Page 61 of Wounded Dance
I want to cry now. I’ve never thought this through before. As angry as I had been at Denham, he was the best thing that had happened to me. And even though I never should have been with him in the first place, I had lost him and any help he would have given me with the baby. Maybe even finding the strength to keep her.
“You have no idea what my life became,” I say. “It was horrible.”
“Aww, Livia. Damn. I know. Mine was shit too. On the street. Trying not to starve. What was I going to do? Sixteen and your brother to boot. I had caused enough trouble for you.” He tosses the reel in the back of his truck. The sound of it landing in the metal bed rings down the quiet street.
“I had nobody. And I was stuck. At least you could escape.” I swipe my hands at the tears on my face.
“Come here.” Denham wraps his arms around me. “We can fix this. You and me. Get our daughter. We can work this. See our baby grow up.”
“She’s got a family,” I say. “She’s happy.”
“So you do know where she is,” he says. “I knew you were smart like that. Is she close? Could we go see her now?”
I turn back to Dreamcatcher. The officer is standing there, watching us.
“I can’t do that,” I say. “She has a family. I just can’t.”
I pull my arm from Denham and try to walk away, but he follows.
“Livia, we can do this together. I know we can. I got father’s rights. I’ll let you see her whenever you want. Your guy’s got money. Maybe he can get your rights back too. It’ll work. You just have to believe.”
I shake my head and walk faster. I won’t do that to Gwen. I won’t.
Denham grabs my arm again, and this time I forcibly shake him off. “Stop!” I say. “I won’t be a part of this!”
I don’t realize how close we are to the parking lot until Ted starts running down the steps. “Stay away from her!” he shouts.
This gets the officer in action. “You’re violating the protective order,” he roars at Denham.
Denham reaches for me again. “Livia, it’s not too late to fix this thing.” His hand closes on my arm.
I scream and whip myself away to get free.
Then everything is a blur as the officer and Ted both converge on Denham. I walk backwards, stumble, and catch myself as Ted tackles Denham. The officer turns Denham over and handcuffs him. He’s followed me into the protective zone. I’ve made things worse.
Everything is so much worse.
Chapter 22
I run back to the building. Suze is standing by the windows, her blond hair bright, her face etched with worry. “Are they arresting him?”
I can’t answer, gasping and trying to breathe, half crying. “Can you get Blitz?” I manage to ask.
“I gotta tell Danika what’s going on first,” she says, and takes off in the wrong direction, toward the office.
I turn and lean against the glass. Denham is on the ground, his cheek smashed against the sidewalk. Ted stands a few feet away. The police officer is talking into a headset. His hand is on Denham’s back.
He’s so screwed. On probation. Protective order. Violated. He’ll go back to jail. It’s my fault this happened. I led him right into the zone.
Danika rushes into the foyer, Suze on her heels. She sees me and stops. “Did he come in here? Are you hurt?”
I’m crying too hard to speak but shake my head no.
“Stay here,” she orders and takes off down the steps for the parking lot. Suze puts her arms around me. “It’ll be okay. You want me to get Blitz now?”
I nod.
She moves away.
