Saving Us (13 page)

"You need to get dressed first."

I looked down and noticed that I was wearing his boxers and t-shirt. "Oh, sorry."

"Get dressed and I will warm up my truck. I'll meet you out there. Take your time, Amy. There ain't nothin' that a few minutes are goin' to change."

"That's easy for you to say. It isn't your salon." I don't know what made me snap at him. Instead of saying something back, he just shook his head and walked away.

It only took me a matter of seconds to throw on some warm clothes. I grabbed my shoes and a jacket and ran out the door. Conner was in his truck playing with the thermostat. He said nothing as I climbed in and shut the door. Even as he pulled away, he kept quiet.

I closed my eyes and tried not to get upset. "I'm sorry for what I said."

"Nah, it's cool. I get it."

I reached over and tried to grab his hand, but he put it up on the steering wheel. I looked over and saw his jaw clenching. He was trying to keep his cool, except I could see that it had really gotten to him. I stayed quiet for the whole ride and it was awful. I'd never been so close to him but felt so far away from him. I hated it.

Two police cars were pulled in front of the salon. Conner pulled into a spot and we headed in together. Right before I got to the door, he ran ahead and opened it for me. Once inside I couldn't believe my eyes. My salon stations had been ripped out of the wall. The seats were ripped out of the floor and laid on their sides. One had been tossed clear across the room. The mirrors were all shattered.

An officer approached me. "Excuse me, Ma'am, is your name Amy?"

I didn't want to hear my last name so I cut in. "Yes, yes that's me. I'm the owner. Please tell me you caught the person who did this."

"I'm afraid we were hoping you could give us a lead. This kind of thing doesn't exactly happen in our small town. Can you think of an
yone that would want to do this? Is anyone holding a grudge against you? Did you make someone's hair fall out?" He started laughing until Conner jumped in his shit.

"Do we have a problem here? This woman's business has been vandalized and you're makin' hair jokes? What kind of pussy ass cop are you?"

The cop cocked his eyebrow. I got in between them and turned to Conner. "Walk away. Please."

He seemed pissed that I could ask him to do that, but turned and walked away anyway. I turned ar
ound to face the cop again. He put his head down. "I'm sorry, ma'am. It was inappropriate."

"Look
, all I care about is finding out what I have to do next. You were asking if I knew anyone that would be capable of doing this. The answer is yes, I do. My ex-husband has threatened my life and everything I love. Is that the kind of person you are looking for?"

I think he was shocked that
I was so dead serious. "Yeah, can you give us his information, or maybe his whereabouts?"

"I have no idea where you can find him. Once I left, I never wanted to see him again. Is it common to keep tabs on ex-spouses?"

Another officer came walking out from the back room. He looked from his partner then to me. "I think you need to take a look back here."

All of us, including Conner, rushed to the back room. I couldn't believe that it could get any worse, but as I stood there looking at the mess, I realized that I was wrong. All of the chemicals that I used for dying hair had been busted open and poured out. The smell alone was enough to knock someone out. I pulled my shirt
up over my face, while I took in the rest of the room. It was a mess, but the worst part was the words written on the far wall.

This is just the beginning.

I fell into Conner's arms. Rick had destroyed the one thing that was mine. As I stood there crying, Conner guided me out of the back room. He sat a chair upright and got me sitting. "Breathe, Amy."

I took deep breaths and looked around again. The place was destroyed beyond repair. It was going to need to be gutted
out before it could be salvaged. I broke into a crying fit and I just couldn't stop. I was never going to get away from Rick. He wasn't going to stop.

When I heard my father
’s voice, I looked up. He caught my gaze and headed in my direction, ignoring the officer. "Amy, sweetheart, are you okay?"

"I wasn't here when it happened, Dad. I went home early today. It's destroyed. Everything is ruined!"

He kneeled down and put his hands on my knees. "We have insurance. All I care about is you being safe." He looked around the room again. "My God, was this Rick's doing?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"That son of a bitch is going to pay, sweetie. Lord, I was so afraid when I got that call." He pulled me into his arms. "I just got you back. I can't imagine losing you."

I cried even more. "I know, Dad. I feel the same way."

Once he pulled away he stood up and shook hands with Conner. "Son, do you have any place that you can take her where she'll be safe? I can handle this place, but I need to know that she'll be somewhere that he can’t get to her. Her and that baby are my main concern."

"I can take her back to Kentucky. My family has a ranch."

He nodded. "Good. Leave as soon as you can and call me when you get there. These cops need to catch this son of a bitch. If he is this hell bent, then there is no telling what he is capable of."

I sat there quietly listening to the two of them making decisions regarding me. I was in no position to do it myself. Rick was out for blood and I was the first one on his list.

"I need to stay and deal with the officers."

"I have this, sweetie. You let Conner take you home and get you safe. Everything can be replaced except for you." Hearing my father say such gentle words was the best kind of medicine to cure my broken heart. I looked around at my dilapidated salon. Everything that I had worked so hard for was destroyed. That bastard ruined everything.

I got up and walked toward the officer who was working on the report. "Excuse me, my father is here now. Do you need anything else from me? I'm not feeling very well."

"Just make sure we have the right number for you and you can leave. If we need anything else we will call you."

I walked over to my dad and hugged him one more time. "Thanks for coming."

"You don't have to thank me. It's what parents do. This bastard has cost me precious time with you, Amy. You go somewhere and be safe. That young man you're with loves you. I can see it every time he looks at you. That's the kind of man that I wanted you
to end up with. I think he'll be a good father. He's hell-bent on protecting you."

I turned to look back at Conner. He was talking to the other officer about something. For all I knew he was telling him how much of a douche his partner was. "He is a good man. I don't know what I would have done had he not been in my life."

"Don't you worry about any of this. I will handle it all. Once you are in Kentucky we can talk about what we need to do."

He hugged me tighter and kissed the top of my head. "I'm so glad that we have each other again. I missed you so much, Daddy."

Maybe it was just me being overemotional. Maybe it was my hormones, but at that very moment he was my daddy and I was his little girl.

A few minutes after, we were heading back to the farm. Conner hadn't said much to me since I had snapped at him, but instead of bringing it up, he pulled me close into his arms. "It's goin' to be alright, Amy. I promise you, it will."

Chapter 16

Conner

I never wanted to hurt someone like I wanted to hurt that mother fucker for destroying Amy's salon. What kind of monster preys on women like this guy? The police said they would d
o their best to find him, but I wasn't that convinced considering how they treated Amy during their questioning. I could have punched that little prick out for what he said to her. Didn't people have any compassion? She was devastated.

My sister about pitched a fit when I told her that we were packing up and heading to Kentucky. I don't think she realized just how bad the salon was, even after I showed her some pictures that I took from my phone. "Why can't you just stay here?"

"Randa, I don't have time to argue with you. She's pregnant and I promised her father that I would get her out of here until things cool down. That bastard threatened her life. You think I'm just
goin' to stand around and wait for him to hurt her? She's carrying my child, for Christ sakes."

Ty came in and leaned on my sister's shoulders. "Baby, if I were Conner, I would do the same thing to keep you safe. He's doing the right thing."

"I know. You're right." Once she finally agreed that taking Amy to Kentucky was the right decision, she got up and helped her get her things together. For all of the times where I had tried to prevent Amy from being stressed, she was more stressed than ever before. I had to get her away from all of this.

An hour later, we were climbing into my truck. I kissed my little nephews and my niece goodbye and hugged my sister. I wasn't sure when we'd be able to come back to North Carolina. For someone that never wanted to move here, it killed me more to be leaving.

Kentucky was great, but raising my kids alongside my sister was always something that I wanted to do. I was miserable when she lived here and I lived there. Maybe I was being selfish. I knew she had her own family and I was about to start mine. Everything was happening too damn fast.

Once we got on the road and had been driving for a while, I
couldn’t stand the silence. This had all happened so fast and we'd never stopped to talk about us going to Kentucky. Amy had just gone along with it.

"You hungry?"

She shrugged but never looked my way.

"When did you eat last?"

"I don't remember."

That was one thing that drove me crazy. She forgot to eat all the
time. “I’m goin' to stop at the next town and get us some supper."

"I can't eat right now, Conner."

I clenched the steering wheel and bit my tongue. Was it necessary for the woman to be so hardheaded when I was trying my darndest to take care of her? "You need to eat."

"Please don't do this right now, Conner. I'm not in the mood to argue with you."

I pulled over the truck, unable to hold it in anymore. "This ain't about Rick or the damn salon. You are carryin' my child and I will be damned if I'm goin' to sit back and watch you fall apart. We are stoppin' at the next town and if I have to force feed your stubborn ass, I will."

She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around her knees. I caught a glimpse of a dirty look as I pulled back onto the road. "Whatever!"

"For the record, I don’t give a damn if you’re pissed at me. You'll get over it."

"What if I don't?"

Was she really going to threaten me with that shit when I was trying to do the right thing? I knew she was all pissed off. I got it. I guess I didn’t think she was going to take it all out on me. I wasn’t sure that I liked being anyone’s punching bag. "You will!"

I stopped at a diner at the next town. Amy said nothing as she climbed out of the truck and followed behind me. I placed my hand on her back as we entered and I swear she seemed irritated.
Once we got our seats, she kept being the same way. I looked at the menu for a second. “What are you gettin’?”

She put her menu down and looked right at me. “Why don’t you pick for me, since you think you know what I need.”

I placed my palms down on the table and looked right at her. “I get it. I’m your punchin’ bag. Does it make you feel good to treat me like shit?”

She rolled her eyes and covered her face up so I could
n’t see her expression.

Once the waitress came over, I took it upon myself to order for the both of us. If Amy wanted to act like that, I was going to show her how it felt.

I played on my phone until our food came, since neither of us were talking. We ate in silence and just like I had thought, she was hungry and ate almost all of her food. Every bite I took, I stared right at her. I knew it was driving her crazy, but I didn’t care. I had made it a mission to piss her off.

“I think we should get a room for the night and drive the rest of the way in the mornin’.”

She took a napkin and wiped off her face. “Whatever you want to do.”

The whole punching bag thing was really wearing thin on me. “Amy, do you have a problem with me?”

She shook her head. “No! Everything is just dandy.”

That was it. I’d had enough. “If you keep givin’ me the cold shoulder, I may just have to take you in the bathroom and have my way. I can’t even begin to tell you how turned on I am right now.”

She rolled her eyes and sat back in her seat, while grabbing her purse. “Thanks for the food. I’ll be in the truck when you’re done.”

Now, I could understand that she was hurting. Hell, I don’t even know how upset I would have been if it had happened to me. Maybe I would want to be alone and not deal with people as I tried to figure out what I was going to do. Nothing
, and I mean nothing, was giving her a good enough reason to be so short with me.