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He looked at both my brothers and said, “What is your sister?” Conor, without missing a beat, said, “Our number one.”
My daddy smiled and said, “That’s right. Now I expect you to take care of that boy. He is never to bother Mackenna again. Got it?”
“I’m on it, Dad,” Conor and Finn both said in unison.
A couple of days later, that boy had a black eye and limped for a week. It was me. I had made my way to my daddy’s gym and tried to learn a few fighting moves to please my dad. I was never any good at it and only went for about a year before Daddy let me stop going. Ryan and my bothers, on the other hand, were not happy that I stopped going.
As the sun started to set and I had to put my headlights on, I brought myself back to the now. I left Massachusetts with no plan, and now I was getting tired. When I left, I was running on adrenaline. Now, my body was getting tired and starting to ache, not to mention my face hurt something fierce. I was just hitting Delaware, and it was only six-thirty in the evening. I should probably get a few more hours in, maybe stop someplace in Virginia.
I knew it would be hard because of the pain I was in, but I was determined to keep going. That determination paid off, and a couple of hours later, I was in Virginia.
There were a few hotels at the next exit, so I decided it was time to get off and get a room at one of the hotels. The lady working at the front desk of the hotel that I pulled into was looking at me with sadness in her eyes. I knew that sadness and sympathy were for me. I didn’t check the mirror in my car, but by the way my face felt, I knew it was worse than it was earlier.
After taking the elevator to the third floor, my room was five doors down the hall. I entered a room that had two double beds and a nightstand between the two. The room was no five-star hotel, but it was clean, and I just needed a bed to sleep in. I pulled the covers back and slowly slipped into the bed, not even changing my clothes. As I closed my eyes, I thought about home and drifted off to sleep.
* * *
I opened my eyes to darkness. I didn’t even remember falling asleep, but it was still dark, so I sat up a little, looking at the bedside clock. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust, and I saw it was only four in the morning. Laying there, I started calculating how long of a drive it would be and if I could do it in one day by myself with as much pain as I was in. The room was quiet and dark, and I just lay there with my thoughts.
What will my brothers do when they see me? How will I tell them I was in an abusive relationship? I was not afraid of my brothers; I was more afraid of them jumping on a flight and then ending up in prison for murder. I was their number one, after all. Our Daddy instilled that in their brains.
Slowly, I dragged myself out of the bed and over to the bathroom. Turning the shower on and removing my clothes. My body ached so much I needed to get under the hot water in hopes it would loosen my body. I avoided the mirror over the sink and opened the glass shower doors. I stood under the shower until the water turned cold. I was awake now, and there was no sense in sitting around a hotel, so I threw on the same clothes because I was too tired to take anything out of my car last night.
As I made my way out of the bathroom and back to the bed, I grabbed my phone out of my bag and sat on the bed. I knew I would regret looking, but I could not help myself. There it was: twenty-one missed calls, and I don’t even know how many texts from Brad. I skipped those and went to the text from Jeff.
Jeff 07:00 pm: When you stop driving, can you please let me know you’re okay, all right?
Jeff 08:30 pm: Are you still driving?
Jeff 10:00 pm: Oh, shit. Brad was just here looking for you.
Jeff 10:00 pm: It was not good.
Jeff 10:00 pm: Chris had to drag him out of the bar.
Chris was the bouncer who worked Friday and Saturday nights at the bar. He was a full-time security guard at one of the colleges and worked for extra money at the bar dealing with more college kids.
Me: Sorry, once I got to the hotel, I fell right to sleep, never looking at my phone.
Me: I’m in VA now.
Me: But I’m going to head back on the road.
Me: Please be careful of Brad.
Me: I’m sorry I got you messed up in this.
I knew there was no way Jeff was up to answer, so I slipped the phone back into my bag after quickly deleting the texts from Brad before I could read them.
I was done with that asshole.
6
MACKENNA
After checking out and grabbing a large coffee from the breakfast area of the hotel, I was on the road again. This would be a long day with a twelve-hour drive left, but I was determined to get there.
“Ugh, what’s that smell?” I opened the car window to let some air in. “Oh, that’s me!”
