Page 14 of Protecting Tiffani

“Okay, Mom, don’t move,” I say, walking toward her.

“Where else would I go, you smart ass.” She shakes her head. Reaching around her, I locate the water shut-off valve and twist it. The water stops instantly, and since my mom is no longer using her hands to fight it, she smacks me on the back of my head.

“What was that for?” I ask her. “I just saved you.”

“You know what that was for, Mister. Don’t play dumb.” She rolls her eyes at me.

“What happened?” I ask, pulling the cold water hose up from the back of the washer. The end of the hose that attaches to the faucet coming out of the wall is still attached to the tap, but the faucet is no longer attached to the pipe. I inspect the fixture, and there is a dent on the top, but what put it there? And is that what made it break entirely off the damn pipe?

“I don’t know. I just heard the sound of water pouring out and came running in here.”

“Go dry off and change. I’ll call Adam to see if he can come over to bring me what we need to fix this,” I tell her over my shoulder.

“I’ll call him. I need you to take the rest of the laundry into town and do it for me,” she says, walking away.

“What? I’m sure we can get it fixed in no time, mom. There’s no need to spend money on a laundry mat. Plus, the world isn’t going to come to an end if the laundry stays dirty for a couple more hours, is it? Let me call Adam, and we’ll get working on it,” I say, confused. Adam is the best handyman besides my dad. He can have this fixed in no time. I look at the two laundry baskets sitting by the fridge. Wait, how did this many clothes get dirty? Mom just did laundry yesterday. I hear Mom moving around in her bathroom, not paying me any attention.

I head to her room to wait on her. “Mom, what’s in the baskets anyways? Didn’t you just do the laundry?”

“Don’t you worry about it. Just load it up in the car and get going. According to the weatherman, this storm is supposed to get worse in the next hour. You wouldn’t want to get caught in it, would you?” she says through the closed door.

“Mom, just let me call Adam…”

“Levi, do as you’re told. There is money on the table. Go to Susan’s Suds in town and wash the clothes. Oh yeah, you might also want to take the sheets from all the beds. I’ll get them together while you change.”

“What? Do we have company coming over? The sheets were just washed.” Mom is either up to something and trying to get me out of the house or losing her damn mind. I’ve been home for a couple of months now, she wouldn’t be planning a welcome home party, would she? “You’re up to something, Mom. Just tell me what it is.”

The door to the bathroom flies open, and my mom’s standing there with her hands on her hips. “I’ll have you know I’m not up to something, Levi. I just want all the beds to have fresh sheets and the clothes to be clean. It’s not my fault the washer broke. Now, will you please just listen to me and get going.”

I roll my eyes but head to my room to do as she asked. I don’t want to spend the next couple of hours at a fucking laundry mat. “Not up to something, my ass,” I whisper.

“I heard that, young man.”

“Good, you’re a crap liar Mom.” I smile even though I don’t want to go into town to do laundry that’s already clean. I love being able to do something for my family.

Ten minutes later, I’m soaked from the rain outside and the car is fully loaded with everything Mom said needed to be cleaned. The drive into town takes longer because I can barely see with the wipers at high speed. I don’t dare turn on the radio. I’m the type of person who turns down the music when looking for a street. My mind wanders, with nothing but the sound of mud hitting the underside of the car and the wipers trying to keep the pouring rain off the windshield. Of course, it goes to the one person I wish I could forget about.Her.My blue-eyed Cupcake.

I showed up at the grocery store the past three Saturdays. The first time Tiffani had enough money. But for the last two weeks I’ve waited for over an hour, but she never came. I didn’t think much about it the first time, thinking she must have come on a different day. But the second week, I couldn’t fight off the worry that settled in my stomach. I asked Nora, and she said this was a regular thing. Sometimes Tiffani wouldn’t come in for weeks at a time. With the little food she bought the first two times I was there, that makes me uncomfortable, but what can I do about it? I don’t know where she lives, and even if I did, she would probably knock my ass out if I showed up demanding answers. I’ve seen her lose her shit on someone, and while it’s hot as hell, I don’t need that anger directed at me when I can’t be with her in the way it makes me want to.

I could ask around town, but I can’t risk her finding out I’m asking questions. I know she hates me, and I don’t want to make her life worse. The one thing in the world I trust is my gut, and for the past two weeks, it has been screaming that something’s wrong. Finally, I make it to town, and Susan’s Sud’s is easy to find. It’s been in this town as long as I have been alive. The rain still hasn’t let up one bit. I rush out of the car, grabbing two baskets at once, and sprinting through the front door.

My wet feet slip on the floor as my eyes take in the scene in front of me. My body starts to tremble. The baskets fall to the floor, making the two ladies in here turn to stare at me, but I can’t pull my eyes off the fat fucker who has his hands wrapped around my girl’s arm.

A groan of pain comes out of her as I see the muscles in the arm that is ten seconds away from being detached flex as he squeezes harder. My rapid heartbeat fills my ears as I clench my fist and stalk toward him. The man’s eyes shoot up from Tiffani’s face and land on me. They widen with fear, and a wicked smile spreads over my face. Reaching forward, I grab his arm and twist it, making him drop her arm. The sound of his bone breaking makes a surge of power go through me.

“Fuck,” the man screams while stepping away from Tiffani. I slide into the empty space and grab his shirt, which is soaked with sweat.

“Touch her again, and I will remove that fucking limb from you and make you fucking eat it,” I say calmly, even though I feel anything but calm right now. The sound of something hitting the ground makes me turn around.

Laying on the floor behind me, Tiffani is out cold. “What the fuck did you do to her?” I yell at the man who is inching his way to the door.

“Nothing, man. I didn’t do anything,” he stutters and rushes outside.

I drop down beside Tiffani and gently take her face in my hands. “Tiffani, can you hear me?” I see her eyes moving behind her closed eyelids. Her face is cold in my hands. My heart starts to race out of fear. She has to open her eyes. My stomach turns with worry. I knew something was wrong with her, but there is no way I’m too late. She has to be okay. I should have listened to my fucking gut and tracked her down a week ago.

“Come on, beautiful. Open those gorgeous, blue eyes for me.” The lady standing with a young boy moves closer to me. I don’t pay her any mind as I beg the girl that’s scaring the shit out of me to wake up.

The young mom asks me if she needs to call an ambulance, but I see that Tiffani is coming around.

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