AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I struggled to draw in another shuddering breath. “I can’t thank you enough for this, Bellamy. You’re a lifesaver.”
She didn’t answer right away. When she did, she lowered her voice to a murmur. “You’re running out of cities to hide in. You understand that, right? You’ve moved and changed your identity too many times. It’s really time for you to think about leaving the country. If these guys are that determined to find you…..”
She didn’t finish and I stared across the countryside gulping down the lump in my throat. “Can I tell you something?”
“Sure, anything, ” she replied. “I’m your best friend. If you can’t tell me, who can you tell?”
I still hesitated even to say the words out loud. “I saw Kingston yesterday. He showed up when Connor and I were out hiking in the mountains.”
Bellamy gasped out loud. “Holy shit! How did he find you? If he can find you, anyone can.”
“I know, but the thing is……he knows about Connor now. Kingston wants to be a father…..”
“I hope you told him to stick it where the sun don’t shine,” she fired back. “He’s been AWOL for years. Who does he think he is, showing up and wanting to be a father now?”
“He never knew about Connor. Kingston was absolutely floored. He insisted on being a part of Connor’s life. I just can’t help but wonder….”
“Well, don’t wonder!” she snapped. “You have enough to worry about just keeping that little boy alive. Put Kingston Heller as far out of your mind as you can.”
I sighed again. “I know. I’m trying.”
“You can’t let him get into your head. You need to get to Cheyenne. I have an apartment lined up and you’ll find your new ID and all the paperwork in a safe deposit box.”
She gave me the address for the apartment and for the bank with the safe deposit box. “Thank you,” I told her again. “I don’t know how to repay you.”
“Shut up!” she countered. “Just stay safe. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay. Bye.”
We both hung up, but I didn’t go back to the car right away. I couldn’t put Kingston out of my mind. I thought I’d succeeded. Now he was back in my life even if he was still halfway across the country. He would always be a part of me even if he was halfway across the world.
His hands touching me did something to me, something I thought I’d left far in the past. I would never fully escape his influence on me. I knew that now.
I hugged my arms around my body, but the cold eating me up came from the inside. I was totally alone in a dangerous world. I hadn’t seen Bellamy or anyone else I knew in years.
I grasped at Kingston’s presence. I needed him to save me from drowning in my own despair. I had been alone against the world ever since Connor was born. I couldn’t keep going like this and neither could he.
I couldn’t leave the country. That would be the final nail in my coffin. Being alone in this country was bad enough. If I left, I would be lost.
What was the alternative? My mind immediately switched back to Kingston. I couldn’t fathom what he would do to help me against these men who kept trying to kill me, but I sure as hell wasn’t doing anything to stop them. What did I really have to lose by asking for help?
No one in the world had more reason to help me than Kingston. Connor was his son and I saw the look in Kingston’s eyes when he looked at Connor. Kingston would do anything for his son. Kingston might not help me, but he would definitely help Connor—assuming Kingstoncoulddo anything.
Kingston might get some crazy idea that helping Connor meant taking Connor away from me. Kingston could rot in hell before I let him do that.
I strode back to the car and got into the driver’s seat. Connor stirred in his sleep, but when I started the motor and started driving again, he fell back to sleep. I had a long way to go before I reached Cheyenne and my new life—my new same old life living as a ghost.
I had no idea who those men were that kept coming after us. I only knew they would come back one of these days. It was only a matter of time. I just had to stay hidden to delay the moment when they struck again.
7
RILEY
I parkedin front of a rundown apartment building in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and winced at the sight of it. It was as crumbling and squalid as my last apartment building.
A few homeless guys leaned against the walls and a few other men gathered around the stairs. They might be drug dealers. I would have to walk past them to get to my new apartment, but at least I didn’t have to drive anymore.
I’d been driving for more than thirty-six hours and Connor was asleep again. At least someone could sleep.
