Chapter 34
She knew she’d never have a better chance than this one! Mig was nowhere to be seen and she had no bodyguards.
Pretending to be excited, she hopped up and followed him into the kitchen, going to the counter where she knew the gun was as he chuckled at her.
“I tol’ you to wait, Rue,” he grinned, reaching into a small bag and pulling out a long, slim box.
Gathering all of her nerve and not thinking about it too much, she gripped the gun and pulled it off the velcro, then closed her eyes as she pointed it and pulled the trigger three times.
POP
POP
POP
The sound rang in her ears as she dropped the gun, then realized she was screaming and crying. Turning, she made herself open her eyes as she launched herself at the door. She tried not to see his feet on the ground, the rest of him hidden by the counter.
She ran. She ran down the hall to her office and snatched up her bag, then out the back door and through the backyard to the gate in the fence and through it. Sprinting all out, she ran through the neighbor's backyard to the street and kept running.
She was barefoot and in sleep pants and a hoodie, far too hot for the weather outside, but kept running. Adrenaline kept her going.
He was dead, right? He wouldn’t come after her? She’d shot him three times, no one could survive that? And he was down, she’d seen him. On his back on the floor, his feet still.
He couldn’t come after her.
Mig might, though, and anyone else Geo was close to. They would know it was her.
She was free though, for now. She would get away! Get away from all of them!
She just had to get her thumb drives with all her real information on them, not just a graphic she could use to fool Geo. She could funnel all of that money into her own accounts. Then she could get her mom and gramma and they could fly somewhere. Anywhere.
Making it to a bus stop, she pulled out her bus pass and adjusted her pants so no one could tell she didn’t have shoes on as she waited. Her heart hammered in her chest as she watched for anyone who might be coming for her.
Her mind tried to play tricks on her as she waited…
Tried to make her imagine she was upset that Geo was dead. Even if he was just severely injured, her heart still tried to act like it wanted to break. Her mind and heart tried to make her imagine she actually liked the man. The nightmare. The monster.
She didn’t, of course. That would be insane. It was just that syndrome. Stockholm or whatever.
Getting on the bus, she kept her head down, pulling up her hoodie despite it being over 90 degrees outside.
When she reached her apartment building, she watched it for a few minutes before going in, hurrying up to her apartment, and running straight to her room. Locking the door, she let out a breath, then went to her room and the closet. She found her thumb drives immediately and tucked them into the front pocket of her bag.
She needed to decide what to do now. Get her bearings and just lay low. Her gramma’s house might be a better place to do that, but he had people there. They would all notice her, they always saw her after what had happened. No, here would be better. Only Davon knew where this place was, and she didn’t think he would tell them, not after being fired. He wouldn’t even know what was happening.
Going out front, she sat down and picked up her mom's phone. It was dead, but she plugged it in, then went to the single window to look out. Every black SUV made her stomach drop, but they all kept going. After half an hour, she got inordinately angry at the number of black SUVs in the world.
Turning, she checked her mom's phone, then connected to the neighbor's internet and looked up the number to the facility her mom and gramma were in.
After several minutes of redirects, she finally got routed to her mom's room, only to find out that she had to talk to processing to check them out. Calling back, she found out she couldn’t do it until Monday, the person who did all the in and out processing was on bereavement leave.
Of course.
She could make it four days, she told herself. She could hide herself here and lay low that long.
Maybe she should call Davon? Tell him she was here and ask if she could use his laptop?
No… he would just try to claim her himself, he’d been waiting for that. If he knew she had escaped, he would come for her and try to take her to Austin.
Wouldn’t that be okay?
No, Davon might have been her friend once, in a small way, but he was also a man-child. A manchild who’d been shown that he could abuse women and treat them however he wanted. She would be no better off with Davon than Geo. One single second of losing his temper would see her in the ground.
No, she didn’t need anyone, she could do this herself .
She just had to wait until Monday.
And if she felt like she needed to move sooner? She could just get her mom and walk out with her, her gramma too now that they were both doing so much better.
Hopefully.
It would be a last resort, but she hoped she could just walk them out. Sneak them out if it came to it.
The evening and then the night passed slowly as she watched out the window. Stress ate at her stomach, and the memories of his feet haunted her. They were so still. They hadn’t moved at all and that surely meant he was dead? They would have moved if he was still alive?
Her heart ached at the thought.
She hadn’t known it might be hard to do this.
She’d hated him, hadn’t she?
He was a monster. He’d raped her and hurt her and because of him, she’d lost her baby. Maybe not directly, but the stress he’d caused her.
He’d changed though, he’d changed so much. He’d stopped hitting, hurting, and yelling at her… he’d been sweet and loving in his own way. In his way, offering the heads of those he saw as her enemy was an affectionate gesture. They’d offended her and made her uncomfortable. Asked to see her naked. He’d punished them for it and showed her how he treated those who disrespected her. It was violent and abhorrent… but in his way, he’d done something nice for her.
Even since then, the way he made love to her, the way he held her and doted on her and smiled for her. It was almost… normal even. He kept everything violent away from her.
Looking down at the ring on her finger that she was used to now, she wiped away tears.
Had she made a mistake? Killing him instead of just running away?
Was she any better than he was? Killing as an answer to solve her problems?
Sailor made herself sick, stressing over all of it, worrying about Geo and hoping he hadn’t suffered. She imagined again and again the look of betrayal he might have had when she pulled the gun and was glad she’d closed her eyes. She’d never get the memory out of her head if she’d seen the hurt in his eyes.
The next day was no better and her head ached from lack of sleep.
She waited until late afternoon to slip out of the apartment and go to the corner store with the cash still in her bag from that night. Everyone around her made her jumpy and stressed and she knew she needed sleep. She was starting to get paranoid, thinking everyone was looking at her. Looking for her.
What did that man's tattoos mean? Was he in a gang? Did he know Geo? What about that drug dealer? No, Geo didn’t mess with them. They still might know who she was, though.
Hurrying with her food, she went back to her apartment and locked the door, shaking from fear.
She knew she needed to sleep, but she couldn’t do it. Laying down scared her half to death. Even getting under her bed didn’t help. Wedging herself against the wall under her bed, pulling boxes and bags to block her from a casual glance, she was still too afraid.
Jerking, she banged her head on the bottom of the bed and realized she must have passed out. There was light coming from the front room and daylight from the window.
What time was it?