Page 81 of Loving Trent
My hands tighten instead of letting go. Josiah’s pulse races underneath my hands. His eyes are almost popping out of their sockets, and his face is beet fucking red. “Son, let him go,” Sonny says as he joins Leon. Their hands are wrapped so hard around my arms that their nails are digging into my skin, but it feels like nothing.
There is no pain.
There is no stopping.
The sound of feet pounding up the stairs doesn’t even pull me out of this. I don’t think anything can, but I’m so wrong because one word spoken from the only other person that means the world to me gets me to snap out of it. “Daddy!” Harley’s frantic voice pulls me back, and I let go.
Hands push me back, and I allow them. “Get him out of here. Take him to the house and wait for someone to call,” Leon demands.
Harley comes around in front of me, and her little hands cup my face. “Dad, come on. I got you.” Her thumbs move across my cheeks, wiping away tears that I have no memory of shedding.
Hearing that not only did Josiah know what happened to me all those years ago, but he participated in the torture of an innocent child broke something deep inside of me. Over the two years I was at Camp Arrow, I thought that he would save me if I could find a way to tell him what was happening. But now I know that would never have happened. That man is nothing but pure fucking evil.
The door to the room I’m hiding out in slowly opens. Betty walks in, shuts the door, and slides down until she is sitting on the floor, hugging her legs to her chest. As I watch her, my hand doesn’t stop running through Harley’s hair. She hasn’t left my side since we left that house, and I’m glad she was here. I don’t like her seeing me like that, but had she not been here, I would have ruined everything by killing Josiah.
I’m supposed to be her father, the adult, but in that moment, she stepped up. She morphed into a smaller version of Mary Hill. Joe and Jerry tried to get me to talk to them as she led me out of the house and to my truck, but she growled at them. Her words are still ringing in my ears.
“I’m taking my dad away from here. Away from that monster. If you want to know what happened, go find Grandpa Sonny.” Jenna slid into the driver’s seat, Betty got in the front seat, and Harley sat in the back with me, never letting go of my hand.
“I love you, Dad. Daddio loves you. The whole Hill family loves you. We aren’t broken or dirty. Whatever that parasite told you isn’t true. None of it's true,” Harley whispered as she lay her head on my chest. She told me that over and over again.
It was exactly what I needed to hear.
“Why is he the way he is?” Betty sounds just as desperate as I feel.
“I don’t know, and I’m not sure we will ever know. He’s evil,” I say, shrugging my shoulders. “That might be the easiest explanation we will ever get.”
Betty sighs loudly. “Have you called Shawn?”
“Have you called April?” I counter knowing that she hasn’t.
“I don’t want to continue putting this shit on her shoulders. I just want it all to be over with so we can move on. I want to finally walk down the aisle with her without the darkness hanging over us. I want to start having babies with her. But I can’t do it with all this hanging over us.” Betty softly sobs, and I move Harley’s head off my thighs and move to comfort my sister.
“This is it,” I say, throwing my arms around her and pulling her into my chest. “Right now, you and I are deciding this is the end. The end of Josiah’s reign over us. Once we leave this state, we aren’t going to think about him ever again. We aren’t going to let his actions continue to eat at us. Because every single time we do, we give him more power.”
“Can it be that easy?”
“I think it can,” I say as I silently pray that it can be. That I’m not wrong.
We sit in complete silence except for when Harley snores every now and again. We cling to each other and just wait for the end to come. My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I lean over to pull it out. I don’t know who I hope is calling me. Shawn, because I need him or one of the guys to tell me this is over. It’s Demon. I answer it, stand up, and motion for Betty to follow me.
“Hold on,” I tell him, until we are in the living room of the house Leon rented. I put the call on speakerphone so Betty can hear everything as well. “Okay, what’s up?”
“We have everything we need to nail Josiah, Stanley, Jules, and about twenty more people.”
Betty lets out a small sob, and I pull her to me. There is movement behind me, and I know it’s Jenna without having to look at her. My throat tightens. Too tight to force words out of it, so Jenna takes over. “You boys on your way here?”
“We have to handle a few more things here, but it won’t be too much longer. Y’all should try to get some sleep. Tomorrow will be longer and harder,” Demon says before hanging up.
Jenna wraps her arms around us and holds on while we finally feel a little of the relief we desperately needed for way too long. As the younger versions of ourselves finally feel the weight lifting off of them. My phone is still in my hand, and I know what I need right now. Pulling up my messages, I finally send the message I should have sent days ago.
Me
Baby Boy, I need you.
Forty-One
TRENT
