Because It's You (Carolina Rebels 2)

I stop breathing and wait to hear Elizabeth’s voice. “Marc?” If it wasn’t for how shaky and how terrified she sounds, I’d melt in my seat from hearing her voice.

“I’m here.”

“Do you remember that time we went out to eat with Noah and Meredith?”

What the fuck does that have to do with anything? “Yeah,” I answer anyway.

“I really, really liked that place. Maybe we can go there again.”

Dad snorts. “You’re both boring me. Bye, Marc.”

He hangs up before I can open my mouth. Shit! I hit my steering wheel and throw my phone across the cab of the truck. I start driving toward that restaurant. I don’t remember there being hotels over there, but that has to be why she mentioned it, right? There’s no other reason.

Coming up on the west side of the restaurant, the side we drove up on when coming to it, I confirm that I was right. No hotels. I pass the restaurant and about two miles up the road, I see a motel.

And Elizabeth’s car is in the parking lot.

I park the truck next to it and run to the door directly in front of her car, but I hear more noises from the one I just passed. It flies open and Elizabeth runs into me, scaring the shit out of her since she wasn’t looking where she was going. My eyes quickly take her in. She’s in one piece. Thank god.

Then I see my father behind her. His pants are unbuttoned and his zipper is undone. My body acts before I can think. I move Elizabeth to the side and charge him. Never in my life have I wanted to beat him within an inch of his life like I do right now. Age hasn’t taken away his strength, though it has slowed him down. He fights back as if he’s in as good shape as I am. He slams me back into the TV before we topple to the floor with me straddling his waist, punch after punch going to his face with years of abuse and what’s happened to Elizabeth to fuel each swing of my arms.

But then I’m being hauled up and held back. A sick and twisted satisfaction comes when I see his bloodied face. It’s a cold splash of reality to realize it’s two cops holding on to me. Shit. I whirl around to see Elizabeth with a third officer, her arms wrapped around her body. Her shirt is torn open, something I somehow failed to notice earlier, and a new surge of anger flares. She rushes over and hugs me.

“We need to get you two outside and figure out what happened here,” an officer says, ushering us outside while another stays behind to talk to Francis. I give Elizabeth my hoodie to wear as he continues, “Mind explaining what happened? What are your names?”

“My name is Elizabeth Boyd. This is my boyfriend, Marc Polinski, and that’s his father, Francis. I was meeting him at his house, but he wasn’t there yet and his father was. He had a gun, and he told me to get into the car. We came here. He tied me to the chair and gagged me. Marc called him, Francis started talking about how he had raped women, and he...he was touching me. He let me talk to Marc, so I gave him a hint as to our location, but Francis hung up on him shortly after.”

Elizabeth starts trembling, so I rub my hands up and down her arms, reminding her I’m here. “He threatened me, untied me, and threw me onto the bed, but I started fighting back. When I was able to get to the door, Marc was here.” She looks up at me to finish.

“I saw her and then I saw him. I reacted.” That’s all there was to it. “He has a history of abuse and instability. He was supposed to be back in Canada, but I knew he

was still here at first because his therapist called and told me that he was still here. He probably planned it once I pissed him off.”

We talk to the officer, Stamps, a bit more, and then the officer who was talking to Francis comes out to speak to him off to the side as paramedics arrive to check everyone out. I’ll have a few bruises in addition to the broken skin on my knuckles, but other than that, I’m fine. Elizabeth has a few bruises already forming, the one around her neck making me want to beat the hell out of him again.

“Okay, so he’s refusing to say what happened. All he would say is he wanted us to remind you that you’re his son and that means something.”

The third officer who had disappeared returns and asks to speak with Officer Stamps. A moment later, we see them arrest my father, who resists. At least they can add that. “There’s video footage of him ushering you into the room with the gun to your back. We can charge him with second degree kidnapping.”

We talk a bit more and then we’re free to leave. I put Elizabeth in the truck and turn it on with the heat blasted and I call Noah.

“Hey,” he answers.

“Are you and Meredith busy?”

“No. Why? What’s up?”

“I need you to meet me at a motel, one of you drive Elizabeth’s car to my house, and don’t ask any questions. I’ll explain it later.” Elizabeth is still shaking and she said she didn’t want to drive.

“Everything okay?”

“Not really. Can you come?”

“Yeah. Mere, shoes and purse, yeah? Marco needs our help.” To me, he says, “We’re walking out of the door right now. Where are we going?”

I tell him how to find the motel and we hang up. I should get in the truck and wait with Elizabeth, but my mind is racing from what happened, so I pace instead. Today was supposed to be a good day. Elizabeth gave me all her secrets, she let me in completely, and we were going to spend the afternoon together. I was going to tell her I love her. Francis had to go and fuck it up. What if this changes us? My father is a rapist. He was going to beat and rape Elizabeth. That monster raised me. It’s no longer an exaggeration that it’s a damn miracle I turned out decent.

“Marco?”