Page 97 of His Coveted Obsession

It was the next morning after our time in hell. Maybe being five minutes to noon didn’t count as morning. We both slept in, making up for the lack of sleep over the past few days. Annie and I were sitting at the kitchen table, eating oatmeal, while I was drinking pretty good coffee.

“What are we going to do, Tommy?” Annie asked quietly, dragging her spoon through the thick goop of oats. “What are we going to do about Dad, our living situation, school… Everything’s changed.”

“It has.” I was now her father figure at nineteen. I guess I always had been since Mom died. So, I had to have the answers for her. I just didn’t know if she was ready to hear them.

“This is all Dad’s fault. He’s such a fucking loser! How could he let them do that to his own kids?”

I sighed, tipped back the mug, and finished my coffee. I stood and poured some more from the pot, adding cream and sugar to taste. “It’s not all his fault. Those people pushed him for their own nefarious reasons. It’s what they do.”

“They told you that?”

“Yeah, they help push the addiction so they can manipulate their desperation. Dad was their victim as much as we were, but you’re right. He made a choice to start gambling in the first place. In the end, he needs help, and I’m not going to leave him behind.”

“Ugh! Why? He doesn’t deserve us! Fuck him! It’s just you and me now.”

I sat down next to her and took her hand in mine. “Annie, I understand the anger. I really do. I’m angry, too. What we went through… the mental torture they put me through… But if we leave him, he’ll die.”

“Good!”

“Annie, you don’t mean that,” I sighed. “He needs help, not abandonment. I’m not saying we move back home and live as if none of this happened, but I’m not going to turn my back on him. If you never want to see him again, that’s your choice. I’ll take care of you. But we lost one parent, and I’m not ready to lose another. I know, deep down, he loves us. He would never want us hurt.”

She pulled away and shoved her bowl back. “Whatever. I’m done with him.”

“That’s up to you, Annie Boo.”

She put her face into her hands and sighed. “What about Easton? He’s a… they’re all killers, Tommy.”

“I know. Did they tell you about who they are?”

She shook her head. “No, but I’m glad those people are dead.”

That hurt my heart because she was still so young to be so hardened. We really needed help, but I wasn’t sure how to get it without revealing what happened during our rescue. There would be nothing on the news about it, and no police records of our escape other than the women strangely found in a house after being trafficked.

“They kill the bad guys,” I said. “They kill those who slip through the judicial cracks. They’re a secret organization that takes out sex traffickers, arms dealers, and leaders of organized crime.They kill those who hurt others. The kind man with the dark hair and brown eyes, Dalton? He used to be an FBI agent.”

She looked at me with earnest blue eyes that begged me to be telling the truth. “So... they’re good guys?”

“No, Annie. They’re vigilantes, which is a crime, but… I don’t blame them for what they do, either. We’re alive because of them… because of Easton.”

“So, you’re going to keep dating him?”

I tucked some stray blonde strands behind her ear. “Yeah, I love him, and he loves me. We’re bound together. How does that make you feel?”

She shrugged. “Strangely safe.”

I smiled and kissed her head. “Me, too. But I just… need to process things. I need to be away from Easton for a while. I feel safe, but at the same time, I feel like I have to get to know him all over again. I’m not sure how to deal with the fact that my boyfriend… murders people, to put it bluntly. Jesus…Imurdered someone.”

That shit still sat heavily in my chest.

Annie wrapped her spindly arms around my neck and hugged me. “It was self-defense, Tommy. He would have killed us. He’s the one who hurt you. You said so yourself.”

“Taking a life is… horrible, Annie Boo. It doesn’t matter who it is. But Easton and his… co-workers? Jesus… not that. Partners? They killed so effortlessly. And Sully?” I stopped there. She hadn’t seen what I had. All that blood… “Anyway, we’ll get through this, okay? I’ll always watch over you. That’s a promise.”

“And I’ll watch over you.”

I smiled sadly. “I’ll hold you to that.”

“I love you, Tommy.”

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