Page 107 of The Way We Win

“It’s okay, I get it, especially after all the stuff Levi’s dad was saying. I just wanted you to know it’s good. She seems really happy…” His voice breaks off, and I grip his shoulder.

“Look at me. Your mom’s going to be okay. Garrett and I will bring her home. Hear me?”

He nods, shoving the dampness off his cheeks. “I’m going with you.”

“No.”End of discussion. “Allie would never forgive me if I brought you with me.”

“That’s not true. She trusts anything you do.”

“That’s why you’re staying here. I’m not having you get hurt.” He starts to argue, but I hold up a hand. “Stay with Dylan.Help her take care of Kimmie for me. I’ll text you as soon as I know something.”

His jaw tightens, and I pull him in for a hug. “I love your mom.”

My voice is rough. He’s the first person I’ve said it to, and pain twists in my chest at how true it is. I picture Allie’s pretty eyes looking up at me with so much trust. I can’t think of her being alone in a dangerous situation.

Stepping back, I hold his gaze. “I’m bringing her home.”

He relents, dropping his chin. “Okay.”

With another pat, I look to my brother. He hands me my phone, and we’re out the door.

25

Allie

My tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth when I wake up, and my vision is blurry. I’m still in my Halloween costume, but I’m belted into the passenger’s side of a sedan that’s racing down a dark highway.

Country music plays on the radio, and cigarette smoke filters to my nose. I have to blink a few times to clear the haze from my eyes.

My wrists sting like the skin is being torn, and when I shift in my seat, I realize they’re zip-tied together.

Then it all comes rushing back—me running away, being chased by a gorilla, and when I look to my left, my chest sinks.

Rip is driving.

His hand is propped on the wheel, and the wind ruffles his graying, light-brown mullet from a crack in the window.

Birth control. This is why I make sure the kids know all about it and how to use it. I wouldn’t trade my precious son for anything in the world, but I’d sure trade being tied to this loser forever.

He takes a pull off a cigarette and glances over at me. “Morning, sunshine—or should I say evening?”

I should be afraid. I should be crying and terrified that I’ve been kidnapped by my ex-con ex-husband, who is now driving like a bat out of hell to God knows where in the middle of the night.

Instead, my dread morphs into anger.

Peeling my dry lips apart, my voice is as rough as sandpaper. “What the fuck have you done?”

“Whoa…” He has the nerve to give me a sly smile. “That’s not the sweet Allie I remember. And you look so pretty in that dress, with your hair all pulled up like that. It reminds me of a hot summer day in south Louisiana. You’d be walking around the house in short shorts and one of my white undershirts with no bra.” He whistles through his teeth. “You always were a sexy little thing. My New Orleans lady.”

“I’m your New Orleans nothing.” My voice cracks as I try to fight. “You can stick those memories up your ass. You’re going to jail for this.”

“Now, don’t sell yourself short, darlin. You are not nothing.” He grins, and the streetlight reflects off the gold cap on his right canine. “Remember that time you nursed me back to health? You only do something like that when it’s true love.”

“Or true terror,” I snap.

Yes, I rememberverywell the night he was shot in the stomach during a drug deal gone wrong. I was sure he was going to bleed to death, and he wouldn’t let me take him to the hospital. He knew he’d be arrested for possession, and this time it was enough to send him away for a long, long time.

Instead, he made me bring him back to our little shotgun house hidden away on the back streets of Uptown by the bend in the river.

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