Chains (11 page)

“Shh.” I turned her around in my arms and pressed her head against my shoulder.

We were riding out a storm, huddled together against lashing rain and flashing lightning. It was as it always had been. Danny and I against him. Against the world. Against the odds.

The knocking stopped. The dog stopped barking and jumping at the door. For a moment, it was still and silent. Quickly, the figure sidestepped in front of the window and cupped his hands against the glass. I squeezed Danny tighter. I could make out his shadowed movements, but he couldn’t see in through the filmy, ivory curtains.

My feet itched to run out there and confront him. My blood pumped, and my hands clenched.

He walked away, and Danny panted out a few shallow breaths, on the verge of becoming hysterical. “That was him,” she said, pulling away and tugging at the ends of her hair. She climbed back in bed, tears trickling down her cheeks.

“Don’t. Please.” I knelt on the bed and crawled to her, taking her hands in mine. “Listen to me. He’s not going to get near you again. I’ll make sure of it.”

I held her close, rocking back and forth. Her heart fluttered against my chest like a skittish bird. “He knows I’m here,” she said, clutching my back. “The cops will be here soon. I don’t want to go to jail, Ty.”

“It’s okay.” I let her go and sat back. “We’re getting out of here. I have some money and we can disappear.”

“Where?” she asked, drying her eyes. For the first time, I saw a glimmer of hope in them. A glimmer
I
put there. That glimmer gave me a newfound sense of pride. Saving Danny from Striker and from the drugs was the most important thing I had ever done—the most important thing I’d ever do.

“We’ll figure out where. Come on.” I stood and pulled her up with me. “We have to get out of here.”

She took a quick shower and put on her clothes from the night before. Like always, I was two seconds away from being fully packed and ready to leave. For the first time, I knew what my instinct to run was all about.

I’d been born with this destiny. Born to run away with Danny.

Ty-ger

SEVEN

I stepped outside and surveyed every car in the lot. Then I walked to the end of the sidewalk and back, searching for Striker.

“Okay,” I said, sticking my head back inside the door. “I don’t see him.”

Danny stepped outside with the puppy in her arms and closed the door behind her. Her eyes squinted in the bright sun and darted left and right. “I’m going to puke,” she said, weak, shaking and nauseated. Withdraw was a bitch.

“You’re strong. You can beat this. We have to get you out of here.” Moving her was the last thing I wanted to do. She was headed down a road of pain and needed a place to crash where I could take care of her.

A taxi pulled into the parking lot. I’d called for one almost an hour ago. “Is there anywhere you can think of where we can lay low for a while? If he knows about me, then he can find me through Mike and the gym. I can’t take you home with me.”

She looked at me with hesitation in her eyes, biting her chapped lips. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

The taxi honked. “We have to go somewhere,” I said, ushering her across the asphalt. “If you know somewhere, you need to tell me.”

She bent and stepped into the taxi, scooting across the seat. When I was in and the door was closed, she leaned forward between the seats. “Take us to Carson City, please. I’ll get an address on the way.”

She sat back and gave me an apologetic smile, eyeing the driver as if to say she’d explain when we got moving. I had the distinct feeling that she was hiding something she should’ve told me sooner. Then again, I knew nothing about her anymore, so everything was a secret. Why would this be any different—enough to make her look like she owed me an explanation?

She dug her cell phone out of her little handbag. She hadn’t lost it. I saw it when I searched for drugs earlier. I didn’t want think about what she did to get money to pay for cell service.

She sent a text and balanced the phone on her thigh. I lifted my eyebrows, questioning who she was trying to reach.

Danny took my hand. “Alex,” she said. “I found him after you left. The first time I ran away. I used some of the money I stole and hired a private investigator. You were in jail. I didn’t have anyone else to run to.”

My mind spun in circles. “Wait. Didn’t he help you? How did you end up…” How could Alex let her end up like this?

She snuggled her face into the puppy’s fur. “I stayed with him for a while. Until Striker started poking around and Alex made me leave.”

Horror and disbelief circled and pounced, dug their claws into me. That bastard kicked her out? “Did he know what Striker did to you?” I asked, and shook my head. “It doesn’t fucking matter. Alex knew. He fucking
knew
we were getting the—” I couldn’t breathe through the rage. Alex knew we were getting the fuck beat out of us, and he didn’t protect her. “He fucking got out!” I gripped the headrest in front of me.

“Hey!” the cab driver said. “I’ll pull over and let you out here, you keep swearing and grabbing my seat like that.”

Danny reached over and put her hand over mine. “Let go,” she whispered.

I let my hands fall and looked at the driver in his rear view mirror. “Sorry, man.”

He held up a hand and dismissed it, but glared at me in warning.

“Alex got out and didn’t want dragged back in,” Danny said, handing me the puppy. “Stroke his fur. It’ll help keep you calm.”

Holding the dog had to keep me calm, or else I’d end up squeezing the living shit out of it. We drove in silence for a while then her phone beeped with a text.

I watched her read it. She pursed her lips and made a puffing sound from her nose, jabbing a response back with her thumbs. Her hands were jittery and she was pale. “What’d he say?” I asked.

“Don’t worry about it.” She finished the text and tucked her phone under her thigh.

“Let me see.” I slid my hand across the seat and under her leg, but she grabbed my wrist and held tight.

“I know how to deal with Alex,” she said. “Leave it to me.” There was a fierce look in her eye. One I’d never seen before. Life hadn’t been good to Danny while we were apart. It made her hard. Scared. Desperate. I’d been there and knew those emotions made for a dangerous combination.

She was small and couldn’t fight physically, but I could tell this woman beside me knew how to win her battles. A fifteen-year-old girl who survived abuse and kept running while being hunted learned how to use manipulation as a weapon. I hadn’t seen it yet, but I had a feeling Alex had helped her—no matter how little—more than he wanted to. She would’ve used their closeness in the past to her advantage.

Danny knew she had me—that I’d die for her if I had to—she didn’t need to manipulate me.

Every time I looked at her, a fissure cracked through my center. She was so petite and delicate. I wanted to put her in a bottle and carry her in my pocket. Wisps of fair hair touching her cheeks, wide light eyes, long, slim fingers. My heart ached for her to be whole again, to be the nine-year-old girl who jumped on my bed, giggling, waking me up for school. The girl she was before Striker broke her.

I wouldn’t rest until she was safe and happy again.

A muffled beep sounded under her thigh. She slid the phone out and glanced at the message before leaning forward between the seats and rattling off an address to the driver.

“So, he’s good with us coming?” I asked as she sat back.

She smiled at me and pet the dog. “He’s good with me coming. You’re a surprise.”

“Great.” She was the one we needed to hide. If Alex kicked me out, I could stay anywhere. “How long will he let you stay?”

She shrugged and turned her head toward the window. “We’ll find out.”

I put my arm across her shoulders and pulled her against me. Alex The Dog jumped over onto her lap. “We’ll be okay,” I said, wondering what our next move should be after leaving Alex’s house. We couldn’t run forever. “After five years, he can’t threaten you with the cops anymore, it’ll be too late to press charges.”

“Ten and a half more months,” she said. “That’s a long time, Tyler. He always finds me.”

A shiver ran through her and I held her tighter. “Not this time.” I kissed the top of her head. “I won’t let him.”

She turned into me and wrapped her arms around my waist. “I’m tired of being afraid. I can’t do this anymore.”

“You don’t have to. I’ll take care of you. Don’t be afraid.” The dog licked her cheeks, and I knew she must be crying.

“I don’t feel good, Ty,” she whispered. “I need
something
.” She gazed up at me with watery eyes. “Please. Anything. Just a little.”

“I don’t have anything to give you even if I wanted to.” I pushed her hair back from her sweat-dappled forehead. “Close your eyes. We’ll be there soon and you can lay down.”

Danny pulled her knees up and curled into my side. Instead of letting my mind reel with questions about tomorrow and the day after, I focused on now and the steady up and down of her chest, the warmth of the dog’s head resting on my leg, the sound of the tires eating up the miles. Right here, right now, in this car, we were free. We were safe and together and that was all that mattered.

The driver pulled into the driveway of a new condo with a red BMW sitting in the open garage. “This is it?” I asked Danny, gently shaking her awake.