Page 9 of Biker's Baby

FOUR

Iris

A week passed,and with time, the shock of what Joel had done faded.

I had been pretty certain it would be a good idea for me and Tristan to move away from Twin Forks, but with each passing day and no sign of my ex, I started to think of the reasons why it would be better for us to stay.

Perhaps Joel had gotten the message, and he’d leave me alone from here on out. That would be the most ideal. I didn’t want to have to start over again myself, but more than that, I didn’t want to force my son into starting over, either.

He had a little friend around his age right here in the apartment complex, and he loved Maria.

Though those were just two people, he was familiar with our home and the other people who lived in the complex, and he enjoyed the small park that was nearby, too.

If I were to leave, I would have to look for another job, I’d have to find another person who would be willing to watch Tris while I was at work, and I would have to make enough money to pay that person for their time along with paying rent, buying food, paying bills, and everything else that went along with moving away.

It was overwhelming, there was no other way to put it. And I wasn’t even sure where I would go. Well, that part might not be entirely true, but I knew the place I would go wasn’t my first choice, but it was quickly becoming my only choice.

That is, if I had to leave at all.

I worked an overnight at the diner, glad that it had been slow. I was tired when I pulled into the parking lot of our complex. So tired, in fact, I didn’t even notice the dark figure hanging around by the doorway until I was too close to turn around.

“Joel! What are you doing here?” I demanded after crying out in surprise. “I told you if you ever showed up at my place again I was calling the cops!”

Without even waiting for him to answer, I yanked out my phone and started dialing 9-1-1. But Joel moved like lightning. In an instant he was on me, wrenching the phone out of my hand and letting it fall to the ground.

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” he snapped. “They’re not going to do anything but get in the way and tell me I should leave and let you cry about the fact that I’m not giving up on us.”

“There isn’t any ‘us’ for you to give up on!” I yelled at him. “I’m done with you, and I’m not coming back! I don’t care what you say or do. You can’t force me to be with you!”

“That’s what you think!” He wrenched my wrist to the side, causing me to cry out in pain. At the same time, he shoved me backward, making me hit my head on the hard concrete wall behind me. I cried out again. I wasn’t normally the kind of girl who would scream when she was frightened, but the fact that he was overpowering me led me to make as much noise as I could.

Joel was a lot bigger than me, and he could do what he wanted with me, including knock me out and kidnap me right now. He could do it so fast, no one would even realize that’s what had happened. Maria wouldn’t suspect anything was wrong for another two hours, and if she tried to call me, my phone was tossed onto the ground outside the door.

He could have me under his charge for hours before the police would even be notified that anything was wrong, and that alone was enough to make me scream for help.

“Shut the fuck up!” Joel snapped at me. “Shut up now or I’m going to strangle you right here in public!”

“Get off me!” I yelled. My voice was tight and high, desperation clearly shining through in my tone.

“Hey!”

Another voice broke through the sound of our scuffle, and I looked toward the road with relief flooding through me. I didn’t have to know who it was to know the tone of that voice meant that this person wasn’t going to be on Joel’s side.

There were plenty of people who were in this complex who were good enough to stand up for someone like me if I was in need, and though I didn’t know the name of the man who was heading our way, I did know that he lived on the floor above me and Tristan.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” he demanded. “You let go of that woman right now!”

“Mind your own business, bud, and no one gets hurt,” Joel said.

“Oh, is that how you want to do things?” the man demanded. “Alright then, we can play that way.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small handgun. I let out another involuntary cry at the sight of it, not wanting him to try to shoot Joel when Joel was right on top of me. But the sight of the weapon was enough to get Joel to release me.

Clearly, he was more bark than he was bite.

“I wouldn’t get involved in this if I were you,” he warned the man.

“Just get the fuck out of here,” my neighbor said. “And if I see you around here again, there’s going to be trouble.”

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