Page 12 of Hanging Horseshoes

“Damn dude. You’re so fucked.”

And that’s how Swift finds us rolling around the hallway floor, me with Grease's head in a headlock and him biting my forearm.

Chapter Ten

Ophelia

I tried to sleep most of the day, not just because I was exhausted, because I definitely was, but also so I’d have enough energy to run tonight. Now it's just past one in the morning and I’m really hoping I can get out of here unnoticed. It's the middle of the week, so Beau said I shouldn't have to worry about running into any strangers if I got hungry or anything. He told me to come get him if I woke up, but now I’m closing the door to his room as softly as possible and trying not to let a sob slip free.

After finishing the letter to Beau, explaining everything that happened, the current situation, and that my family is still after me and Mable and why I have to leave, I sat for the last hour just staring at my sleeping baby girl. Not wanting to follow through with this plan, not wanting to leave her. To risk the possibility of me never seeing my baby girl again. I want to be selfish and stay with them to have this life, but I also know I will do everything possible to keep Mable from growing up anywhere close to that place. Even if it means putting myself back in their path. I gave her one last kiss before slipping out.

I wipe the tears from my face again, trying to silently get through this place on memory alone. I’m just making my way out into the common room to get to the other hall that leads to the back when I hear a grunt. I stop dead in my tracks, hoping and praying I didn't just get caught. I can't explain away my packed bag.

“Fuck, yeah. That's it, pet. Slam that pussy down on this cock.” I hear coming from the front of the room.

I slap my hand over my mouth so they don't hear my gasp. Then think better of it and slam my hands over my ears. I might die of embarrassment if I hear any more of this interaction and then have to face these people again. I quickly and quietly make my way to the other hallway, using the couches as cover. I look behind me as I make it to the back door and breathe a sigh of relief. Guess I didn't get caught, or they weren't worried about me. Either way, I’ll count my blessings.

I push open the back door and freeze at the motion sensor lights. Hopefully, I'm not triggering any alarms, but it didn't seem like the door was tripped or locked. At any rate, I know I need to move fast. I look around and luckily see a pedal bike leaning against the back wall. I want to cry harder at the memory of Beau teaching me to ride my first bike. I need to stop before I won't be able to force myself to leave.

I ride the trails, just like Beau showed me earlier, thanking the lord the path is such an easy one. It takes a bit, but not nearly as long to get to the back gate with the bike than it did when we were walking. I make it to the back gate and realize it's locked and there's no way I can get through that. Looking at it, it seems to just be a wooden gate. I should be able to climb it.

It takes me a couple of times and an embarrassing amount of bruises before I successfully make it to the other side of the wall. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the bike over with me, so it's on foot from here. Surprisingly, though, it's not far from the house Trip described. I walk closer to the house and look around. This is the part of the plan I may have forgotten about. The truck is sitting right there in the front yard, and with any luck, the keys are in the front of the house and the house is unlocked. I should have remembered most people don't leave keys lying around, and they definitely don’t leave their houses unlocked.

As quietly as possible, I circle the ground floor, praying with everything I have to find an open window or that the back door is unlocked. Obviously, the front door was a bust, so were all the windows along the front porch, but thankfully, when I round the far side of the house, I see a window cracked open. It looks like Trip didn’t lock it closed, and it caught the wind a bit or something. It's not much, but I can work with it, at least. Quickly and quietly, I pry the window the rest of the way open, thankful it moves silently on its track. Sticking my head through the opening, I find the window opens into a small bathroom. I use a small vanity directly under the window to help climb into the room. Once in the house, finding my way to the front hallway doesn't take long. Unfortunately, the keys aren’t near the front door like I had hoped, so I turn and sneak back through the lower level toward the kitchen at the back. Thankfully, the keys hang on a peg next to the back door. I snatch them up with little thought and quickly exit the back door, not letting it slam behind me, before running to the front yard again and unlocking the truck.

Finally getting the key inserted into the truck, I turn it over. The truck starts, and for the first time, I want to smile. It worked! But then again, I also know there is no way for me to smile in this situation. I look behind me again toward the motorcycle club, my baby girl, my first love, and the life I desperately want but know isn't in the cards for me. So, I turn back to face forward.

I take hold of the wheel and then pause. I just realized I have no clue how to drive. Beau tried to teach me when we turned fifteen, but I hated every second. I remember asking him,

“Why do I need to learn to drive? I’ll just stick by your side forever. I won’t need to worry about it as long as you're here and behind the wheel.” I smiled at him, but noticed he didn't smile back.

“I might not always be here, Honeybee. You need to be able to take care of yourself if something happens to me.” He tells me sadly. I frown and shake my head.

“Don’t talk like that. Nothing is going to happen to you. We are in this life together. Nothing could tear us apart.”

I said it so determinedly, like it was already written in the stares, it was already chiseled in stone, because to me, to my heart, it was. I was always going to live and love Beau. Unfortunately, life has other plans. Plans like me stealing a hot as heck cowboy's truck in the middle of the night after dropping my life off with my baby daddy. I snort at the thought, then decide to get down to business. I look at the beautiful house, my dream house, one last time. Hoping the cranking of this huge thing didn't wake him. I need to get out of here before it's impossible to leave. I’ve been feeling the pull to turn back since the moment I kissed Mable's head.

Wiping the tears from my face, I take a deep breath. “Okay, now I just have to make this thing go. The Left is the gas, and the right is the break. Right? Wait, or is it the other way? I'm pretty sure the big one is the break. Thank the stars there isn’t a trailer attached to the back of this monstrous thing.”

I know it's crazy to talk to myself, but at the moment, I have no one else, and I need all the reassurance I can get.

“Okay, next is the gear shifter thingy. Dang, I should have paid more attention. At least I know the basic. P is park, so I know I need to get it out of here.” I take a deep breath before placing my hand on the shifter and pulling down.

“R is reverse,” I look behind me. “Nope, don't want to go backward.” If I back up too much, I’ll park this thing in the barn… and not through the doors of the thing.

“Not the 1 or 2, but the D mean drive. That's the one I need.” I tell myself, pulling the shifter down and taking my foot off the gas. The truck moves, and I scream. “Too fast, shit. Actually, I probably need to go faster. Gotta get away. Got to move. Alright, Ophelia, don't be such a baby. Get yourself together.”

Slowly, I take my foot off the brake and only slightly panic when the truck moves up.

“Whew! That wasn't so bad! I can do this!” I try to pump myself up. Yes, I realize I am cheering myself on to drive in a truck alone, but at this point, it's the only thing I’ve got going for me.

“Just a bit of gas,” I say softly and press the gas, making the truck bounce down the dirt driveway toward the main road. Well, I hope that’s where this road takes me. I have no clue where I’m going. I figured that might actually help me. If I have no clue where I’m going, how are the people after me supposed to know where I am? That’s my plan, anyway.

It takes me longer than I would have hoped to finally get to the road, but once I do, I shout out into the cab of the truck.

“I did it!” I may be a bit too proud of myself for this task that it seems any grown adult could do, but whatever. This is my time to feel independent, to know that I did this myself and to be proud of that. I take another deep breath before looking up one way of the street and then down the other. I think if you turn left out of here, it goes back toward the compound, but right takes me somewhere else… somewhere unknown.

Right it is.

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