Chains (16 page)

Lying to her was pointless. She’d know right away. My face didn’t hide my feelings well. So, I told her the least of the two evils from the night before. “Mike’s got a fight for me in Reno in a few days.”

Her hands dropped from my shoulders. She stood behind me where I sat on the couch. I needed to turn to her, reach out, but I didn’t. Fighting was my life before she was back in it. I built myself from nothing to being a win from pro. She couldn’t start dictating what I could and couldn’t do just because she had me wrapped and she knew it.

“What do you expect me to say, Ty? What would you say if I went in Alex’s office and took a stash of pills from his drawer? They’re in there. I know where he keeps everything. Should I do it?” Her voice rose, on the verge of hysterics. “You don’t care! I might as well!”

I shot around and grabbed her wrist. “Don’t play games with me. Your addiction and my career are two very different things, Danny, and you know it.” I guided her around the end of the couch and down onto the cushion beside me. “You’re coming with me, so I can—”

“I’m staying here,” she said, folding her arms and crossing her legs.

“Don’t be petulant. You can’t expect me to dump my life.”

“For me? No. I guess can’t expect that. Not even when it’s for your own good.”

There was no getting through when she was like this. She’d always been the most stubborn person I knew. She made me want to put my head through the wall. “Don’t act like I wouldn’t give up everything for you. Why do you have to ask for it though?”

“Why can’t you see what fighting does to you? Why can’t you trust me when I tell you you’re going to end up hurting someone. It’s a trigger for you, Ty.”

“You make me sound like a psycho. Like Rollo. Like Striker!” I stood up and strode to the hallway. “I’ve gotta get out of here for a while. I’m taking the dog for a walk.”

“Alex isn’t here,” she said, and I caught the fear in her voice.

I couldn’t leave her alone. Not with fucking Striker lurking around, waiting to take her from me. “Come with me,” I said. “Fresh air can only help you, too.”

“Isn’t it me you need to get away from?” She stood up from the couch like she was balancing on eggshells, like any sudden movement might make me bolt out the door away from her.

I pressed my hand to my head and closed my eyes. “No. It’s not you. It’s this situation. It’s…” I shook my head, dropping my hand. “It’s not you.”

She walked over to me and wrapped her arms around my waist. Her head nestled against my chest. “You’re not a psycho. Don’t think that’s what I mean. I’ll go to Reno. Even if I don’t want you fighting, I’ll go to be with you.”

“Thank you.” I tilted her chin up and lowered my lips to hers, bolstering my spirit, refueling my senses. Even if we didn’t agree on everything, we were together and that’s all that mattered. The rest we’d figure out along the way.

It was two million degrees outside. Little kids splashed in backyard pools. A couple boys riding bikes came up to us and asked to pet the dog. It was strange how normal the neighborhood was. I wondered what these kids’ parents would think if they knew a drug dealer lived down the road. Probably the same thing anyone living down the road from Striker in Ferndale would’ve thought had they known what was going on under our roof. Guess you never could tell what was going on behind your neighbors’ closed doors.

“This is nice,” Danny said, her face turned up to the sun. She seemed a lot better just in the few days we’d been here. I started to think she didn’t have a hard core drug problem after all, maybe more of a mental addiction, a dependency on leaving reality behind. Either way, she looked stronger and happier. “Listen,” she said, stopping in her tracks. Her eyes shifted to the side and for a minute, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end.

“What?” I asked, darting looks left and right. “What do you hear?”

“Kids laughing. When was the last time you heard that?”

I felt my blood start pumping again as I let the air out of my lungs and relief spread through me. I was afraid she heard Striker calling her name or some shit. “I don’t know,” I said. “A long time, probably. I’ve never paid much attention to kids.”

We started walking again and she took my hand. “Do you want to have kids someday?” she asked.

“I’ve honestly never thought that far ahead.” I glanced over at her. She was looking at her feet. “I guess I could see myself with a kid someday. What about you?”

Danny lifted her chin and glanced around us at the big family houses with SUV’s in the driveways. “I want this,” she said. “A home with a husband and kids. Somewhere the past can’t reach me. Somewhere that can’t be taken away. Something that’s mine.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but I didn’t know what. Would I tell her that I would be that man? That husband who would give her kids and a home? Hell, I didn’t even know how I was getting us through today, let alone tomorrow or next week. I couldn’t make promises for the future no matter how much I wanted to. But, she turned her eyes on me and I already knew it was true. I’d give her that home no matter what price I had to pay.

“We didn’t use protection,” she said, derailing my train of thought. “I’ve been tested. Not in the past few months, but I’m sure I’m okay,” she said. “I don’t want you to worry about getting me pregnant though. It can’t happen.”

Her eyes flitted away from mine, and she turned her head. I hadn’t thought about protection at all, and I always did. I guess it was because it was Danny and putting something between us didn’t seem necessary. She’d always been part of me, like another limb or something. “What do you mean?” I asked. “Are you on the pill?”

She shook her head, watching the dog trot along in front of us. “After you left, before I ran away, after Striker got out of the hospital, it got bad. He got… He hurt me. I think he was punishing me for what you did to him.” She darted a quick look up at me and away again. “The things he did… Um, there was bleeding and pain. I ended up getting an abortion. The doctor didn’t think I’d be able to have kids.”

I let go of her hand and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. There weren’t words to convey the guilt-anger-sorrow cocktail brewing in my gut, with the added kick of picturing what demented torture she had to go through that hurt her so badly.

It all washed over me, taking me under.

It’s my fault. I’ll kill that motherfucker. How could I leave her there?

My eyes stung and my vision blurred. I blinked double time and coughed, attempting to dislodge the emotion stuck in my throat. Danny should be able to be a mom if she wanted. She should have the chance to make up for her own mother being so shitty. Danny would be a great mom. Patient and soft-spoken. The kind of mom who turned into a dragon when her kid needed defending. The kind who told stories at bedtime and brushed hair before school.

There wasn’t one thing I could say that would be right. Everything was wrong about this.

“What do you want to happen to him, Danny?” Whatever she wanted, I’d do it.

“I don’t know,” she said, looking up at me. “Sometimes I want him dead. Other times I just want him out of my life. Most of all, I want to forget he ever existed.”

“I wish I could erase him from your memory.” I kissed her forehead and hugging her tight.

“You can help me replace those memories with good ones,” she said, pressing her tender lips against my chest. Their warmth touched my skin through my t-shirt.

“As soon as we get back, I have a memory to make with you that you’ll never forget.” I ran my hand up her side, grazing her breast with my thumb.

Her face melted into a smile. “Race ya back!” she cried, darting from my arms and pulling on the dog’s leash. The two of them took off down the sidewalk. I followed her trail of laughter. Screw the neighbor kids laughing, hearing her do it shot electricity through my chest.

I caught up with her in six strides. The dog barked and bounded around my legs, getting tangled in his leash. “You two are slow,” I said, jogging beside her. “What do I get for winning the race?”

“You haven’t won yet!” she said, trying to get Alex to run straight instead of in circles around us.

“What do I get when I do?” I asked, taking the leash from her to help.

“Whatever you want.” She reached over and gave my crotch a quick squeeze.

“That does it,” I said, and swung her up in my arms. I jogged the last block carrying her with the dog barking and going nuts beside us. I sat her on her feet in the yard and leaped up on the porch. “I win!”

“I win too,” she said. “We tied.”

“You cheated.”

“I didn’t ask you to carry me.” She came up the steps, and I took her hands.

“You’re a temptress,” I said, pinning her hands at the small of her back and pulling her in against me. I kissed her cheek and her jaw, lingered on her neck and slid my lips down to her collar bone.

I pulled back to kiss her lips, but she was distracted, looking behind me. I turned to see what she saw and found the front door cracked open. “Did you shut the door all the way when we left?” she asked.

“Yeah. I turned the lock and brought the key with me.”

We stood there frozen on the porch. I couldn’t let Danny inside if there was a chance Striker was in there. What if he had a gun, shot me and took her with him? What if he held a gun to her head forced her to go? How could I stop him? But, I couldn’t leave her outside and go in, either. Same rules applied. I could go down and he’d take her, or he could be outside waiting for me to go in and search, leaving her alone and at his mercy.

“Alex! Here boy.” I unhooked the dog from his leash and pushed him through the front door. If someone was in there, he’d find him and bark. But Alex stood inside the door looking out at us, wagging his tail. “Go!” I said, pushing his nose inside. He barked, thinking I was playing. “You are useless.”

“He’s only a puppy,” Danny said. “I’m sure it’s fine. The door probably wasn’t all the way closed and blew open.”

She stepped forward to go in and I threw my arm out, blocking her. “No. We can’t take that chance. I can’t let you in there, and I can’t leave you alone out here.”

“So what do we do?”

Alex couldn’t have had better timing. His BMW pulled into the driveway, music blaring behind the closed windows. “You’re going to stay locked in the car,” I said. “Alex and I will make sure the house is safe.”

“What’s going on?” Alex called, stepping out of his car.

“We took the dog for a walk,” I said, leading Danny down the steps to the sidewalk. “When we came back, the front door was open. I swear I shut it and locked it.”

Alex gave me a fierce look. He was ready for confrontation. “Let’s go in,” he said.

“Danny’s staying in your car.”

“Good idea.” He strode up the front walk and took the porch stairs two at a time.

I guided Danny into the driver’s seat. “Keep the doors locked. Don’t move until we come for you.”

She grabbed my shirt. “What if you don’t?”

I leaned down and kissed her, trying to breath slowly and calm myself so she didn’t think this was a big deal. “Why wouldn’t we? Like you said, the wind probably blew the door open. We’re just being careful, okay?”

“Okay.” She grabbed the back of my neck and gave me another kiss. “Be quick.”

I swung the car door shut and motioned for her to lock it. Alex was already inside when I got to the front door. I took a couple seconds to crack my neck and square my shoulders, preparing for what might go down when I stepped inside. If Striker was in there, he wasn’t coming back out.

At least not in one piece.

Directly inside to the left, the living room was empty. I listened for sounds from upstairs to my right. Nothing. Farther down the hall, the hallway ended with the kitchen to the left—nobody—and doors to the garage, basement, master bedroom, office and laundry to the right. Where to start? Where the fuck was Alex?

I heard footsteps over my head and looked up at the ceiling. There were two bedrooms and a bathroom up there. Either Alex was checking them out, or someone else was walking around. If I went up and Striker was down here, he could run out before Alex and I could get back downstairs.

I wrapped my hand around the door to Alex’s office, turned the knob and eased it open. Empty. The master bedroom and basement would take longer to check. I didn’t hear anything from upstairs anymore. “Alex!” I whispered as loudly as I could.

Before searching the basement, I looked back around the corner, down the hallway to the front door. The dog came bounding down the stairs.

“Jesus Christ,” I said to him. “You were making that noise up there?”

The door to the master bedroom flung open and scared the fuck out of me. Alex stood there looking at me gripping the wall. “What the fuck’s your problem?” he said. “What took you so damn long?”

“I’ve been standing here wondering where the hell you were.”

“Good thing I wasn’t being murdered. A lot of help you’d be.” He walked over to me and patted the dog on the head. “Nobody’s here. I checked the whole house. Get Danny you big pussy.”

“I was being strategic,” I said, trying to explain. “I thought you were upstairs. I was watching the doors.”

“Whatever,” he said, waving a hand at me.

I went outside to get Danny, feeling like an idiot. Coming back to an open door threw me off my game. In the cage, I know when the fight’s scheduled and how much time I have to prepare. I watch tapes of my opponent beforehand and know his strengths and weaknesses. I have a plan going in. Even when I beat the shit out of Striker, I had a plan. I knew when I was going to do it and had my shit packed.

I had to learn how to adapt to being jumped by life. Jose and his gang of thugs took me by surprise and got the better of me back in Reno. If I was going to protect Danny, I had to think on my feet and be ready for anything any moment.

Like going out to the car and finding her gone.

Return Of The King