Page 5 of Saving Trinity
“Just stay here with Wyatt,” Jimmie told him. “I want as much protection around our son as possible.” His hand squeezed my neck again before he brushed his thumb along my pulse point, settling me despite how nervous I was for what was to come. “I appreciate the help you’re giving us.”
Derek shook his head. “Trinity and Wyatt are family, man,” he said, every word laced with conviction. Tears burned in my eyes at his confession, and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to keep them in. I’d cried enough in the past twenty-four hours to fill a small lake. My eyes were burning, and I was bone-deep exhausted. I couldn’t handle crying again.
Jimmie continued rubbing his thumb in soothing circles along my skin, easily settling me. “Let’s get a move on, then. I want to be back on the road soon, and I’d like to get everything from Zac’s before Wyatt wakes up—if possible.”
Pulling his phone from his pocket, he made the phone call that would set everything I was fearing into motion. And no amount of tensing would keep my body from trembling and revealing the fear coursing through my veins.
I couldn’t face Zac again.
My hands wouldn’t stop shaking as I stared at the two-story home in front of me. Zac had been so excited when he bought this place, and as soon as he had the keys in hand, he’d brought me here, and we’d had our first dinner together as a couple inside this house. We’d made so many plans about our future within that home. Wyatt had so many milestones within those walls.
And now, Zac had ruined all of that for me. Now when I looked at that beautiful house, I heard my phantom sobs, felt the phantom pain of him driving into me and shoving my face into the floor to make me be quiet.
I could still hear my silent pleading for Wyatt to not come downstairs. For him to not see me being raped. For my trauma not to fucking touch him.
A squad car rolled up behind us, but Jimmie didn’t move to get out, even as Byron did so. Instead, he reached over the middle console of his truck and grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers together. “He’s not home, baby,” he gently reminded me. “His car isn’t in the driveway. We’ll make this as quick as possible, okay? And I’ll never leave you alone. Byron will carry out everything you want to take with you.”
Blowing out a soft breath, I nodded my head, then released his hand to open my door. Byron was already there when I pushed it open, and he hovered closely as I eased out of the truck. I didn’t even have time to step forward before Zac’s car came to a stop in front of Jimmie’s truck, damn near hitting Jimmie, who’d been rounding it.
Byron’s hand latched around my arm, pulling me close to his side. Jimmie glared at my fiancé as he angled out of the car. Zac’s face was red with fury as he slammed his car door shut. I flinched at the loud sound. “Police are on the premises,” Jimmie warned him. “So I’d watch what the fuck you do and say.”
“You’re not going in my fucking house,” Zac snarled, storming up to Jimmie and jabbing his finger into Jimmie’s chest. My heart was slamming so hard against my breastbone, I could barely breathe. If Jimmie reacted, they’d both go to jail. Jimmie might have been light-hearted, but I also knew he wasn’t afraid to throw his fists.
“We’re getting her things,” Jimmie snapped at him, thankfully keeping his hands in his pockets and off of Zac. “You’re not stopping us.”
“My fucking house,” Zac snarled. “She’s not on the fucking paperwork, so she has no say in who I do and do not allow through that front door.”
It was hard to believe I ever found him attractive because looking at him now, I just saw a monster. A rapist. A cruel human being.
“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to step back from Mr. Reynolds,” one of the officers said. Zac swung his furious gaze to the officer, and after a moment, he stepped back, his nostrils flaring. “Due to the… nature of this situation, I’m going to have to ask that you cooperate and allow these men inside to help Miss Lennon get her things.”
“I will be inside,” Zac snapped after a minute of staring Jimmie down. But Jimmie only met his gaze steadily, not backing down a single bit. And when Zac swung his enraged gaze to Byron, Byron simply arched a brow at him in that cocky way he had of doing. As if daring Zac to do something stupid. If Byron got arrested, it wouldn’t be his first time. I knew that much. Byron was no stranger to the other side of the law.
“That is fine,” the officer said, nodding his head. “I just ask that you do not interfere. If you interfere, we’ll have to detain you.”
Zac’s cold eyes met mine, and I stepped back, pressing myself closer to Byron’s side. Releasing my arm, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. Without a word, Byron turned, leading me to the house. My hands shook so badly, I almost dropped the house keys three times before I managed to get the right key into the lock.
When we got inside, Zac moved past us, taking up residence on the end of the couch closest to the front door, and I felt his eyes tracking every single move I made as I moved into Wyatt’s room first. Jimmie, Byron, and I moved silently and efficiently, and just as Jimmie promised, he never left my side, leaving Byron to make the trips back and forth. But even Byron moved much faster than I’d anticipated, and within an hour, all of my and Wyatt’s things were piled haphazardly into the back of Jimmie’s truck.
“Trinity,” Zac called from the porch as Jimmie helped me into the passenger side of his truck. Every muscle in my body tensed, and vomit rose up my esophagus. Jimmie’s eyes met mine, and his jaw tightened as he continued helping me inside the cab. “This isn’t over.”
Stepping back, Jimmie shut the door, but I heard his voice loud and clear as he turned to face Zac and said, “Oh, it fucking is.”
As soon as we were on the highway, I fell apart, dropping my face into my hands and crying so hard, I could barely breathe. Jimmie reached over and grasped my thigh, providing what comfort he could as he navigated traffic heading back to my sister’s.
This isn’t over.
Those three words wouldn’t stop ringing over and over in my head, and they filled me with dread and terror.
Why couldn’t it be over?
Chapter Five
Jimmie
Trinity was quiet the entire time we spent riding back to her sister’s. I didn’t push her to talk, letting her have her time with her thoughts. She had a lot to work through after what’d happened to her yesterday.
And fuck, it’d taken every bit of restraint I possessed to not punch Zac in the face and bash his nose into my fucking knee when he’d pulled up. It wasn’t even the fact that he’d almost fucking hit me. It was because of what he’d done to Trinity and had almost done to our son.
