Rush of Redemption (Rush Series #2) (18 page)

Trinity studied her for
a moment, taking in what she’d said. “Anton 
Veretta
 beat
you up? 
Ahh
, 
Sundra
,
I’m so sorry,” Trinity said as she shifted Blake in her arms.

Sundra
 lowered her eyes to the fingers she had plucking at the blanket
across her lap. “I don’t know what to do now. He won’t leave me alone… said
he’d always find me.”

“What do you mean? We’ll
call the police, they…” Trinity began.

Sundra
 shook her head. “They won’t do anything. His father is a
diplomat… you know, diplomatic immunity.”

“I’m sorry, 
Sundra
. Hunter told me Anton had a bad reputation with
women, I just didn’t know he was abusive. What can I do?” Trinity asked as she
rubbed her friend’s arm comfortingly.

Sundra
 lifted her teary eyes to Trinity’s. “I really need a place
to hide out for a few days. I can’t face my roommates or my parents right now
looking like this. Would it be all right if I stay at your condo for a little
while?”

Trinity shifted Blake so
she could wrap her arm around 
Sundra’s
 shaking
frame. “Of course, whatever you need,” she murmured.

As 
Sundra
 cried
in her arms, a thought began to swirl through Trinity’s mind.

Chapter Ten

In the end, it was relatively easy to solve her problem of being
able to give Alex Masters the slip. Once 
Sundra
 had
been released, they’d simply walked out through the hospital’s front entrance
instead of the emergency room entrance. Trinity walked beside 
Sundra
 as she was being pushed in a wheelchair by a
hospital attendant. 
Sundra
 complained as
all people do about not needing a wheelchair, but hospital regulations had to
be followed. The attendant did allow
Sundra
 to
leave the chair once they arrived in the hospital’s lobby. As the attendant
left, Trinity pulled 
Sundra
 to the side
where a grouping of overstuffed chairs sat.

“
Sundra
,
how would you feel about going to El Paso with me for a few days?” Trinity
asked, once 
Sundra
 was seated and looking
at her expectedly.

“El Paso? What’s in El
Paso?” she asked as she pushed her dark sunglasses on to hide her black eyes.

Trinity stared at her
friend for a long minute before replying softly, “My mother.”

Sundra
 cocked her head to the side. 
“Your
mother?
 I thought she’d died a long time ago.”

Trinity looked around the
lobby to ensure Alex hadn’t found them. “So did I. Listen, it’s a lot to
explain. And I will explain it all, but I’d rather do it while we are driving
to El Paso. I just really need to go right away and I can’t take my car because
Rush will be able to find me and I really need to see if my mother is alive
before he tries to stop me,” she said in a rush.

Sundra
 was silent for a long while before slowly nodding her head.
“Okay, I’m in.”

Trinity hugged her friend
carefully. “Thanks, 
Sundra
. I really didn’t want
to go by myself. Can we go now?”

“I don’t have any clothes
or anything,” she replied.

“I need to stop by my condo
and I’ll grab enough clothes for the both of us, okay?”

“Okay. It looks like we’re
off to another adventure. Good. This is exactly what I need right now. To be
out of town and have something to take my mind off of things.”

Trinity stood and waited
for 
Sundra
 to struggle to her feet. “Are
you okay to travel?”

Sundra’s
 lips trembled. “I’ve got nothing here.”

“All
right.
 Give me your keys, and I’ll go get your
car.”

Handing Blake to 
Sundra
, Trinity hurried to where 
Sundra
 had
parked her car and drove quickly to her own, thankful Alex hadn’t come out to
check on her
yet
,she
 removed
Blake’s car seat and buckled it into 
Sundra’s
 car.
Driving quickly, she drove onto the curved driveway of the hospital entrance
and parked. Nearly running as Trinity felt time wasn’t on her side, she went
back into the lobby, ever on the lookout for Alex, but she didn’t see him.

Retrieving Blake from 
Sundra
, she helped her to her feet and they walked out of
the lobby and into 
Sundra’s
 car. Trinity
heaved a sigh of relief when she exited the hospital grounds. She drove quickly
through the streets of Savannah until she reached her condo and parked a block
up.

She took a deep breath.
“Just in case there are reporters in there, I need to leave Blake with you.
I’ll remove him from his seat and you’ll have to hold him until I get back. Are
you okay with that?” she asked 
Sundra
.

Sundra
 gave her the first genuine smile Trinity had seen all
day. 
“Hell yeah!
 We are like Thelma and
Louise. This is like spy stuff,” she said with a grin.

Having lived this before,
Trinity wasn’t as enthusiastic. She grabbed her purse and moved quickly up the
sidewalk and walked up the stairs instead of using the elevator. She peered
around the corner and thankfully didn’t see anyone lurking at her condo door.
She slipped quickly to her door and unlocked it. She heaved a sigh of relief
when she got inside.

She moved quickly through
her condo, knowing time wasn’t on her side as this would be the first place
Alex would look for her. She grabbed her suitcase and began shoving clothing
items into it, enough for her and 
Sundra
. She
ran to Blake’s room and tried to turn her mind away from how happy she, Rush,
and Blake had been here. She tried not to remember the times she’d stood at the
door and watched Rush standing over Blake’s crib, just watching him. Her heart
clutched painfully in her chest and she stifled back a sob. She knew things
would never be the same for them again.

She sat down on the edge of
her bed and reached into her purse and pulled out the Fed Ex packet. She pulled
out the picture of her mother and knew she was making the right decision. Her
previous anger with Rush now was only regret. She wished he’d have told her and
not kept this thing that was so important from her. She wasn’t sure how she was
supposed to deal with that. But she knew he would be furious over her going to
El Paso, especially for taking Blake with her.

As she rose to close her
suitcase, her cellphone rang. She almost ignored it, but when she saw it was
Rush, she decided to speak to him at least one more time while they were still,
in his mind, a couple.

“Hey,” she said softly.

“Where are you?” he asked
angrily.

“It’s not important. There’s
something I need to take care of. When I get back, if you still want to, we’ll
sit down and talk,” she said.

“What the hell is going on,
Trinity? Where’s Blake? Don’t I at least get the consideration of knowing at
least of what
  your
 plans are? If not
for you, at least what you’re planning on doing with my son?” he asked hotly.

“I truly loved you, you
know. I wouldn’t have kept anything from you. I’d have gone out of my way to
ensure your happiness. I wish you could have felt the same for me. There was
always just too much between us. I see that now,” she said quietly.

“What are you talking
about? You sound like this is goodbye,” he said. Even through the phone line,
she could hear the anguish in his voice. He might think he loved her, but he
didn’t really know what love was.

“It is,” she whispered as
her voice broke.

“Baby, please talk to me.
I’m begging you. It’s not safe for you to be out by yourself.”

Clearing her tear-clogged
throat, she said, “I’ll be back in a few days. I won’t ever keep Blake from
you. I want you to be in his life. He deserves that.”

“Please tell me what’s
happened. I want to be in 
your
 life as well. Tell me where you
are,” he demanded.

“Take care of yourself.
I’ll see you when you get home. Goodbye, Rush,” she said quietly as she slowly
closed her phone. The second the connection was severed on the phone, she felt
it. It was now officially over. She was once again single… not part of a
couple. Not that she’d been a couple with Rush for very long, but the pain
seared her. She knew this was for the best, she’d never be able to trust him…
but it still hurt 
sooo
 bad. She shoved her
phone into her purse and immediately heard it ring again, but she ignored it.
She considered leaving it in the condo, but figured Rush wouldn’t be able to
track her phone as it was in her name. Grabbing her suitcase and Blake’s bag,
she exited the condo and hurried back to 
Sundra’s
 car,
her sight made sketchy from her tears.

When she reached the car,
she clicked the button on the key attachment and popped the trunk before
stowing her bags inside. She re-buckled Blake back into his seat and kissed his
little head, trying hard to keep it all together. She had to do this. She had
to try and find her mother. She climbed back into the driver’s seat.

“Okay?” 
Sundra
 asked her.

“I will be,” Trinity
replied, “It just might take a while.”

Turning to look out the
windshield, 
Sundra
 just gave a slow nod of
her head because she understood exactly. Trinity entered their destination into
the GPS and eased into traffic. She kept an eye on her rearview
mirror for a long time, looking for that familiar black SUV, but never saw it.

It wasn’t until Trinity
stopped nearly an hour later to feed Blake that she realized she’d left the Fed
Ex envelope on her bed. Fortunately, she knew the address where her mother had
last been seen. Still… she’d have liked to have had her picture. Trinity was
forced to turn her cellphone off as Rush continued to call it over and over.
She just couldn’t take it any longer. Her heart was broken by his betrayal and
by the fact she’d never have again what she’d had with him. He’d promised never
to break her heart again, but he’d broken that promise.

Trinity kept an eye
on 
Sundra
, worried about her friend. But she’d
slept during nearly half of the drive. Worrying about 
Sundra
 helped
her not dwell on her own problems… her own loss. She drove until around
midnight before calling it quits. She was exhausted and drained and Blake was
fussy so she pulled into the first hotel she found. Leaving 
Sundra
 and Blake in the car, she rented the room and
drove around to a parking spot close to their room. Grabbing only Blake’s bag,
they headed into the room.

Trinity nursed Blake and
held him close to her. Looking down into his face, which was such a reflection
of Rush’s, she struggled to hold in her tears. Once both Blake and 
Sundra
 were tucked in, she grabbed her phone and
turned it back on and listened to the dozens of messages left by Rush. The
first calls were laced with bewilderment and confusion; those were followed by
calls demanding her return and threats if she didn’t; and then the last calls
were frantic and filled with such sadness, it nearly crushed her. Had she been
too hasty? Tears filled her eyes and she lifted a towel to her mouth to stifle
the sobs being wrenched from her chest. This was the right decision. Even if by
some stretch of the imagination he could explain his decision to leave her in
the dark about her mother, she didn’t think she could ever forgive him or trust
him. This was her mother. The mother she’d cried over and missed for more than
ten years. He knew what this meant to her. After tonight, she’d not listen to
any more of his calls. There’d be no more tears or sobbing after tonight
either. She’d pulled herself through before and she could do it again… she
would do it again.

It was after two in the
morning before she finally drifted off to sleep. She groaned when Blake began
to whimper and thrash about at five. Rousting herself, she rubbed against the
graininess in her eyes and nursed Blake. He curled his tiny fist so trustingly
against her breast and the tears she swore she’d not shed anymore threatened to
fall. Taking several deep breaths, she fought them off valiantly. Rush had been
right, her decisions didn’t just affect her, they affected her innocent child.

She knew she’d never be
able to sleep. She wanted to get to El Paso and find her mother and she didn’t
want to lie in bed and obsess about her decision to leave Rush. She woke a
disgruntled 
Sundra
, and after getting their bags
and showering, Trinity felt better able to face the day. As she’d driven half
of the twenty-five hours it took to get to El Paso the day before, the earlier
she got off, the sooner she’d reach her destination. By tomorrow, she could be
hugging her mother. The thought made her heart tremble.

It was late evening before
she reached El Paso. She’d made several stops during the drive to feed and
change Blake. She’d also ensured 
Sundra
 ate
and got out to walk around a bit. 
But as with the day
before, both 
Sundra
 and Blake slept the day
away.
 Trinity was exhausted when she finally checked them into the
hotel. She forced both herself and 
Sundra
 to
eat at a nearby restaurant. But by nine o’clock she was well and truly baked.
She’d just drifted off to sleep when
Sundra’s
 
cellphone
woke her. She groaned and placed her pillow over
her head. She lifted the pillow when 
Sundra
 shook
her arm. 
It’s Rush
, she mouthed.