Men have caused me nothing but trouble. You’d think after Abigail’s father left us high and dry I would have learned from my mistake.
I’m not sure how long I lean against the wall, trying to keep my shit together. But as soon as I hear the door opening behind me, I whip around to face whoever is coming through it.
“Mommy!” Abigail cries out and rushes over to me.
Wrapping my arms around my little girl instantly makes me feel a little better. Bending down, I hug her tightly until she wiggles her way out of my arms.
“Johnathan,” Andrew says, standing from the couch and nodding his head at the man that came in behind Abigail.
I glance towards Johnathan and then have to do a double take. If he wasn’t so gigantic and fierce looking, he’d look absurd. With his long, dirty blonde hair and tattoos all over his neck and hands, he looks like someone squeezed a grungy biker into a designer black suit.
Johnathan scowls and thrusts out his arm, and that’s when I notice he’s holding out Abigail’s Beauty and the Beast backpack.
“This came with it,” he rumbles.
Andrew frowns at the backpack like he doesn’t know what to do with it. The two men then seem to have a stare off before Johnathan shrugs and opens his hand, letting the backpack fall to the floor.
“Mommy,” Abigail says, tugging on my hand to get my attention.
“Yes, sweetie?” I ask, tearing my eyes away from the two menacing men as they talk quietly to each other.
Abigail beams up at me. “Johnny let me have chocolate ice cream for dinner.”
“What?” I blink down at her.
Johnathan grumbles and stops talking to Andrew to turn an accusing eye on my daughter. “You weren’t supposed to tell anyone.”
I frown at him and start to step in front of her, not liking the way he’s looking at her or talking to her.
Abigail pops her head out from behind me though and then says cheerfully, “He also let me have some coke.”
“What?!” I snap. Did I just hear that right?
Johnathan takes a nervous step back and throws his hands up. “I only gave it to her to get her to stop crying.”
“You gave my daughter coke to calm her down?!” I repeat incredulously.
“He told me only two sips but I really liked it, Mommy, so I drank the whole the can!”
I shake my head in disbelief. She’s going to be up all night. Even now she’s struggling to stay still. She bounces on her toes beside me and then her eyes widen as she takes in the house.
She tries to pull away from me to explore, but I grab her by the hand and tug her close.
I haven’t forgotten for a second what kind of men these two are.
Abigail keeps tugging on me though and eventually I give in. Using my hand to drag me behind her, she darts around Andrew’s house, taking everything in.
“Johnny told me we were going to be staying with Andrew for awhile,” she babbles happily as she leads me over to a bookcase.
“He did, did he?” I groan. “What else did Johnny tell you?”
Instead of telling me, she comes to an abrupt stop and then blinks up innocently at me. “Is Andrew your new boyfriend, Mommy?” she asks, her big blue eyes full of twinkling innocence.
“Good god, no,” I exclaim immediately, and take a deep breath to get over the shock of the question.
“Okay!” Abigail says cheerfully, completely unfazed by my reaction, and tugs me over to the TV.
I don’t know how she does it, she must have some sixth sense when it comes to televisions, but she picks up his remote off the table and is able to flip through his channels until she finds a cartoon she wants to watch.
I watch her become engrossed in the cartoon and I can’t explain how I feel.
I’m happy Abigail is fine and doesn’t realize something bad is happening, but I’m also scared out of my wits. I’m terrified that I won’t be able to protect her from whatever is going to happen here.
She’s so young, completely oblivious, and totally vulnerable.
If they kill me, what will happen to her?
The cold spike of terror that slices through me is so strong I almost drop to my knees. Heart hammering behind my ribs, I push that thought out of my head. If I keep thinking like that I’ll never figure out a good way to get us out of this.
I decide to take a seat on the couch while she chooses to stand in front of it, bouncing up and down.
In front of the door, Andrew and Johnathan continue to talk quietly, scowling at each other. I try to watch them inconspicuously, dividing my attention between them and Abigail, but I learn nothing new.
I wish I could hear what they’re discussing but I can’t hear anything over Abigail’s cartoon.