17. Lily
17
Lily
I waited outside Jacob’s condo building for Tommy. The night before had been amazing. I don’t know why I waited so long to sleep with him. He was tender and treated me like I was the only thing that mattered in the world. He had woken me up in the night with his lips pressed between my legs. I’d lost count of the number of orgasms I had. My body ached in parts I didn’t know existed.
Cars buzzed by. I glanced down at my phone— they should be here any minute . No matter how much I enjoyed my time with Jacob the night before, I missed my little boy and couldn’t wait to see him. He’d texted me first thing this morning letting me know what time Archer’s mom would bring him home.
Jacob walked me downstairs then took off for his morning run. He would be gone close to an hour. I planned to have breakfast ready for him when he returned. We didn’t have any plans that day. The next day, we were supposed to make the short drive over to the coast to watch the Starlight go up, as long as the weather was good. Last I checked, it was supposed to be clear with no wind. I was almost as excited as Tommy to watch the rocket—it’s always cool, no matter one’s age, to see a rocket go up in space, and learning so much about what went on behind the scenes made me even more excited.
A black minivan pulled up to the sidewalk, and I could see my son’s face pressed to the glass. He waved as the van came to a stop. Archer’s mother jumped out, came over to the side, and opened the door for Tommy. My son unbuckled his belt and gave his friend a high five before jumping out of the van and giving me a hug.
He was starting to get so big that I needed to brace myself as he threw his body into me. “I had so much fun!”
I patted him on the back. “Why don’t you have a seat on the bench while I talk with Archer’s mom?” Tommy walked to the bench next to me and set his backpack next to him. “I hope he was good,” I said to the young woman.
She smiled. “Your son is amazing. They had such a good time. I hope we can get together again soon.”
“Me too. Thank you for watching him. Next time, we can have them over here.”
The woman wrapped me in a hug before turning and heading back to the car. Tommy and I were both waving at the car and not paying attention to our surroundings. I had let my guard down, and a man jumped out from nowhere and grabbed ahold of Tommy’s arms.
Tommy screamed, “Mommy! Mommy!”
I beat the guy on the back with my fists, but he didn’t stop dragging my boy down the street. “Let go of him!” I yelled as I kicked him in the leg. He stumbled for a second, and Tommy was able to get away.
The man turned to me. I’d never seen him before. “Just let me have the boy, and I won’t kill you.”
He punched me in the side, and I went down for a second. The man ran after Tommy and grabbed his sweatshirt hood and tugged him backward. He stumbled and fell on his ass, letting out an ear-piercing scream as he hit the ground. I took off running toward the guy who’d dared to touch my son. I charged into him, knocking him to the ground. I quickly pulled Tommy up from the ground, and we took off toward the door again.
“You just had to be a dumb bitch.” The man grabbed my ponytail and yanked my head back hard enough that it felt as if he’d ripped the hair right out of my head.
“Run, Tommy!”
Tommy took off toward the doors.
“They wanted the kid, but I guess you’ll have to do.” The man started to drag me to a windowless white van, which looked exactly like a stereotypical kidnapper’s van, parked on the side of the street. I kicked backward and knocked the knee of my attacker.
Tommy must’ve made it in because Abe was sprinting down the sidewalk toward me. My attacker hadn’t seen the hit coming when Abe used all of his body weight to take him down. His grip on me loosened, but I still fell to the ground, landing on my knee. I screamed in pain as I felt my kneecap pop. I rolled to my back and watched Abe wrestle with my attacker. I stretched my leg forward and pointed my toe, slowly raising my leg until I felt the top of my kneecap snap into place.
“Go inside, Lily. I’ll call the police and take care of this.”
I nodded at Abe and rushed into the building, where Tommy sat next to the doorman with tears running down his face. We weren’t safe. Greg had found us, and instead of coming himself, he’d sent someone else, who almost got my son. I couldn’t let that happen. I ushered Tommy into the elevator and waited for it us to get to the top floor.
I knew what I was about to do was probably the wrong decision, but Tommy was my main concern, not me. “Go pack your bag with clothes and toys. We’re going for a ride.”
“I want Jacob.”
I closed my eyes and willed myself not to cry. This was what I had worried would happen—my son was attached to Jacob, and we needed to leave. Tommy might hate me for the next few days because I took him away, but as long as my son was safe, I would do whatever it took. “Go pack.”
“No.”
“Then you won’t have any of your things.”
I turned and ran toward the bedroom. I pulled my pink bag out of the closet and filled it with as much as I could fit. Jacob would be back soon, and it would be harder to say goodbye to his face. I knew I was doing the cowardly thing, but I knew that if I looked into Jacob’s eyes and he asked me to stay, I would. And that decision might put Tommy in more danger.
I walked back into the living room with my bag rolling behind me. Tommy sat in the living room with the spaceship backpack Jacob had bought him and the spaceship prototype in his hands. The tears in his eyes broke my heart.
Kat would track my phone if I took it. I placed it on the counter, grabbed my purse and keys, and took one last look at Jacob’s place. I couldn’t hold the tears back as I looked at the bedroom. What we’d shared the night before would be in my heart forever.
“Let’s go.”
“I want Jacob.”
“I know. We’ll come back.” I just lied to my son. I didn’t think we would come back until the day Greg died.
Tommy wiped his arms across his nose and followed behind me. I knew Abe would catch us if we went out the main way, so I pressed the button for the third floor on the elevator. From there, we exited out the back door, down the stairwell, and to the back parking lot. Tommy and I hurried across the parking lot to where my car was parked. I threw our suitcases into the trunk and put Tommy in his booster seat.
When I got into the front seat, I rested my head against the steering wheel. My heart wanted me to exit the car and head back to the man I was falling in love with. Who am I kidding? I love him, and if I stay, I’ll only put him in more danger.
I twisted the key and hoped my old car would start. It did, and I pulled out the back side of the lot and pointed us north. I didn’t know where we were going. I just knew we needed to leave.
“I hate you, Mommy.”
I tried hard to stop the tears, but Tommy had never said anything like that to me before. “We will find new friends wherever we end up.”
“I don’t want new friends. I like the friends I made. Jacob promised to let me watch the launch tomorrow.”
“We can still watch it together.” I would head toward the coast, drive up it for an hour, and find a little motel on the edge of a small city. Jacob hadn’t changed my payment option with NSS. Last week, they’d paid me my weekly salary in cash again. I saved enough money to stretch for a few months and would find a job working as a waitress where ever we ended up.
Kat would have been able to find me in no time if I’d used any type of electronics or cards, and I wasn’t ready to talk to her yet. She would have told me I was being stupid and tell me to either come back to Ft. Lauderdale to stay with her and Antonio, or go back to Houston. When he comes home and finds me gone, he’s going to be pissed.
When I looked in my rearview mirror, Tommy was looking out the window with tears streaming down his face.
We were only on the road for a half hour when I saw blue and red flashing lights behind me. I slowed down and moved to the edge of the road. I quickly wiped the tears from my eyes and reached for my purse.
The Texas sheriff stepped out of his car and placed his cowboy hat on his head. I watched in the side mirror as he walked toward my car. He looked at the license plate and said something into the radio pinned to his shirt.
I cranked the window down as he stood next to me.
“Good morning, ma’am. Do you know why I pulled you over?”
I hated the question and had never understood it. Does it really matter how I answer? “No.” I didn’t know why he pulled me over. I was going under the speed limit. Kat will see where I am.
“Were you in a fight this morning?”
I rested my head back against the headrest. “Yes.”
“Is there a reason you left and didn’t talk to the cops?”
I clenched my teeth. “I’m running from my ex-husband.”
The officer tapped the pad in his hands. “We need you to come back and make a report.”
“If I don’t press charges, do I have to come down?”
He turned and said something into his radio. When a lady’s voice crackled back over, he took a few steps back.
“Yes, ma’am. We can do this on of two ways. You can come with me, or you can follow me down.”
“Fine,” I ground out. “I’ll follow you.”
The officer tipped his hat to Tommy before he turned around and headed back to his car. I waited for the officer to pass me so I could follow him. There was no way my old beater could outrun a cop car. It was just a minor setback to me getting out of town. The cops had never been able to protect me in the past. Leaving the state didn’t even help. It was time Tommy and I went off the grid to the middle of nowhere. We were going to start our life over again once we gave our report.