phone at the house, too,” Kodiak says and she grins as she nods. Despite all she’s been through, there is a bit of a sparkle in her eyes and it makes me smile to see how strong she is.
“Both of our phones are currently sitting at the bottom of a toilet bowl.”
We all laugh.
“I just…” she says before clamping her lips shut and taking a deep breath. “I need to thank you guys. Two weeks ago, I was ready to die and a big part of me was convinced that was my only option and then my mom told me she had contacted you all and it gave me the strength to fight again.”
“Is that where you’re going to go? To your mom’s?”
She nods. “About a month ago, she sold her house and moved two hours away so he has no idea where to even look for me.”
“Have you spoken to her to let her know you’re on your way?”
“No,” she answers. “I didn’t want to have a call to her on my phone in case he finds some way to access my call log.”
Kodiak nods. “Well, I suppose he’ll find the call to us first and if he does we’ll be able to give you a heads up.”
“Oh… no, he won’t find the call to you.” She giggles at our confused looks. “I called you from his phone. He’ll be so obsessed with going over everything in my phone that he won’t even think to check his.”
