Cree (My Way Series - Book 1) (Volume 1) (19 page)

“Mommy, I have one more present for you!”

Annie handed me the Sunday edition of the local newspaper, I was clueless. I never read the paper, or read much of anything for that fact. I smiled and tried to cover up my confusion. Cree whispered in my ear to open it.

I opened the paper to find letters written by students from Grace Elementary to their parents. My eyes immediately searched for Annie’s name.

To My Mommy,

Roses are red

Violets are blue

I sure do lov you!

You are my favorit mommy. I love you to moon and back. Thank you for tacking me to dance class and giving me kisses. I’m gunna make daddy make you bacun for breakfast. I luv you.

Your Dautter,

Annie Bug

Kindergarten Student

Grace Elementary

Ms. Fallon James

“Oh, Annie, you complete my world!”

Cree started a wrestling match with me. And, of course, Annie had to rescue me from her daddy.

“I have to go check water. You ladies enjoy your morning. I should be back in a couple of hours.”

Cree kissed each of us and then left. Annie and I spent the morning huddled up in the bed watching cartoons. Lacey and Willow joined our cartoon party. All of us girls enjoyed the best lazy Sunday morning in the history of Sunday mornings.

We knew the guys would be working until late afternoon, so we decided to go down to the lake to enjoy our routine Sunday picnic. Willow claimed that she already packed all the food. We hopped into Betsy and drove down the dirt road. Annie sat on my lap and helped me steer since we were driving out on the farm. We blasted our theme song, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” and drove down the dirt road to our favorite family spot.

My eyes instantly spotted the large canoe on the lake with a huge bouquet of brightly colored balloons floating easily in the air above it. Cree was standing on the dock with his go-to large bouquet of wildflowers.
That sneaky little pirate!

“Surprise, Mommy!”

It was a surprise! We spent the afternoon floating around in the canoe, eating and playing UNO. Lacey had her camera and snapped several shots of us. That night I went to bed my with heart overflowing.

C
HAPTER 26

Stray Dog

Monday Morning

I woke up with a cheesy-ass smile still plastered to my face from the best Mother’s Day ever. I turned to see Cree still sleeping. I started raining kisses up and down his back to wake him.

“Baby! I have to go to The Shop early this morning. I have a delivery truck coming!”

He rolled over and grabbed my hips, pulling me up onto him. He suggestively started thrusting his hips up, making me giggle.

“Stop! I have to shower and go!”

“Mmm…me too, I need to shower and go right inside of you.”

“You’re so dirty!”

“You love me,” he said with a wink.

“Listen to your Captain and get your ass in my shower, matey, so I can fuck you!”

***

Now I really did have a shit-eating grin plastered on my face while driving into town. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon and I realized that everything in my life was perfect. I remembered my Poppy’s words, “Every day is a new beginning.” The words rang so true on my journey to finding my place in the world. My heart was overfilled with love, and my mind was content for the first time in my life. I had done it. I had found my peace.

I pulled into the alley to see that I beat the delivery guy. I reached for my phone to shoot Cree a dirty text while I was waiting. It was our favorite game to play. Cree even started sending me pictures, which made me freaking drool. I searched all over in my purse, checked my pant pockets and even looked under my seats, but I couldn’t find my phone. I must have left it in the bathroom when Cree was distracting me this morning.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

I jumped straight up and grabbed my chest. I turned my head towards the sound and screamed. A flash from the past stood before me. It was the man who left scars on my already shattered heart. It was Aaron. He was standing inches away from me, the only protection I had was a glass window. Aaron had never hit me during our marriage, but he knew how to use his words to make me bleed. He stood at the driver’s side window, pounding on it with his fists.

My body instantly started shaking at the sight of him. His hair was greasy and long, and he wore a soiled grey t-shirt. His face was broken out in a red rash and the look of hatred in his eyes was undeniable. The sight of him made vomit rise up in the back of my throat. I was frozen with fear and anxiety.
Why in the hell was he here?
Before I could make a move, Aaron swung open the door.

“What? You don’t have anything to say, you rotten little cunt?”

He grabbed my face with his right hand and started shaking it. I couldn’t move—I was still frozen with fear and complete shock. He was here for one reason and one reason only: to hurt me, and I knew from the look on his face, he was going to.

“Are you having fun spending all of my mom’s money, you little bitch?”

He let go of my face and slapped me hard. I jerked away and tried to scramble out the other side of my truck. I made it to the back door of The Shop before Aaron grabbed me around the waist and slung me to the ground like his piece of trash. My head bounced off the brick wall and everything started to blur. He reached down and ripped off my shirt, and started pounding his fist into my face. I tried to cover my face with my arms and kick my legs to fight back. My actions of defense only fueled his rage. He jumped on top of me and grabbed both of my wrists. I pushed back, trying with everything inside of me to fight him. I heard the sound of my bone breaking and then instantly felt a rush of searing pain bolt through my body.

“You fucking ruined my life! You ruined me…you took my money! I lost it all because of you. I lost the firm. You are going to write me a fucking check right now, before I smear your goddamn brains all over this alley.”

“I’m not scared of you anymore. You can break my bones, but that’s it, Aaron. You no longer hold any power over me.”

I’m not going to give in to him. He can’t hurt me or hold me hostage anymore. My heart is not his to break.

I spit up into his face.

“I’m not fucking around, Amelia. You have about ten seconds to save your life.”

I spit up into his face again and kneed him hard in the balls. Aaron was so far gone. The Bastard I knew had morphed into this savage beast before me. He lost it at that moment, and went into a wild rage of beating the shit out of me. I started screaming as loud as I could, someone had to save me or I was going to die. Aaron shoved my shirt in my mouth to turn off the noise. The last thing I remember was Aaron slamming a pipe towards my head, and then it all stopped. He slumped over and fell to the side of me. Lacey stood behind him with a baseball bat. I let out a sigh of relief and let my mind shut off. Everything went black.

In and out, in and out, in and out went the sharp needle above my eyebrow. The cool string was gliding through my skin. Metal tearing through my flesh…pinching, piercing pain. Warm blood dripping down into my ear while the needle keeps hooking my skin and poking through it. Blood. Bleeding.

I opened my eyes to find Lacey standing above me. She’s spinning; the room is spinning. I close my eyes to try this again. The room is still spinning, and now I feel tears spill from my eyes.

“Close your eyes, Milly. You’re safe.”

“Where am I?” I whispered. Shooting pain strikes my cut lips when I try to talk.

“The hospital. You’re  okay, Milly. The police have the Bastard.”

“Cree…where?”

“I don’t know, Milly. I’m sure he’s on his way.”

I give in to the dark again. The darkness is comforting and warm. I have no worries or concerns in the darkness. I can’t feel. I swirl around in the black cloud for what seems like endless hours feeling nothing, but wanting to escape it. I can now hear Willow’s voice whispering in the room. I don’t want Willow or Lacey, I want Cree. Where is he?

“Where is he?” I whispered.

“Are you in pain, Milly?” asked Willow.

“Where is he?”

No answer came from my two best friends. My vision was way too blurry to read their facial expressions.

“Where the fuck is he? He doesn’t want me now, does he?”

A demon entered my body at the thought of Cree turning his back on me now. I sat straight up and ripped the IVs from my arm, screaming. Screaming like I had never screamed before. Screaming desperately for my life back, that I needed it back now. Lacey grabbed me and held me tight. I continued to scream into her shoulder.

“Milly, stop! He went to the police station,” Willow finally admitted.

I didn’t care. I continued to scream and cry. I needed Cree here now. I needed to know that he still wanted me, after I had been marked with my past. Lacey finally laid me down on the bed, still holding me, and then called for the nurse. She held me as the nurse put my IVs back in. I couldn’t let go of Lacey. I needed to hold onto a piece of my new life. I knew she would never leave my side and deep down, I knew Cree would never leave me. I needed to calm my thoughts and remember Cree’s love.

The door opened to my room. All of our heads turned to the door. It was Cree. He was sweaty and looked like he had just beaten the shit out of someone. He was wearing his work clothes and his netted trucker hat. My eyes locked on his hands and then focused onto his bloody knuckles. Lacey climbed out of the bed and I sat up. Cree walked over to me and I instantly parted my legs for him. I wrapped my one good arm around his neck and the other one with the cast lay at my side. I buried my face into his chest and continued to cry and scream. I needed to get all the hatred and anger out of me. I made a vow to not let my past haunt me anymore. I needed to get it out.

Cree lifted my face up to his. I had no idea how bad my face looked, but going off how it felt, I’m pretty sure I looked like I just had the shit beat out of me. He started to lightly kiss my face around the bruises and stitches. I rubbed my fingers over his blood crusted knuckles and I instantly knew what he had been doing.

“He won’t hurt you again, Milly.”

I had no idea how to respond to this. The tears started to spill from my eyes and I buried my face back into his strong chest. The safest place on Earth, nestled in Cree’s arms, and I had no intentions of moving.

“I love you, Milly. I’ll always protect you with everything I have. Don’t be mad at me for going to the jail. My buddy from high school, Tommy, is the jailor. He let me in his cell and I beat the fucking shit out of him. Tommy told me there’s  a warrant out for his arrest. He embezzled money from his business partner back in Sacramento. He’s facing serious charges that will put him away for years. You’ve nothing to worry about. I have you.”

“Take me home. I don’t want to be here.”

“You want to go to your apartment?”

“No, I said take me home. My home is on your farm—it’s the only place I belong. Now take me home.”

The doctors wanted me to stay overnight for observation. There was no way in hell I was going to stay here the rest of the day and into the night. I belonged with Cree and Annie on the farm. It took some major words to convince Cree to take me home. He finally called for a nurse when he realized I was leaving with or without his help. I signed all the papers refusing further observation and care from the hospital and doctors.

Lacey and Cree were obviously disgruntled with my choice. I knew that my health was of their highest concern, but all I had was a broken arm and some bruising. The discharge nurse taped my arm with some gauze where the IVs had been, and then Cree scooped me up out of the bed and carried me to his truck. He was a heroic little pirate.

He stopped at the grocery store to get all my prescriptions filled. He insisted that Lacey come with us, so he had Lacey stay in the truck with me while he went into the store. He was treating me like a three-year-old, but I had no complaints. I sat in the middle of the front seat and Lacey sat next to me. When Cree hopped out of the truck, I laid my head on her shoulder.

“Thank you, Lacey. I was preparing myself for death right before I saw your face.”

“Milly, I, uh, I was scared to fucking death when I heard your screams. I was unlocking the salon, and I heard you. I ran as fast as I could. I fucking love you. You’re the only family I have. I love you.”

“Lacey, you are my family. You’re my sister. I fucking love you, too!”

We were both crying when Cree returned to the truck with his bags. He stiffened immediately at the sight of the two of us crying and holding each other. He sat there for a minute and let us finish our cry and sob fest. Then he did what Cree does best.

“I grabbed some food from the deli for lunch. The chicken strips are mine, but I bought a corndog and burrito for you two. I figured you two could wrestle naked and the winner gets the corn dog.”

I snatched the bag from Cree and searched for the corn dog.

“Screw that, Captain! The corn dog is mine! And you better have a damn mustard packet in your back pocket, or you are gonna get cut. Here’s your burrito, ho-bag!”

We all laughed and then sat in the parking lot eating our greasy lunch. We didn’t need to talk to express what we were thinking. We needed a moment together, just the three of us, to reflect on what happened this morning. I had to nibble on my corn dog because my top lip was split-open and it made it a bitch to eat, so I finally gave up and threw my corn dog at Lacey.

“I need to tell you two something.”