Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
In Oklahoma City, Amber was terrified.
Donnie Wheeler was not a nice man, to say the least.
She hadn’t known that when she’d rented the apartment from him. It hadn’t taken much time, though, for her to see the kind of person he was. Now, she wanted as far away from him as possible. In fact, she hoped to never see him again. That’s why she was creeping quietly along the second-floor breezeway, hoping to slip in and out of her unit unnoticed.
Mr. Reyes was waiting in his car in the parking lot, and if things got dangerous, she could yell for him. But she didn’t want to involve him unless it was absolutely necessary. The last thing she wanted was for him to get hurt.
She sighed in relief as she made it into her apartment undetected. Taking a quick glance around didn’t reveal much… because she didn’t have much. In fact, all her belongings—consisting of a few outfits, underwear, and toiletries—were already packed up and waiting in a suitcase. There, on top of the suitcase, was her most prized possession.
Her stuffie, Honey.
The bear made her smile. She giggled as she picked it up, hugged it, and said, “Are you ready for our adventure, Honey? It’s going to be amazing! I bet we’ll make new friends.” She giggled again. “I bet the other Littles in Big Cedar have stuffies, too. You can play with them!” She squeezed the plush doll tighter. “But don’t worry. You’ll always be my best friend!”
The bear meant a lot to Amber. She hadn’t gotten to go on many field trips, but one time, back in foster care, right before she’d aged out of the system, the group home had taken a trip to the zoo. That excursion had included one animal for everyone from the gift shop. The stuffed brown bear had called out to her, and they’d been best friends ever since.
Amber took hold of her lone suitcase, kept Honey clinched safely in her other hand, and started toward the open door.
That’s when she saw Donnie standing there, leaning against the doorjamb, his mouth open to reveal his jagged teeth.
“Where are you going?”
“I t-told you,” she said, trying to inject as much confidence in her voice as possible. She wasn’t very successful, though, and she hated to show that man fear. “Remember? I gave you thirty days’ notice, just like my contract said I had to. I’m going to?—”
“You weren’t even going to give me a hug goodbye?” he sneered, opening up his arms.
Her eyes fell to his thin, spotted trademark sleeveless shirt he wore. She wasn’t sure if he preferred it because it showed off his arms or what, but he didn’t really have any muscles to speak of and it just sort of hung on his bony frame.
His small size was misleading, though.
Donnie was plenty dangerous.
And he clearly seemed to harbor fantasies of he and Amber being… together.
Yuck!
He was hardly the man she dreamed of. It had nothing to do with his appearance, either. She wasn’t vain at all. No, her distaste for him was born of his sleazy nature and lack of morals.
But if a simple hug would pacify him and let her get back down to Mr. Reyes, then maybe it was worth it.
“Why are you leaving?” he asked as his dull eyes continued to appraise her.
She hated being rude and thinking unkind thoughts about anyone, but there was something in those eyes that wasn’t right. Something almost… dead. She shuddered, unable to help himself.
He must have noticed because he smiled wider. It wasn’t lost on her that he always seemed to revel in the fact that he intimidated her. It even seemed like he played it up sometimes, trying extra hard to creep her out.
At that moment, she realized she most certainly had no desire to hug the man, even if it was just to placate him and get away quickly.
He kept his arms open, but she made no effort to walk toward him. She wished she had asked Mr. Reyes to accompany her into the apartment.
Remembering his question about why she was moving, she said, “I’ve always wanted to live in Bi—” She stopped herself, not wanting to reveal where exactly she was going exactly. “In Southeastern Oklahoma. I love mountains and the woods and all that. I’ve heard it’s beautiful and with all the tourists, there’s a lot of jobs down there.” She shrugged. “Figured I’d try my luck there.”
Not that I owe you an explanation, she thought. She kept that comment to herself, though. Donnie could be volatile. She’d witnessed his rage before.
She hoped to never see it again.
He stepped closer. “I told you I could give you a job. You’d make plenty of money right here, working for me.”
Amber gulped. She wasn’t exactly sure what line of work Donnie was in, but she had a good idea that the run-down slum of an apartment complex he owned was just a front for his less-than-legal activities. She’d witnessed some shady stuff during her brief stay there.
She would have gotten away a lot sooner, but there weren’t many folks who would rent to her. And it had taken all the money she had just to rent that crappy place. It was a roof over her head at least. It beat being homeless. By a little, anyway. But she was sure thankful to be leaving.
“I’m going to find a job down there,” she said. “I have to go. My bus is waiting.”
She tried to hurry past him, but his lanky arm lashed out like a whip and his hand curled around her left elbow, putting more pressure on her than necessary.
“Ouch!” she cried.
“None of my girls leave me. You fucking understand that?”
“I’m not your girl!” Amber cried.
She tried to wrench her arm free, but he gripped it harder, delivering a jolt of pain. He was stronger than his scrawny arms made him appear.
“Let go of her!” Mr. Reyes called.
Amber and Donnie turned their attention to the door where the man stood, his cell out.
“I will call the police!” he added.
Donnie practically threw Amber’s arm away.
She figured he wasn’t afraid of Mr. Reyes, but more than likely did not want the police coming to that apartment complex. It wouldn’t take much digging to uncover lots of illegal activity.
“Get the fuck out, whore,” Donnie said.
Amber moved as quickly as possible, but in her haste, accidentally dropped Honey. Before she could get the stuffie, Donnie reached down and scooped the bear up. He ripped her head from the rest of her body and threw both pieces down.
“There, whore. Don’t forget your little toy.”
His yellow teeth shone in the bright sun that spilled into the apartment while he howled as if it was the funniest thing he’d ever done.
Crying, Amber yelled, “Honey!” as she collected the pieces of her most prized possession.
“You should be ashamed!” Mr. Reyes snapped at Donnie. “Ashamed!”
The older man helped the sobbing Amber to the car, and they drove away safely.
Maybe things will get better in Big Cedar, she thought.
Maybe Daddy is waiting there for me.
Maybe he’ll protect me.