Damon (21 page)

“I hope so, Cait
. I
surely hope so
. I
’ll come to the house, but I don’t want to
. I
need them
. I
don’t think…if he hurts either of them, I swear I’ll…I
’ll…Christ, I need them back.”
Damon turned his car around and pulled into a parking lot
. H
e hated t
o drive and talk on the phone.

“You come here and we’ll talk
. I
have an APB out on Ormond and one on Charlie and Connor
. I
f they’re out there, we’ll get them
. D
o you have any idea if Charlie has
ever used a gun before, Damon?
I’m hoping she has it, but I have a feeling Connor does
. I
also wonde
r if he even knows he has it.”

Damon didn’t know if either of them had any gun experience
. H
e realized that he didn’t really know that much about either of them
. H
e was going to make it a priority when they returned
. R
ight after he read them both the new rules he was making up in his head
. F
irst and foremost was, never, ever, ever think about running away again
. H
e had to smile at that
. H
e didn’t think rules would go over well with either of them.

“I would think he’d know
. I
doubt if he’d tell his mother he has it, though
. I
think she’d tan his hide but good if she knew he had taken Jamie’s coat without permission
. N
o, if Connor has it, and I agree with you that he does, he is keeping it close to himself
. I
t doesn’t make me feel any better about knowing that he has it, but he isn’t stupid
. N
ot by long shot.”

“No, he’s not. Come to the house
. W
e’ll talk
when you get here, all right?”

~~~

Connor had noticed the police there first
. C
harlie knew that somehow they had figured out that she and Connor would be there
. L
ogical conclusions, she thought, since they didn’t have a
car and they had little money.

It got to be a game for them to see how long they could hide from the policemen, there were three of them now
. F
irst, they’d go to the shops and watch them from the windows, then they’d hide behind a magazine or whatever they could find
. A
couple of times, they’d nearly been caught, but Charlie had been able to lose them
. S
he was actually terrified of what would happen if they found them, but she didn’t let Connor know
. S
omehow, she knew that Anthony was getting closer
. A
nd the more she saw of the police looking for them, the more she k
new that they had to get away.

Connor seemed nervous
. M
ore so than when they’d fled Nevada
. H
e kept acting as if he wanted to tell her something, but would change his mind at the last minute
. A
s much as she wanted to know what it was, it was that much more that she didn’t
. H
e would tell her in his own time, she knew
. A
nd she hoped that he would just simply tell her that he loved her, but she knew her son well enough to know that he had a secret and he was trying to figure out if she was going to be mad about it or not
. S
he also knew that he’d tell her in his own time in his own way.

The bus was due to leave in thirty minutes
. T
hey decided to get themselves cleaned up and go to the bathroom before they left
. T
heir first experience with riding on a milk run ride had told them that the bathrooms got really bad toward the end of the ride and if they could go now, they wouldn’t have to use tha
t one unless it was necessary.

Charlie went to the bathroom and when she came out, Connor went into the men’s room to clean up and get ready
. S
he was just getting worried when he came out
. H
e wasn’t alone
. A
nthony had him by the hair and a gun pointed to Connor’s head
. H
e must have hit Connor a few times. His nose was bloodied and his lip was cut
. W
hen Charlie went to lunge for her son, Anthony yanked on Connor’s hair and made him whimper
. S
he stopped where she was
. N
ow she wanted a cop and she couldn’t find any of them.

“You’ll behave or I’ll kill him right here
. I
don’t want him anyway so it makes no difference to me
. B
ut you’ll come along with me to save him anymore pain, won’t you Charlotte, love?”

Charlie looked at the man
. H
e looked…he looked crazed
. H
is hair was matted and stringy, his clothes—a uniform
—
w
ere
wrinkled and nasty looking
. S
he thought that he had blood on the front of it
. H
is badge was gone and in its place was a paper one that someone, probably him, had written “Sheriff” on
. H
is hands were also bloodied and there were a few cuts on them
. H
e hadn’t shaved in what appeared to be a week either.

“Let him go and I’ll come with you
. I
’ll not leave you again if you let Connor go
. I
swear it.”
She would give him anything he wanted for Connor to live.

“Oh you’ll do that and more, my Charlotte
. T
his is fate, you know?
Fate brought us together that night and then again today
. I
was just going home when guess who walked back into my lif
e?
I go in to take a piss and there comes out of the stall the bane of my life, the brat
. N
o, I don’t think I’ll let him go
. B
ut you’re going to pay for this little trip of yours
. B
oth of you
. N
ow here is how this is going to work
. Y
ou’re going to go and buy us all a ticket to go back home and then you’re going to make sure I get my job back
. I
don’t care what you have to do to convince my boss that I need this job
. I
’m the best fucking person he has working for him anyway.”

“All right, but I want you to let Connor go
. H
e has nothing to do with any of this and you don’t like him anyway
. I
’ll buy the tickets for you and me
. W
e can go anywhere you want, Anthony
. I
t’s just that I don’t…I don’t want you to hurt my son
. H
e’s all I have in the world.”

“You got m
e, bitch!
Me
. W
hat did I e
ver do to you to make you run?
I provided you with three meals a day
. Y
ou had a roof over your head and a warm place to sleep
. I
even provided for this piece of shit here and still you ran
. Y
ou
won’t run again, you hear me?
You won’t run again.”

Spittle ran down his chin as he spoke
. S
he wanted to scream at him that he’d given her no reason to stay either
. T
hat in the three years that he’d made her move in with him had been a nightmare
. T
hat he’d taken everything from them, her home, her job, Connor hadn’t been able to go to school
. N
either of them had any friends to speak of
. T
he one friend that she’d had was now dead because of him
. T
he warm place to sleep had been a rag on the floor of his basement and he’d beaten them nearly every day for three long years
. B
ut she didn’t
. S
he had to think to save Connor.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I was ungrateful
. B
ut I’m coming back to you now, Anthony
. I
’m coming back with you and we’ll make a home for ourselves—just you and me
. L
et Connor go and I’ll do whatever you say.”

“Damn right you will
. B
ut don’t you think ‘cause you’re saying all those nice things that you won’t be punished
. I
have a list of things you’ve done that you have to pay for
. A
very long list
. A
nd this thing here, he ain’t gonna be taking up anymore of your time and my money
. O
h no
. T
hat’s going to be your first punishment, watching this thing die.”

“You harm a hair on his head and you’ll have to sleep with one eye open for the rest of your life
. I
will rip you apart, you cock-sucking bastard
. I
swear to you
. L
et him fucking go or I swear you’ll regret making me a part of your sick, twisted life for the rest of your fucking life.”

The slap was hard and quick
. B
ut she had seen it coming
. H
ad she not moved when she did, he may have hurt her badly
. A
s it was, all she got was a bloodied mouth
. W
hen he drew back his hand to hit her again, she kicked out at him and hit him in the knee
. H
is scream rent the air
. S
everal people turned to look at them, but no one came to help
. W
hen he hit her again, this time with the gun, she saw stars
. H
er head was spinning when she went down this time
. S
he staggered back and felt herself flying backwards.

As Charlie tumbled across the floor and hit her head on the wall, she heard screaming
. S
he didn’t even realize it was her until later
. S
he was having a hard time staying conscious when she noticed that there was a policeman coming up on them fast
. H
e was shouting something, something that Charlie couldn’t quite make out. That was her last thought before she saw Anthony’s foot coming to her head.

~CHAPTER 1
7
~

Connor woke to complete darkness
. H
e wasn’t afraid of the dark, but for it to be so dark, it made him very uneasy
. H
e wasn’t sure where he was, but he could feel a humming like a rumble under him
. H
e moved around a little, but not very much
. H
e could hear strange noises, but nothing he could recognize
. R
eaching around to see if he could find something to help him figure out where he was, he found the gun again
. H
e took it out and laid i
t next to him.

Connor had found the gun when his momma had jumped out at him on the street
. H
e had been terrified at first when he’d discovered it in the pocket of Jamie’s coat, then he felt like he could protect his momma
. H
e wasn’t sure how to use it, but he figured he could point it and pull the trigger like they did on the television show he’d seen when he’d been staying with Damon.

Connor started to cry now. He missed Damon and wished that he and his momma could have stayed with him
. H
e wanted more than anything to be back in that big, soft bed
. H
e’d really liked it there and liked all the people there too
. W
iping at his tears, he tried to figure out where he was
. N
o since in crying like a little baby, wouldn’t get him anywhere anyway
. T
hat’s when he started to listen to the sounds around him.

First there was the sound of a horn bleeping
. I
t sounded close at first then it seemed to fade away
. T
hat’s when he noticed that he could hear music, country music like Mr. O liked
. N
either Connor nor his momma liked the music, but he could recognize the noise coming from somewhere close
. L
istening a little harder, he could hear someone singing
. I
t was Mr. O; he’d know that awful sound anywhere
. I
t took Connor a few more minutes of listening to realize that he was
in a car, probably in a trunk.