Page 64 of Comeback
“Because she doesn’t have anything to do with this, and neither does Jeff.” I folded my arms. “Besides, you’re not supposed to be here. You’re violating the restraining order. You should leave here now. Before you get into any more trouble.”
“Don’t you threaten me,” he said, pointing at me with the tip of his baseball bat. I could smell the whiskey on his breath from across the room.
“I’m not threatening you, Trevor. I’m trying tohelpyou. You’ve gotten yourself into a lot of trouble already.” I gestured at Nicole and Jeff. “Don’t make it any worse on yourself.”
He laughed, looked at them, and took another swig from his flask. “Relax. They’re fine. I won’t hurt ‘em.”
“It looks like you already did,” I said, pointing at Jeff. His left eye was swollen shut, circled by a black and blue bruise. Blood trickled from a nasty gash across his brow.
“Him? Oh, yeah, but only because he wanted to fight me. I told ‘em I didn’t want no trouble. I won’t hurt you, either, as long as you give me what I want.”
I swallowed. “And what’s that?”
“Mackenzie, stupid.” He laughed. “I want my baby girl, and you can’t keep her from me. You didn’t think I’d wantyou,did you? Fuckin’ bitch. I don’t want nothin’ to do with you anymore—you got me locked up in the first place.”
“You got locked up because you drove drunk. I had nothing to do with that.”
His nostrils flared. “Butyoumade sure the court stole my parental rights.”
“I didn’t have a choice, Trevor. The courts were going to take her away frombothof us if I didn’t prove you unfit to be a parent.”
“Oh, you proved it, did you? YouprovedI can’t be a parent?” His face scrunched up, and he turned to Nicole and Jeff, as if they were his audience instead of his hostages. “Can you believe that shit? She makes it sound like it’s a matter of fact or something. I never even had a chance to defend myself! That whole court system is skewed—they hate men! I made onelittlemistake and now I can’t see my daughter ever again.” He snorted. “It’s not fair and you all know it.”
“Maybe you’re right,” I said, my insides revolting at the words I spoke. “Maybe the court didn’t give you a fair shot. So why not challenge the court ruling? Get a good lawyer. Do it legally. Do it from within the system! Please,please,don’t do it this way. This is the worst way for everyone involved—Mackenzie, me, butespeciallyyou, Trevor.” Again, I wanted to puke at the words coming out of my mouth. “If you take off with Mackenzie, the police are going to say you’re a kidnapper. And youwillget caught. And that’s not a threat—that’s just a fact. You can’t hide forever. The police will find you, they’llcatch you, and then you’ll go to jail and you’ll never see Mackenzie again.”
“So what am I supposed to do?” Trevor asked, clutching at the roots of his thinning hair. “Just sit here and wait for years, while another man raisesmydaughter? And she never gets to know her real daddy?”
My eyes narrowed. “Wait, what do you mean, another man?”
He grunted with frustration. “Do youstillnot understand what it means to be trained in recon? Don’t think I don’t know about your fancy millionaire athlete boyfriend. Yeah, Jack Hathaway? I’ve been tracking him pretty closely for the past few days.”
I gulped.
He wore a devilish smirk. “Yup. I knowalllllabout him. Probably more than you do. I bet you thought you hit the jackpot with him, didn’t you?” He scoffed. “Women. It’s all about money with you, isn’t it?”
No, jackass, it’s about so much more than money,I thought.
But I didn’t say a word.
“I might not have a million dollars,” he said, “but at least I never killed my best friend.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you seriously implying that Jack killed his best friend?” I laughed. “If so, that just proves how shitty you really are at recon. Jack’s a sweet guy. Wouldn’t hurt anybody. Oh, and he’sgreatwith Mackenzie—she really loves him, too.”
Trevor trembled with rage. It was the result I wanted, but I immediately regretted it.
What are you doing?!I scolded myself.Do not provoke him!
“You think it’s funny, huh?” Trevor growled. “You put my daughter in danger and you think it’s fuckin’ funny. YetI’mthe one who’s unfit to be a parent.”
“You’re right,” I said. “I just don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He pointed at a stack of manila folders on the table.
“What’s all that?” I asked.
“Go ahead. Take a seat, and read what kinda man your boyfriend really is.”
Slowly, I circled the table, my eyes on Nicole and Jeff. I felt awful for them. Nicole pleaded me with her eyes, begging me to do something, to help her and Jeff out.
