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It was locked from the outside. Cursing, I set her duffel down and released her hand before grabbing the door with two hands and twisting hard enough to break the lock on the door. Then, I wrenched it open and snatched her duffel up, grabbing her tiny hand in mine again.
“What the fuck—you!” her father yelled from the bottom of the stairs as I quickly led Elizabeth down them.
“Get the fuck out of my way,” I snarled. I was not in the mood for his bullshit.
“This is my house!” he barked at me, not moving.
I shouldered past him, making him stumble. I was twice his size and taller than him. This was a fight he didn’t want to fucking pick. I’d beat his ass and smile in my mugshot, so long as it meant my girl was finally safe and out of his hell hole.
“You are not taking her—” her mother reached out to grab Elizabeth, but I curled my lip up at her, still marching through the house with Elizabeth attached to me.
“You fucking touch her, and I’ll make sure you think twice about touching anyone ever again,” I promised. “I might not even leave you with fingers to fucking do so.”
I wrenched open the front door with the hand holding hers and led her outside. “I’ll call the police for this!” her father yelled at my back.
“Tell them how you had her locked in a room with no food or water while you’re at it,” I taunted him, not even looking over my shoulder. I just moved Elizabeth in front of me, blocking her from their view. “I’m sure the cops would love to hear about that.”
The front door slammed shut a moment later, and I relaxed. He knew he wouldn’t win. She was eighteen anyway, legally able to move out.
Elizabeth held it together all the way to my truck, but as soon as I pulled onto the street, she burst into tears. A pained sound ripped from my throat. Fuck, I wanted to pull over and comfort her, but I needed to get her the fuck away from that house.
“Baby?” I softly questioned. I reached out a hand to her, swallowing past the lump in my throat.
She just shook her head, pulling her knees to her chest, hiding her face from me. I didn’t fucking like this. Something was really fucking wrong, and she wouldn’t talk to me about it.
She always talked to me.
I was freaking out. Had her father forced himself on her? Did something happen that she didn’t feel safe talking about?
Suddenly, I felt violently sick. I managed to swallow it down and called my mom.
“Drake?” she asked when she answered. “I thought you were with Kaleb.”
“Are you home?” I quietly asked her.
Something in my voice had her softening her tone. “Yes. We just walked in the door. What’s going on, Drake?”
I swallowed thickly, feeling helpless. I didn’t know what to do, hence my phone call to my mom. I didn’t care that I might get in trouble for lying. Nothing mattered but the sobbing girl in my passenger seat that was wrenching my heart out of my chest with every sob that ripped from her throat.
“I, um, I went to go check on Elizabeth instead of going to Kaleb’s and—fuck, Mom,” I rasped, “something’s wrong. Really wrong. But I have her with me.”
Elizabeth was still crying hard in my passenger seat, her body trembling. My heart was racing in my chest. I didn’t like feeling helpless—not with her. I was meant to be her anchor, something strong she could lean on. I was supposed to be able to support her when she couldn’t find the strength to support herself.
But she wasn’t fucking letting me.
“I’ll put some warm tea on. You just bring her to me, you hear me? I’ll figure this out, Drake.”
A ragged breath ripped from my lungs at her words. “Thanks, Mom. I love you.”
“I love you, too. Drive safely.”
I ended the call and reached over, sliding my hand over her knee. She placed her hand over mine, but she still wouldn’t look at me. But at least she wasn’t pushing my touch away. There was hope yet that whatever was wrong, I could fix it.
I couldn’t stop pacing. Mom had kicked me out of the kitchen and into the living room as soon as I led Elizabeth in. Dad was silently watching me pace. He knew there was no sense in trying to get me to sit down.
They’d been in there for thirty minutes now, and I was going stir-crazy. What the fuck could have happened that was taking thirty minutes to talk about? It only cemented my fear that something horrible had happened—really fucking horrible.
Just when I was about to say fuck it all and storm into the kitchen, Mom appeared in the doorway to the living room. I immediately stopped pacing and stared at her, my heart racing in my chest at the unreadable expression on her face.
