Chapter 14 #2
“Dad couldn’t see it. He was head over heels.
And when I tried to talk to him about my day or drama with friends, he didn’t have time anymore.
It felt like I was old news. I was hurt.
” Tears of frustration at my past self stung my eyes.
“I acted like a stupid kid and started clubbing with my friends, getting drunk and high, having sex before I was emotionally ready. It pissed him off. But at least that was attention. Then I met Nathan.”
I turned to Walker with disdain for Nathan, for myself, blazing in my eyes. Walker tensed ever so slightly. “He’s Callie’s father. He was also a drug dealer. Told you I was an idiot.”
“You were a teenager. Teens aren’t exactly known for their rational thinking.”
I chuckled humorlessly at that. “Oh no, they are not. Anyway, I got pregnant, and my father insisted I either have an abortion or give her up for adoption.”
“And you didn’t want to do either?”
I shook my head. “It might have been the smart thing to do. I mean, I was a kid myself, and kids shouldn’t be raising kids.
But I was alone and lonely.” A tear slipped down my cheek, and I swiped it away.
“I wanted someone to love and someone who would love me back. So I wanted to keep my baby. And my father kicked me out. I think he thought it would scare me into giving her up.”
Walker sucked in a breath.
“You have to understand … my dad came from nothing. His parents were dirt poor and he worked his ass off to get where he is. The idea of his daughter following a path he’d watched so many girls he grew up with go down because they didn’t have the same opportunities that I did, it made him so angry.
He’d given me everything he never had, and to him, I was throwing it all away.
“But I couldn’t give Callie up. I had no one to turn to but Nathan. He promised to look after us. At first, I was naive enough to believe that it might work out. Callie came along and she became my universe. Everything I have done in my life since has been in service to that little girl.”
To my shock, Walker reached for me, squeezing my arm in comfort. Reassurance. When I looked into his face, I thought I even saw admiration.
It steeled me enough to tell the rest of my story. “Nathan started getting in deeper with this gang that chopped cars and dealt drugs. He worked his way up the ranks. And he grew more abusive. So much so that I got up the nerve to leave him when Callie was a toddler.”
Walker released my arm and asked, “How did he feel about that?”
“Oh, not good.” I sighed. “In Nathan’s mind, Callie and I belong to him.”
“Belong, not belonged?”
I grimaced but continued, “He got too busy after a while to keep up his threats to drag us back. He actually let us get on with our lives and dropped off money now and then. I took it,” I admitted, ashamed, “even knowing where it came from. But I was a single mom with only a high school education.”
“You did what you had to,” Walker assured me gruffly.
That shame eased a bit. “I did,” I agreed. “Nathan … I tried dating when Callie was five, and he almost killed the guy.”
At that, Walker straightened in his seat. Alert. Understanding where this story was going, no doubt.
“So, I didn’t date again. I tried to get on with my life.
We found a nice enough apartment that I could barely afford, and our neighbor, Juanita, watched Callie while I worked this receptionist job I’d lied my way into.
Someone there had it out for me, and I got fired on the same day I got an eviction notice on my door.
I was out of options. Callie would not be homeless under my watch. ”
“You went to Nathan?”
I nodded. “Last year. A few months before we came here. An old friend told me I could find Nathan at a house party. I went there to ask him for money, but I found him in a room with a young woman. When he asked her to leave, she got offended by my presence and she started arguing with him. He got violent fast. He was … he was going to rape her right in front of me.”
Anger hardened every inch of Walker’s expression.
“He had a gun. I couldn’t … he’d tried with me, and I got away …
and I couldn’t let that happen to this girl.
I just couldn’t. We fought …” I shook as the memory played vividly in my mind.
“And she got hold of the gun and accidentally shot me.” Reaching for the sleeve of my shirt, I pushed it up and showed Walker the scar on my upper left arm.
The memory of the pain flared, like searing nerve pain. A burn that was hard to describe.
Walker reached out, as if his hand had a mind of its own, his thumb sweeping gently across the scar. Goose bumps prickled in the wake of his touch. His eyes flew to mine, and my breath caught at the fierceness of his expression.
It took me a second to get my breath back, and even as I spoke, my voice was huskier.
“Nathan has … had a very twisted way of caring about me. I mattered to him, but only because he saw me as something he owned. So when he saw me shot, he wrestled the gun off her and he came to me.” I patted the air beside me.
“He left the gun at my side. Then he turned to her and he beat her. And beat her. And beat her. I knew, in here”—I punched my gut—“that he would not stop … so I reached for the gun, and I shot him.”
“Did you kill him?” Walker asked bluntly.
I gave him a quick swipe of my head. “Something very few people know about me is that my dad liked guns. Shooting them, I mean. It wasn’t an interest we’d shared, but because I loved him and wanted his time and attention, I’d visited the gun range with him every month from the age of eight to fifteen.
I could have shot competitively if I’d wanted.
I have excellent aim. I shot to maim, not kill. ”
Walker raised an eyebrow. “I’m glad to hear it. About the excellent aim, I mean.”
My lips twitched despite myself. “Anyway, Nathan had locked us in this bedroom at the back of the house. There were French doors going into the garden. The girl was a mess. Nathan’s thug friends were hammering on the door after hearing the second shot.
And I guess adrenaline kicked in because I got my ass up, had the presence of mind to wipe down the gun, and I somehow got the girl to her feet and we escaped out the back door.
” My heart raced as if I was experiencing it all over again.
“It felt like hours running through the neighborhood. She kept wanting to pass out, and I wasn’t doing much better with a bullet in my arm. ”
Tears choked my throat. “The worst part was Callie. My whole life, I wanted to protect her from who her dad really was, and then I came tumbling into our apartment, shot, with a girl who was beaten to a pulp.” I swiped at my tears. “Callie was so scared. I brought that into her life.”
“No,” Walker bit out angrily. “Her father did. Do not take that on. You saved that girl’s life, and I’m sure Callie is proud of you.”
“She was nine years old, Walker,” I whispered. “She shouldn’t have to be proud of me for something like that at nine years old. I never wanted her to experience being scared as a kid the way I was scared.”
“You can’t protect her from everything. You will drive yourself crazy trying. Sloane … you are the best mum I’ve ever met.”
I smiled tearfully at his words and tried to ease the tension. “I think Regan takes that award. I swear the woman has the ability to split herself in two.”
Walker didn’t smile at my joke. He pressed, “What happened next?”
“The girl”—I wiped my hands over my cheeks as I held Walker’s gaze—“she was Allegra Howard.”
Understanding dawned. “Wesley Howard’s daughter. Aria’s sister.”
I nodded. “Aria’s younger sister. She’d fallen in with the wrong crowd at school.
She was only seventeen, but she’d developed a drug habit.
That’s why she was with Nathan. Anyway, Juanita was insisting we call the police and an ambulance, and I didn’t know what the fuck to do because I’d shot Nathan.
But Allegra came to and explained who she was, and she called her father.
Wesley showed up with his security team, and he took care of everything.
” I huffed. “Money and power take care of everything. And he was grateful. So was Allegra. They paid my medical bills, and they got to Nathan. Wesley paid for his medical bills—even though he wanted to kill him—in exchange for his silence. They didn’t want this splashed across the news about Allegra. They wanted to move on.
“But they also knew from Nathan’s threats that I wouldn’t be safe.
Aria had taken the job at Ardnoch and offered me a place here.
I jumped at the chance. We’d only just arrived when Nathan went back on his word.
He started blackmailing the Howards for more money.
I told them which clubs he dealt at and helped them set him up.
He was arrested for possession, and the police weren’t interested in his story about the Howards.
Since it was not his first time being arrested for possession, Nathan got eighteen months.
” I sighed shakily. “But Aria just told me he’s out early. ”
“And he knows you helped them put him away.” Walker abruptly stood up. “We need to run a check on his passport to see if he’s in the country.” He pulled out his cell. “I need his full name and date of birth.”
I didn’t know what I’d expected after telling him a story I’d told so few people. In fact, the only people who knew about it were the Howards and Monroe. Now Walker. Who barely reacted and went straight into business mode.
Trying not to be hurt or disappointed by that, I stood and rifled through a drawer in the side table for paper and a pen. I was scribbling down Nate’s full name and date of birth when I felt the heat of Walker at my back.
I glanced over my shoulder and grew still. The intensity had returned to his eyes. Was it tenderness or awe or understanding or compassion … or was it all of that? Did it matter? Walker Ironside looked at me like I was worth something, and it should frighten me how much his opinion mattered.
“Callie is the luckiest wee girl in the world,” Walker uttered gruffly, “to have a mum like you. You’re a warrior, Sloane. Never doubt it.”