Fighting to be Free by Kirsty Moseley (39 page)

“This is awesome! I have my own star?”

I nodded, prying my cell phone out of my pocket. “Want to see it?”

She looked at me with wide excited eyes. “Hell yeah I do!”

“Come on then, little girl, I’ll find it for you.” I pushed myself out of the truck, grabbing the spare jacket that I’d bought for her so that she wouldn’t get cold. She climbed out too and walked to the front of the truck, looking up at the clear night sky. I slipped the jacket around her shoulders before gripping her waist and lifting her quickly, sitting her on the hood of my truck.

She squealed and giggled. “What are you doing?”

I smiled and climbed up, settling myself behind her, pulling her close to my chest. I fiddled with my cell phone, finding the star map app that I’d downloaded for tonight, then pointed it in the general direction of her star.

It took a few minutes to find it but finally we had it. Ellie was raving and gushing about how incredible it was, that it was the most thoughtful and special gift that she’d ever had.

We just cuddled on the hood of my truck, looking at the star constellations for a while before talk turned to her school and the fact that she only had two months left of her senior year. Coincidently, she finished high school a week after my last agreed day of working for Brett.

We spoke about colleges and where she was going to attend. She didn’t seem too happy about the thought of college at all; she hadn’t decided on a major and had nothing specific in mind for a career. She didn’t even really want to go to college; she just said that people always expected her to so she just figured that she would.

“So, there’s actually nothing that you want to do? If you could do absolutely anything, what would it be?” I asked. Everyone had a dream, didn’t they? Even if it was just a pipe dream that would never come true, everyone had one. I still wanted to break the land speed record, that was my pipe dream.

She looked at me sheepishly and shook her head. “There’s nothing,” she answered.

I frowned. Her words just didn’t sound right, like she was lying or something. “That’s not true, Ellie. What is it you want to do?”

“You’ll laugh and say it’s stupid,” she protested.

I sighed. I guess she didn’t know me as well as she thought she did if she thought I would be anything other than supportive. “I won’t, I promise,” I assured her.

She closed her eyes, seeming to be gathering her courage or something. Finally, she spoke, “I want to have my own label.”

Label? What did that mean? “Huh? What’s a label?”

“A clothing line,” she explained.

I raised one eyebrow at that. I knew she had an eye for fashion, that much was obvious because of how she looked. “Really? Have you ever designed anything before?” I asked. She nodded sheepishly in response. “Something that I’ve seen?” I prompted, waiting for her to continue.

She nodded again, clearly uncomfortable with this conversation. “Yeah, I designed and made that dress that I wore to my dance.”

My mouth dropped open at her words. “Holy fuck, really?” I gasped, shocked. That dress was incredible, I was sure it was an expensive little number.

“Yep,” she replied, looking like she was bracing herself for something bad.

“Wow, shit, that was dress was amazing, Ellie. I had no idea you were so talented!” I gushed excitedly.

A slow smile crept onto her face; her shoulders seemed to relax a little. “Seriously, you liked it?”

I nodded eagerly. “Hell yeah I liked it. Damn, that dress was beautiful; I can’t believe you made that.”

She blushed furiously. “I made that shirt that I wore today too,” she admitted quietly, as if she was ashamed of it or something.

“The blue one? Wow, that was incredible too, Ellie. You should definitely go to design school or something,” I encouraged.

She frowned and shook her head. “I don’t really like to show people my designs.”

Is she crazy? If I had a proper talent like that I would be showing it off to everyone! “Why not?”

She shrugged, her nose scrunching up. “I don’t know. The only people I’ve ever spoken to about going into fashion was Mark and Stacey.”

“And what did they say about it? That you shouldn’t waste your talent?” I asked.

She nodded weakly, playing with her fingers. “Stacey did,” she replied.

“And Mark?” I prompted.

She sighed, shrugging, looking even more uncomfortable as she squirmed on the spot. “Mark didn’t like the idea much. He didn’t like my designs and said that I’d be wasting my time studying it.” I raised one eyebrow, fighting my anger because the prick had obviously knocked her self-confidence. “He thought they were trashy and classless. One of my dresses he told me would only be worn by people that lived in trailers,” she finished.

“Ellie, for fuck sake the guy was an asshole, a controlling asshole who probably didn't want you to make anything of yourself because then you might leave him for someone better!” I cried angrily.

She smiled at that. “Someone better, like you?” she teased.

I couldn't help but laugh. “Someone much better than me, Ellie, someone who could give you the world.”

She smiled and pointed up at the sky. “Who needs the world when I have my own star?” she replied.

“Now who's corny?” I joked. She pressed her lips to mine, kissing me fiercely, when she pulled away we were both a little breathless. “Just think about it for me, okay? I'd love for you to do something that makes you happy, I'll always support you no matter what it is, and you need to know that.”

She sighed wistfully, looking at me like I was the sweetest guy in the world. “I'd settle for just travelling around for a while. I've always wanted to see the world. Paris, Rome, Egypt, England....”

She sighed again and snuggled against my chest, pulling my arms tighter around her.

Travelling? I was definitely up for travelling if she was serious. “Really? You want to travel?”

She nodded vigorously. “Heck yeah. It’s a dream of mine to take a boat trip up the Nile, climb to the top of the Eiffel tower, swim with dolphins in a crystal clear ocean. I'd love to do that.”

I gulped, about to make an offer that could shape our lives together. “I'll make you a deal....”

She looked at me suspiciously. “What kind of deal?”

“Take a year off from studying. Travel with me when you finish high school. We'll go do everything you've just said, and more. Then, after a year we come back and you study fashion in college. Deal?” I offered.

“You want to go travelling with me? You're serious?” she asked with wide excited eyes. I nodded, I'd do anything that made her smile; I really wished she knew that. “Really? Really, really?”

I laughed and nodded. “Yeah, really, really,” I confirmed.

“We can’t though.” She said the words but the excited smile on her face showed that she didn’t actually mean them. “We can’t, can we? Not really….”

I smiled and shrugged. “I have nothing tying me here. If you want to climb up some crappy metal tower in France, then I want to too,” I joked, laughing as she slapped my arm, giggling. “I’m being serious though. Think about it, you and me, a year out, travelling the world. That sounds like a great idea to me.”

She was chewing on her lip so hard that I was frightened she was going to bite it in half, her eyes were searching mine, indecision and wonder were both clear on her face. “Oh God, I’d love that,” she whispered with wide eyes.

“Then we’ll do it. But when we come home, you go to design school, or fashion school or whatever it’s called. Deal?” I offered. Excitement was building up in my stomach, thoughts of waking up in a different country with her, taking cheesy tourist photos of some of the world’s most famous landmarks. I would actually give anything for that. A new start, away from here, with her. It sounded like a dream, the best dream I could ever think of.

Her smile fell to be replaced by a worried frown. “Jamie, I’m not good enough to go to fashion school, I’d get laughed right out of there!” she whined, shaking her head.

“Ellie, I’ve seen two things of yours that you’ve made, unless you’ve worn something else that you’ve made?” She shook her head in response. “Right, well those two things are incredible. So beautiful. You need to do something with your talent. Have confidence and believe in yourself,” I encouraged.

She pouted. “Can’t we just do the travelling and not add school into the deal?”

I smiled and shook my head slowly, brushing my nose up the side of hers. “No.”

She kissed me then, a serious kiss, the force of it made me practically fall back against my windshield as she crushed herself to me. After a minute of kissing so fiercely that my lips were tingling, she pulled back and looked at me, her eyes dancing with excitement. “You’re being serious, Jamie? Travelling, for a whole year?” she asked, pressing her body against mine.

I nodded in confirmation. “Then school.”

She chewed on her lip thoughtfully; I could practically see her mind whirling, thinking it through, weighing out the pros and cons. “Okay I’ll apply, but if I don’t get in then that’s the end of it. Agreed?” she bartered.

I suddenly got so excited that I could barely keep still. Images flashed in my mind of her standing next to Niagara Falls, sunning herself in a bikini, us wandering through little market towns together.

The two months started to feel like a lifetime away. “Agreed.” My hand tangled into the back of her hair, guiding her mouth to mine as she made an excited little squealing sound, her eyes lighting up like we were going right this very second.

My cell phone rang just as we were getting out of the truck to go into the restaurant. I smiled apologetically and looked at the caller ID, planning to reject the call. Brett’s number was flashing on my screen though so I couldn’t.

“Sorry, I gotta take this,” I said to Ellie. She nodded, leaning against the wall, waiting patiently.

“Hey, Brett,” I answered as I put the cell to my ear, pacing away a few steps to that Ellie couldn’t hear the conversation.

“Hey, Kid. How you doing, alright? Get stuff sorted with your girlfriend like I told you to?” he asked.

“Err, yeah,” I confirmed knowing he was asking about my alibi.

“That’s great, it shouldn’t be necessary but it doesn’t hurt to be cautious. Everything’s going according to plan. The situation should be resolved soon. My lawyer’s a real hardass, an expensive hardass but you have to pay for the best, right? Anyway, Terry hasn’t talked about anything and Arthur said that he should have him home by tonight. Apparently they have enough evidence to charge him though, which is a pain, but we’ll deal with it. I’m hoping it won’t get to trial, sometimes evidence goes missing, statements get lost in the office, that kind of thing. But, even if it does get to trial then I’ll slip the judge a bung to throw the case out of court,” he explained.

I breathed a sigh of relief that Terry hadn’t grassed and dropped me in anything. “Awesome.”

“Yeah, there is something you need to be aware of though. Apparently, they pulled Terry’s phone log and your number came up as calling him at the time of the crash. Delete all your shit and ditch your phone, okay? You didn’t call Terry at all, you were tucked up in bed with your girlfriend all night, understand?” he coached.

I could feel the sweat starting to slicken the palms of my hands because there was something, however small, connecting me and Terry. Now that I had Ellie in on it, willing to lie for me, I needed to make sure nothing went wrong.

“How do you know that?” I asked, itching to get off the call so I could smash up my cell phone.

Brett laughed. “My lawyer, he’s a good guy, he keeps me informed about stuff. Arthur Barrington is the best defence lawyer out there; he’s willing to go above and beyond for his best clients. He’s been with me for a while now. It’s a real shame that I didn’t have him in my employment when you went down, Kid, he probably could’ve negotiated you a shorter sentence,” he said wistfully.

I cringed, thinking about how close I was standing to Ellie whilst I was having this conversation.

Sure, she knew I was into bad stuff, but she had no idea that I’d been inside for it - she definitely didn’t know that I was a convicted murderer, and it needed to stay that way.

“Right, well, thanks for letting me know. I’ll get rid of my cell straight after this call,” I agreed.

“I’ve already had a new one sent over to your place so that we can keep in touch, it should be there now waiting for you. Take a few days off, Kid. Lie low, chill. I’ll keep you informed.” He disconnected the call so I looked back at Ellie. She was chewing on her nails, looking extremely jumpy and nervous. I smiled sadly. Just two more months then we’d be travelling. I couldn’t freaking wait, it was going to be incredible.

The cell phone felt like it weighed a hundred pounds in my hand so I turned it off, slipping the casing off and pulling out my memory card, pushing it into my pocket carefully. I had a lot of photos on there of Ellie that I didn’t want to lose. I fiddled with the back until I managed to get the SIM card out, then snapped the card into two before dropping the phone that’s I’d owned for less than a month, and stamping on it as hard as I could.

Ellie gasped. “Jamie, what on earth are you doing?”

“I called Terry on the boost last night, so I need a new phone and number,” I replied. She looked at me with wide eyes as I stamped on the pile of broken plastic and glass again for good measure.

“Everything’s fine, I promise,” I assured her.

She frowned. “Really?”

I nodded in confirmation. “Yep. He should be out tonight, he hasn’t blabbed to anyone. Brett said it hopefully won’t get to trial but if it does then he’ll pay off the judge. I’m hoping his lawyer is as good as Brett claims he is,” I replied, bending and picking up the mess and throwing it in the nearest trash can.

She rubbed at her forehead and closed her eyes. “I’ll be glad when this is all over and I can stop worrying so hard about you,” she pouted.

I grinned, wrapping my arms around her tightly, crushing her against my chest. “Stop worrying about me, you have more important things to worry about,” I countered.