AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 8
Parker
Even as we make our way out of the hospital, I'm still reeling from her words, Birkley's wrist in a cast. She did, in fact, break it, and it was a pretty bad break. She will be in the cast for a while. Still, my mind goes back to her words. She loves me. She loves me, and I love her with all my heart. I was too worried about getting her help to say anything at the school, and now it seems like it's not enough. I have to figure out the perfect way… but how? I wrap my Rejects jacket tighter around her and pull her closer to me, not ready to let her go.
Bailey and Alec are leaning on the hood of her car as we walk out. Bailey took one look at me carrying Birkley into the gym before rushing over to us, Alec right on her heels. She jumped in the car and raced us over to the hospital, and I couldn’t be happier for the girl my brother chose to be with. She helped my girl today, and I’ll never be able to repay that.
“Do we need to take you home, Birkley?” Bailey asks, coming up and hugging my girl.
“Yeah, that’s probably for the best. Go ahead and get the fight with my mom over with,” Birkley sighs nervously.
“Baby, I hate this. I hate you having to go home to that, but it's more dangerous at my house,” I tell her, pulling at my hair. With my father being the asshole he is, I would never risk him seeing Birkley. She’s too kind, sweet, and innocent for his evil… but the thought of her having to deal with her psycho-ass mom kills me.
“Hey, it will be okay. I promise. I have to go home, eventually. I just want to get it over with,” Birkley tells me, smiling softly.
“Let me walk in with you. I’ll tell her what happened,” I plead, needing to find a way, any way, to help.
“No!” she shouts in panic. I can see the tears in her eyes. We’ve talked about her home life, about both of ours. I understand her not wanting me to meet her parents. I know it has nothing to do with me or who I am and everything to do with them, but it still kills me I can't protect her. “You can’t. They will keep me away from you. They will force me to never see you again. They’ve locked me in that house before. They will do everything in their power to keep me from you, and I have nowhere else to go. I can't. I can't let them take you away from me.”
She’s pleading with me, and I’m completely powerless against her.
“Calm down, baby. I know. It will be alright. We will figure this out,” I tell her before looking back at Bailey and Alec.
“Do you mind dropping Birkley off and then swinging me back by the school so I can pick up my bike?” I ask them.
“Of course not, brother. Hop on in,” Alec says, and Bailey gives us another reassuring smile.
The whole drive back to Birkley’s house is filled with uncomfortable silence. I want to yell and scream at how unfair this shit is. How she shouldn’t be going back to that fucking house, with parents who don’t give two shits about her, ones who hit and hurt her. I know my old man does the same to me, but I can protect myself. I can fight back. Birkley’s too sweet for that.
“I don’t fucking like this shit,” I say again. I’ve run different plans, different ideas over and over through my head, and I just can't seem to figure out a solution. All too soon, we are pulling into Birkleys' driveway. She leans over and gives me a quick kiss.
“Thank you, Parker, for standing up for me and rushing me to the hospital,” she says low before turning to Alec and Bailey. “Thank you for the help and the ride,” she says softly, ducking her head.
I want to say more. I want to demand she stay with me and not go into that house, but I can't. Where the hell would we go? We are both only eighteen-year-old high school students. I’ve saved up every penny I can to get the hell out of this town, and one thing is for fucking certain... I will be taking Birkley with me.
“If you need anything, call me. I’ll be here in two minutes,” I tell her, leaning in and pressing a hard kiss to her lips before she turns and makes her way out of the car, then up her front steps. She turns one last time, waving before making her way into the house. I let out a sigh as Alec backs the car out of her driveway and heads toward the school.
“She’ll be alright, man. You’ll pick her up tomorrow, and everything will be fine.” He tries to reassure me, but it's not working. I feel that something isn’t right in my gut, but what can I do? As we make our way back into the school parking lot, I hop out and turn back to them.
“Thank you both again for helping us. For helping Birkley,” I tell them.
“Anytime, brother, you know that,” Alec says, and Bailey nods in agreement.
“You heading home?” he asks me, but I shake my head.
“I think I'm going to head to the clubhouse. I’ve seen enough painful shit today.” I snort out a laugh before swinging my leg over my bike.
The last place I want to be is in our old bus, alone and missing my girl, but I definitely don’t want to subject myself to my old man's hatred. I take a long drive out of the city limits and three towns over before finally turning around and taking the long way back to the trailer park before pulling through the woods until I come to the path that leads to our little secret hideaway.
I walk up and notice Griffin coming out.
“Hey brother, what are you doing here?” I ask.
Something happened to him a couple of years back. He used to be all smiles and loving. He really is the heart of the group, but something dimmed that light, and none of us know what. He doesn’t want to burden us, his words not mine, but I know there is something wrong, and I wish he would just let us in.
“Hey, brother. Just needed to get away. Mom caught dad in bed with another one of his playthings, and I just didn’t have the strength to get involved,” he tells me, and I nod in understanding.
“Want a light? Just picked up a new pack today?” I ask, going to grab the pack out of my pocket. Before I can get them out, though, my phone rings. I answer the minute I see it's Juju.
“Parker, hurry. Something happened to Birkley. She’s gone missing.”
And just like that.. my entire world stops turning.
