Page 34 of Stowaway Whirlwind
When we reach the parking lot, the blonde motions to the parked vehicles. “Which one is yours?”
I can hardly get the words out to tell her it’s the red truck, and she follows me. I jerk back when the giant man unexpectedly reappears at our sides. Mrs. Fitzroy is screaming into her cell phone right behind him just as I get Lily buckled into her car seat and slam the truck door closed.
The woman takes my diaper bag off my shoulder, throws it in the passenger seat, and then follows me around to the driver’s side. I climb into my seat when the man wrenches the door open.
“You good to drive?” He tips his head with his close-cropped dark hair toward my shaky hand as I try to fit the key into the ignition.
“Y-Yes, I’m ok,” I say after taking a steadying breath, fitting the key in, and getting the engine running. “Thank you for helping me.”
“Anytime.” He winks. “What’s your name, Red?”
“Marigold.”
“Well, Marigold, you tell Davis that Wyatt says ‘Hi’ and to get his ass back home.”
Eyes wide, I ask him, “How did you know…?”
“The truck.”
When the man winks again and closes my door, I drive straight over the curb and through the field butting up to the side of the restaurant instead of attempting to back up into the crowd now surrounding Mrs. Fitzroy. I pray that she hasn’t thought to write down the license plate, which she could use to track me down, as she yells unintelligibly at anyone who will listen. The truck bounces wildly over mounds of dirt in the tall grass, butthe frame is high enough off the ground not to bottom out when I drive over the next curb too fast and onto the street.
I make it forty-five minutes down the highway, dying a little inside while Lily wails from her car seat, until I feel confident we’re not being followed, then pull over into the same CVS parking lot I did on the way into the city. Lily is nearly inconsolable, and I bounce her in my arms as I walk circles around the truck until she’s able to calm down enough for me to put her back in her seat, giving me plenty of time to spiral about what all just happened and what the hell I’m going to do now.
There’s no world in which I’ll hand over my daughter. Mrs. Fitzroy has completely lost her mind if she thinks I’ll let her get anywhere near Lily, though she has the money to take me to court for custody. That prospect scares me even more than when I was attacked before meeting Davis.
What do I do, what do I do?
Just before I pull out of the lot to head home, I call Davis for the first time since he left. He answers on the first ring.
Davis
I rub my palm over my chest after popping another antacid. I can’t seem to shake the heartburn that came on out of nowhere a few hours ago, though I can’t think of what I ate that would give me this reaction. That terrifies me because it’s the same thing that happened the night I met Goldie. There’s a looming sense of doom, made all the worse by the fact that Goldie kept sending my calls to voicemail earlier.
My phone rings, and figuring it’s Russell calling for anupdated ETA again, I swipe to answer it without taking my eyes off the road. “Hey, boss.”
“All good?”
“Oh, hey, Wyatt,” I grunt with surprise, keeping my eye on a vehicle ahead of me that’s having trouble staying in its lane. “What’s up?”
“Dolly wants to know when she makes it home safe since we’re in Dallas for the weekend and won’t be able to drop by and check on her.”
I pass a cop cruiser on the shoulder, hidden by a large road sign that lights up behind me. “Check on who?”
“The fuck you mean, ‘who’? The redhead. Who do you think?”
My heart slams into my ribs, pulling my attention away from the cruiser that speeds around me to pull over the swerving driver, clearing the road for me. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Wyatt unleashes a long line of curses and is interrupted by an incoming call. I swipe to answer it on the first ring whenHoney Babyflashes across the screen.
“Davis?” The fear in Goldie’s voice has a bomb going off inside my chest, and I clutch my left pec. I fucking knew it. Knew something bad was coming.
“What happened? Are you—is Lily—are y’all ok?”Jesus, Jesus, tell me they’re ok.Something horrible must have happened if both Wyatt and Goldie are calling me. I pick up speed before she even has to say another word, hoping like hell the cop behind me will stay busy long enough for me to drive out of their jurisdiction.
“My dad…Colton’s mom…they—” Goldie breaks down and starts sobbing on the phone while Lily grows louder, crying her little heart out in the background.
“Oh, baby, baby, hang on. What happened? Are you hurt? Is Lily ok?”
“S-She tried t-to take her!” Goldie wails.
