Chapter 12
EZRA
I belted out “Jingle Bells” in time with the music in the background.
Although, I wasn’t a singer and wouldn’t win any awards for it, I was enjoying myself.
The acidic depression and hate that usually came with anything related to the holiday didn’t show its ugly face.
Not while I lived with Sam and felt safe.
He was my very own serial killer and I trusted him to protect me.
I danced around the living room, crossing the floor in a moonwalk that didn’t match the tune, but I was in too much of a good mood to care.
Everything was finally shaping up to be positive in my life, and I wanted to celebrate my future.
I missed Sam when he went to work, but it was only three days before Christmas, and he’d promised he had a week off as soon as he finished on Christmas Eve.
I was so fucking excited to spend the entire time with him.
We had plans that involved sledding, hiking, and spending time on Dalton’s farm where he’d teach me all kinds of skills, like milking Daisy.
After New Year’s, I was planning on seriously investigating how to get some education under my belt so I could further my career, and the idea excited me, which was new.
Usually, I hated any type of studying, but Sam promised he’d help, including deciding on which path to take because I had no idea what I wanted to be.
Social work intrigued me, but I wasn’t sure if it was a good fit.
I’d asked Sam to cancel the plan of killing Gary a few days ago. I didn’t know if Sam had listened to me, but I hoped he did. I hadn’t heard any more about it, so I took that as a positive sign.
Lucy continued to help me with ASL, and correct a few “hilarious” words that Dalton had taught me.
While I was learning, Sam and the family communicated with me through signing and speech.
When I was confused, they explained the signs to me.
I was getting a lot better at the language and I was proud of myself.
I knew I had a long way to go, but it helped when I had people to talk ASL with.
Overall, everything was fucking spectacular and I was riding a high.
I wriggled my hips in time with the music, singing the chorus at the top of my lungs, and as the last notes finished, I bowed to my imaginary audience sitting on the couch. “Thank you, thank you, I’m here all day.”
I chuckled to myself and my stupidity when the sound of the doorbell echoed through the house.
Straightening the cushions on the couch one last time, I nodded before I strode to the front door.
I wasn’t expecting anyone, but I’d learned over the last few weeks that the neighbors loved to visit for a cup of coffee, and I liked playing host. Sam told me it was good to be friends with them, and I believed him.
I also really liked the ladies, too. They knew all the gossip, and they were really, really funny. Especially Annabella and Eleanor.
I didn’t peek through the peephole like I would’ve in the beginning, and instead opened the door—and my mouth—to greet one of the two ladies.
I froze when my gaze locked on Gary. Panic sliced through me, sharp and heart wrenching, and I sucked in a deep, shaky breath as I went to slam the door shut again.
He threw his body in the way, jamming himself in the threshold, and grinned.
The stench of rum drifted off him, filling my nose and turning my stomach inside out.
The familiar tendrils of anxiety licked at my brain, reminding me of the all the times Gary had gotten drunk and thrown me around, how he burped in my face and made me listen to stories about how he abused women.
If I tried to leave, he’d force me back in the chair and threatened to slam the bottle of rum over my head.
His death threats were real, I’d heard what he’d done to his former wives and experienced what he’d done to me.
“Fuck off,” I snarled as confidently as I could, which wasn’t much. He had a way of turning me back into the scared teenager who preferred the streets than being in the same room as him.
He smiled, the bow of his mouth evil as he stared down at me with beady brown eyes.
His nose was crooked from a fight years ago with our garbage man, and he was missing some teeth, but he’d told me it was from his adolescent years of playing hockey.
Made sense that he played a rough sport; the man loved violence.
He shoved himself through the door, and I fell back a few steps, raising my chin to meet his cold stare. A shiver of fear swept down my spine, but I forced myself to straighten.
“How did you find me?” I snapped.
He laughed, and I winced at the odor of his breath, reeking of alcohol and cigarettes.
He was too close, but I kept my position.
I wouldn’t back down to him. Not anymore.
“Took a while, not gonna lie, boy. When your stupid whore of a mother came home from the mall and accused me of pushing you out, I decided I’d find your ungrateful ass.
She told me you were there with another guy, so I went to the mall and found me a security guard who’d give me a picture from the security footage.
Took a couple of tries to find someone who’d do it for some cash.
Then I contacted Hockney. You remember my friend.
” His chuckles dove into a darker menacing octave.
“He’s good at finding people. He always finds who I need him to.
I’ll give you the credit, it took a while.
Your little boyfriend was difficult to find.
No social media. Nothing. He’s almost untraceable, but Hockey found him.
Samael Morris. What kind of devil ass name is that? ”
I ground my teeth. “Don’t fucking mention his name. You don’t get to say it.”
Gary turned his dangerous flinty stare on me and stepped forward, face inches from mine. “What are you going to do about it? Huh? You’re a fucking sissy.”
“Go to hell. I left. You didn’t have to deal with me anymore. Why the fuck are you here?” My skin prickled, a wave of involuntary fear brushing over me. My heart raced, hammering against my ribs so loudly that I thought he’d hear it.
He grabbed my face, and I tried to rear back to get out of the hold, but that only made him tighten his grip until it hurt. Tears swelled in my eyes and my jaw shook. I wouldn’t let him win. Not this time.
“You’re coming home with me, you little bitch.
Tell your mother you were joking. She’s threatening to call the cops.
” He paused, smiling sinisterly, as he reached behind himself to grab something out of his pants.
I froze when the silver glint of a handgun caught in the sunlight streaming through the windows.
He waved the weapon at me. “You wouldn’t want your mother to get a bullet in her airhead, would you? ”
I exhaled. “You wouldn’t do that to your sister.”
“I would. You know I would. What about your boyfriend? What would he look like with a hole in his head?” He flashed me his missing teeth again.
“Come with me without a fight. Make a scene outside for your neighbors and I’ll be happy to finish them off, too.
There’s a nice old lady outside next door.
She was very suspicious of me. Don’t make it worse for her. ”
I thought about Eleanor and her midmorning coffee clutched in her hand as she stood outside and judged how the postman delivered her mail—“He doesn’t care if he crinkles my letters, Ezra.
It’s very disrespectful. My granddaughter was thoughtful when she wrote it for me.
”—and how despite her complaints, she was always nice to everyone. I nodded.
“I’ll come with you. Just don’t hurt her. Or Sam.”
His eyes lit up. He thought he’d won, but he didn’t know Sam. How would I get a message to him without Gary being suspicious? Gary wasn’t going to let me leave a note. What if Sam thought I’d left him? The idea made my stomach churn. I refused to let him believe I’d gone willingly.
“Come on.” He seized my elbow and yanked me, and I was nearly dragged right off my feet.
There was no competition between us when it came to strength.
Gary was the clear winner, which meant I had to be smart about this.
If there was something Gary didn’t have, it was intelligence.
I liked to think he’d had all sense knocked out of his thick skull. Maybe he didn’t have any to begin with.
I let him drag me outside, and when I caught sight of Eleanor, exactly where I’d imagined she was with her cup of coffee, a plan formed in my mind.
I’d never called Gary uncle because I’d never considered him family, but if Eleanor heard me call him that, she’d certainly go to Sam when he got home from work, right?
She liked me, and if she saw I was in danger, she’d find a way to get me help, but it had to be inconspicuous. Gary couldn’t know she’d run to Sam.
Gary yanked me roughly down the pathway that led to Sam’s house, his gun hidden in his coat, and I nearly slipped on the fresh snow that layered the cement. It was cold without a coat, but Gary hadn’t stopped to think how it would look with me walking in the freezing weather without one.
Eleanor straightened, her eyes wide and alarmed. She hesitated, taking a step forward.
Gary leaned into me to whisper furiously. “Tell her everything’s okay or I’ll shoot her in broad daylight, you little bitch.”
I inhaled roughly through my nose and gave Eleanor a wobbly smile, one I knew she wouldn’t trust. “Hey, Eleanor. This is my uncle. We’re just . . . going for a drive.”
She gave me a hesitant smile in return, but I saw the alarm in her eyes. She knew. She knew this wasn’t right and she’d tell Sam.
Gary snorted and hauled me toward his beat-up white Toyota, shoving me into the passenger side.
He waved merrily at Eleanor as he strode around the front of the car, and I shivered when she gave him one back, but she was already turning on her heel and walking as fast as her little old legs could carry her on the snow trodden pathway that led into her house.
She had Sam’s work number. She’d call him, right?
Gary threw himself into the driver’s side and turned the key to start the ignition.
His car rumbled to life and he put the pedal to the metal, forcing the Toyota forward in a fast, hard pace that had my teeth knocking together painfully.
He was a shitty driver, but he was pretty much awful at everything.
“Why are you doing this? Why do you care what Mom thinks?” I snapped, shivering as the cold air bit my exposed skin. He didn’t have the heater on because the car was an old piece of crap.
“I don’t, but I also don’t need the cops sniffing around with abuse allegations, do I?” He grunted and slapped his hand on the steering wheel. “Your mother’s always been a pain in my ass, from the moment she was born. Oblivious bitch.”
Bitch was his favorite word for me and Mom, and even though I wouldn’t forgive her for not seeing the way he treated me, I was beginning to understand that maybe she was in a similar situation. That didn’t make her a nice person, though.
“And this won’t bring the cops? You saw Eleanor. She didn’t trust you.” Now that we were away from her house, he wouldn’t risk turning around and hurting her. Would he?
I shivered harder and my teeth chattered.
It was too fucking cold and my skin hurt.
I’d end up an icicle before we even arrived at his house.
The sensation on my skin threw me back to the winter nights on the streets, fighting for heat and food, and desperate to survive.
I couldn’t go back to being like that again.
Gary was the reason I’d been homeless in the first place.
“They won’t know where to find me.” He grinned, proud of himself.
“I doubt you told your sissy boyfriend your real name. You homeless kids are good at hiding. You probably told him all kinds of lies and spread your legs for a home.” He crowed like he was the smartest man alive.
Fucking idiot. I hadn’t told a damned lie to Sam about who I was, but Gary didn’t need to know that.
“They won’t even know where to find you. ”
He had no idea how wrong he was. I really hoped Bee would put her detective skills to work, but I wasn’t sure how long Gary would keep me before he decided I was too much trouble. I was going to give him hell. No way would I let him win. Not this time.