Page 53 of Saving Tracey
"Don't look at me. I tried finding your phone, but you didn't have it on you. I took a wild guess you had something to do with Trevor because you're wearing his old hoodie, so I called him."
Her head fell into her hands, and she sighed tiredly. "I lost all of my stuff when I fell in that alley he snatched me into."
I stood up, my jaw clenched. "I want to know how the fuck he got out of prison." I looked at Gabriel. He arched an eyebrow atme, already knowing what I was going to request, but waiting on me to say it out loud. "Can you do that for me?"
He shrugged, nodding. "Yeah, but first you have to tell me how long you've been pussy-whipped." He chuckled.
I rolled my eyes at him, my eyes moving to watch Tracey as she stood from the couch, coming to stand beside me. I wrapped an arm around her, almost as if on instinct, pulling her against the front of my body.
"It's not pussy whipped, bruh.” I leaned down to kiss her temple. Her cheeks tinted pink at my affection. "It's a long story, but I'm head over heels for this girl right here.”
And I meant it. Tracey was everything to me, and her safety was my utmost priority. I hated that her father had almost gotten his hands on her; I hated that I may have never seen her beautiful green eyes or her timid smile ever again.
I should have forced her to let me give her a ride back home. I should have made sure she made it home safely, but I had wanted to give her the space she was craving.
Gabriel pulled his phone out of his pocket. "I'm going to make some phone calls to see what I can find out, and I'll get back with you. In the meantime, you should probably get her home. I'm sure everyone is worried sick about her."
I nodded in agreement, looking down at Tracey. She looked worn out, weary, and exhausted. I knew what she had just gone through was rough, and I knew she would begin suffering from those flashbacks and nightmares all over again.
Fuck Miss Brinson. Fuck Kaleb. Fuck Krista. This girl wasn't leaving my side—not until I knew that she was okay again. Not until I knew she could sleep without those fucking nightmares again.
We had come so far, only for her to have to take a million steps back.
Seeing her dad had to have torn her up inside, and I knew it was going to take her a damn good minute to recover from the experience. He had wanted to hurt her, and she knew that as well as anyone else—probably better than any of us even realized.
"Baby, are you ready to go?"
She shook her head, shocking me. "I don't want to go home." I could see the fear in her eyes of the dreams she would have to endure, and it pulled at my heartstrings.
I had promised this girl that I would protect her, and that meant doing my best to protect her from the demons of her unconscious mind, too.
I grabbed her hand in mine, pulling her against me, circling my arms around her. "I'll stay with you until you can push past this, okay? I promise that I won't leave your side."
She nodded. I leaned down and kissed her softly.
TRACEY
I walked through the front door of Miss Brinson's house with caution. I thought I was going to be in trouble for not coming home like I was supposed to, but instead, as soon as I walked in the door, Miss Brinson was swinging her slender arms around me.
My throat closed up, nausea building in the back of my throat.
She had to fucking let me go.
Trevor quickly pulled me back from her as soon as I stiffened, wrapping his arm around me to give me that sense of security that I desperately needed. "She's shaken up. She had a run-in with her dad." Miss Brinson's breath caught in her throat, andher worry-filled eyes met mine. "I'm going to stay with her in case she has any nightmares.” The tone of his voice made it clear it wasn’t up for discussion.
She nodded, her hand fluttering out to me to comfort me, but I shied away from it. All of that progress I had just made had gone down the drain.
With that one simple interaction, he had knocked me back down to the scared little girl I had always been.
I walked up the stairs to my room, ignoring Kaleb, who stood at the top of the stairs, and Krista, who was watching me with sad eyes as I scampered into my room. I didn't want to be bothered. I just wanted to go to sleep and hope that flashbacks and nightmares didn't torment my subconscious mind.
"Trevor, man, we need to talk,” I heard Kaleb say, halting Trevor in his tracks.
I turned to look at them from the doorway of my room, watching as Trevor's features hardened, anger flaring in his eyes. "I don't have a fucking thing to say to you,” Trevor snapped at him. I winced. “You fucking hurt that girl right there,” Trevor snarled, jabbing his finger in my general direction, “all because you were fucking jealous. News flash, you fucking asshole, Tracey is mine, and as far as I'm concerned, she'llalwaysbe mine. So fucking let it go, Kaleb. I let you have Lacie because you wanted her so damn bad, but this is one girl that you willneverhave, and it's time for you to admit that yourself, and move the fuck on."
Kaleb's jaw clenched. "I was the one that got her out of that situation. You didn't even know who the fuck she was until you came over that day to playCall of Duty."
Trevor stepped up to him, towering over him with his tall frame. Kaleb tried to act strong, but I saw the flicker of intimidation in his eyes.
