Danger (The Driven World)

I peek around the corner, tears filling my eyes because I just know something isn’t quite right. It’s never been this silent before after a fight. It’s never felt this wrong before.

My hands shake as I continue around the corner, wondering how I can get to the phone. I need to call the police. They need to know about the woman lying dead on the basement floor.

I end in the kitchen, and spy my mother lying on the floor, red blood leaking from her hairline.

Without even thinking about it, I rush to her side.

“Mom, Mom, are you ok?” I cry, trying to shake her awake.

“Leave her alone,” my father’s voice booms from behind me.

“Is she okay?” I stare up at the man and notice he’s aged by fifty years since I last saw him. Is it the alcohol?

Either way, the lines on my father’s face are deep and etched with disdain as I sit with my mother. She’s not waking up, and I glance over at the phone.

“Don’t even think about calling the police, boy.” My father’s words mean business. He normally has this tone on his bad days. On days when he’s so upset with the world and looking to take it out on anyone standing in his path.

I press my palm to the blood on my mother’s temple, trying my best to stop the flow.

“Did you go downstairs?”

Tears stream down my face, and I don’t realize Isabella is sitting beside me until it’s too late.

“Both of you get the fuck outta here,” my father yells, and I grab Isabella’s hand and rush back down the hallway, grabbing the phone on the way.

We make it to my bedroom, and I slam the door shut and lock it. “Call 9-1-1,” I tell her, tossing her the phone.

My sister is full-on crying and I don’t have the time right now to calm her down. I listen, shushing my sister’s sobs as she dials the phone.

I’m listening for footsteps. Listening for him.

And just as Isabella speaks into the phone, there’s a loud bang at the door. Isabella speaks faster as my father pounds and pounds.

“Please hurry,” she says to the 9-1-1 operator.

I hold the door, hoping my father won’t tear it down.

“Let me in, you two little shits,” he screams, and I know there’s no way we can open the door for him when he’s this angry.

I’m not sure if my mother is dead or alive, but I know I have to worry about Isabella and me now.

Isabella hangs up the phone, and goes and grabs Mr. Whiskers off the bed. “I’m scared,” she says to me.

I move closer to her, hugging her in my arms. “I know, me too.”

And before we can say anything else, my father busts through the cheap wooden door, and reaches for us.

“Isabella,” I scream.

She cries, and the look in my father’s eyes is one I’ll never forget. He reaches for us, his stare menacing and frightening. I put up a fight at first until his hand comes crashing down on my temple.

I blackout, and don’t really know what happened after that.

And when I wake up, Isabella is nowhere to be found.

Chapter 34

Danger

I crack my neck as I stare into my over-brewed coffee. It’s pretty much sludge at this point, but I keep drinking it in the hopes it keeps me awake a few hours longer. I can’t stop thinking about the words Monterey said to me. The look on her face when she thought Isabella might be a past lover.

I laugh a little to myself.

“More coffee, gorgeous?” the waitress asks me.

I glance up at her, and her eyes register their recognition and a smile spreads across her face. “I get off in a few hours. Maybe I can help turn your bad night around?”

I try to smile, but it just doesn’t happen and I groan instead. “Don’t think there’s anything in the world that can make this day better.”

She refills my coffee with a smile. “Had to at least try.” She walks away and I don’t even stare at the curve of her ass as she does. I no longer care about things I used to before I started this whole facade with Monterey. It’s weird, right?

Love.

It’s a crazy fucking feeling, and I hate the fact I feel this way. Love is a great feeling, if you’re able to be with the woman you love. However, I can’t be with Monterey. It would never work. She deserves better, and it’s that plain and simple.

I muster up the courage to head back to the hotel, and face the music that awaits me. Today we’ll be heading back to California. To the place I’ve been dreading on stepping foot in since this whole tour started.

But, I need to man up. I need to end this relationship with Monterey and pick up the pieces of my life.