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I already had my important documents packed and nothing else mattered to me other than my baby book of Ash, which was already in my little suitcase.
This is really happening.
It felt surreal, the idea that I was leaving.
That I would finally be free.
***
Fifteen minutes later I’d gotten a couple of bags ready for me and Ash. I told her to stay in her room, that everything was going to be okay and then I went back downstairs. Alex was still on the floor, but the moaning had stopped. I crouched down beside him and felt his neck, his pulse was thready. Remembering that this man called Diesel was coming I switched off the alarm and unlocked the door, then went back to my vigil beside Alex’s body.
There was a sudden knock at the door which made me jump.
“Diesel?” I said through the wood.
“Yep,” came a gruff voice.
I opened the door and stared at a man with shaggy blond hair that was just starting to turn gray at the temples and bright blue eyes. He was big and tattooed just like another man I knew a lifetime ago.
I stepped back to let him in when I noticed he wasn’t alone. The man with him was tall with long black curls and gray-blue eyes I’ve seen every day for the past five years. “I’m Slate.”
Slate, not Asher. The name was different but there was no doubt in my mind that I was staring at my one night stand from six years ago. The hair was longer, and he had a beard now, but his face was burned into my memory. The unknowing father of my child. “Hey, um, I mean hi, I’m Emma.”
He did a double take but that was it, I supposed that my long brown hair was enough of a change that he didn’t recognize me. Still, goosebumps raced down my arms at his lightning quick perusal. I stared back for a long time, unable to believe that he was here in my house.
Any chance of awkwardness was stopped when a thump came from the dining room. We all rushed in, I don’t know what I was expecting to see, but Alex was still on the floor though he seemed to be having some sort of seizure, “We need to call EMS,” I said.
Diesel looked at Slate and I saw something cross between them before he spoke, “So what happened?”
“He tried to kill me, his hands were around my throat,” my hand went up to gesture and I winced. “I grabbed the first thing I could find and—”
“Prez,” Slate’s voice interrupted us.
“Gimme a moment, bro,” Diesel said gruffly and bent down.
“This the weapon?” Diesel held up the glass heart.
I nodded.
“Prez,” Slate’s voice was louder. “He’s gone.”
Gone? My eyes flashed over to my husband. His body was lifeless on the floor, Slate was kneeling beside him.
Gone. Oh god what was I going to do? “No! I didn’t mean to kill him, I just wanted him to stop, I—” I started shaking as the reality of what I’d done started to settle in. “Oh God, what am I going to do? I killed him. I could deal with him hitting me, but when he laid his hands on my daughter—”
“Shit,” Diesel said as he put his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t let your mind go there right now. Just try and keep yourself together until we can get you outta here, you think you can do that for me, darlin’?”
I choked out, “I’ll try.” I took a deep breath and wiped my eyes on my sleeve.
Slate’s gaze went to me and then to the stairs, “There’s a kid here?”
“Yes, she’s upstairs.”
Slate and Diesel conferred quietly before they turned back to me. “Your bags are packed?” Diesel asked, and I assumed he was the man in charge.
“Yes. One for each of us. that’s what the DV counselor recommended.” At my words, anger lit both men’s eyes.
“Right. You don’t need to know any of that. Yes, I have bags packed. What should I do?”
