“Are you sure?”
I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure, but the more I thought about it, the more I convinced myself that that was where Tyler was going.
“We should check it out.”
Deputy Jimmy nodded and led me to his car. I prayed that I was right. If not, I didn’t know what I would do.
Chapter Seventeen – Sean
I woke up with a splitting headache. It took me a moment to realize where I was… in the trunk of my BMW, and it was moving. I could tell we were going up a steep incline. In general, being in a trunk made me nervous, but knowing we were heading up gave me all kinds of ideas about what was about to happen. I needed to get out.
I kicked the walls, but nothing I did worked. I sighed, feeling defeated, but then I remembered that the back seat folded down. Feeling around, I found the safety catch and opened the seat, then slowly dropped it and peered through. I was finally able to see that it was Tyler driving my car. I didn’t think about it for too long and took my chance to quietly crawl out since the bully seemed distracted by navigating.
I dropped down onto the floorboard and looked up into the rearview mirror.
“Shit!” After shouting, Tyler suddenly slammed on the brakes, and I realized I hadn’t closed the seat after exiting the back. Once parked, Tyler rushed out of the car and opened the back, furious. He had the bat in his hand and tried to attack me with it, but I managed to keep him from hitting me even though I was still feeling woozy.
We started struggling over the bat. I wrested it from him, tossing it far away. Without the bat, Tyler didn’t have as much of an advantage. He started running towards me first, and we ended up on the ground wrestling for control. Even though I was still reeling from the hit to the head, I was stronger than Tyler, and I managed to get him underneath me and hold him down. I wedged him into the seat, using my body weight to keep him down.
I wondered what to do next. I couldn’t keep Tyler under me forever. Thankfully, I heard sirens a few minutes later. I waited until the deputy ran over.
“Sean Falls?”
“Yeah!”
“You can get off him now. I’ll take over.”
I quickly moved off Tyler so he couldn’t take another swing at me. I heard the deputy arresting him, but I didn’t need to stick around to see that because Chloe was a few feet away. I rushed over and brought her into my arms. It felt like life was returning to my body.
Moments earlier, I thought I was going to die. I’d never get to see Chloe again, never meet my unborn child… I knew I never wanted to let go of either of them for as long as I lived. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the deputy placing Tyler into the back of his car. He walked over to us.
“I’m going to take Tyler back to the station to process him. Can you guys get back to town on your own?”
“Yeah, we’ll be fine. Thank you for finding me.”
The deputy smiled slightly. “I can’t take credit for that. Chloe was the one who figured out where Tyler was going. She’s the reason we were able to get to you so quickly.” I hugged Chloe even tighter against my side. “I’m gonna let you get some rest, but I will need you to come down and make an official statement.”
“Of course.”
We said goodbye to the deputy, and Chloe and I got into my car. I instinctually went for the driver’s seat.
“What are you doing!” Chloe gently pushed me aside. “I will be driving you, sir. Go sit in the passenger’s seat and rest.”
I didn’t have it in me to argue, and she was right anyway. So I got into the car and let Chloe drive us back to town, but we weren’t going in the direction that would take us back to her house.
“Where are we going?”
“To the urgent care. I think you should get checked out and make sure nothing is seriously wrong.” I nodded and decided today was the day to do whatever Chloe wanted.
We got to the urgent care, and thankfully, it wasn’t an extended visit. Instead, they sent us home with a prescription and instructions to keep a close eye on my physical state.
Chloe took me back to her place and wouldn’t let me lift a finger as she took care of me. I felt terrible because I had wanted to take care of her since I missed out on so much of her pregnancy. But there wasn’t anything to do about it. I rested in the bedroom, regaining some of my strength before joining Chloe in the living room.