Page 23 of Remind Me
“It’s your parents, Savvy, they got our number somehow and called wanting us to give them your number. We refused because they have no right to come interfering after all these years, but they said if they didn’t get it from us, then they would find another way. I told them to go ahead and try, knowing that Cash had your number unlisted and they know nothing about your life here to start causin’ trouble.” I took a deep breath. Out of all the things that I had expected to come out of her mouth, that was the last.
My mother and father were addicts that couldn’t take care of me. I had basically raised myself until my aunt and uncle had stepped in. The night they had to come and get me, I had run as far away from my parents as I could. They’d had a party that night and invited anyone and everyone. The house smelt of alcohol, cigarettes, and pot. Lord knows what else they had been doing. I tried, for the most part, to turn a blind eye. I went to school, worked, and slept there when I couldn’t stay anywhere else. The teachers knew about it, but no one ever said a word. No one came to my rescue.
I was in my room, with the door locked, reading because I was too afraid to sleep with everything going on in the next room. I just prayed and prayed for it to be over or for them to pass out. I must have started drifting off or something because all of a sudden, my door was flying open. My father stood there, having just kicked it, breathing heavy with another guy beside him.
“You little fucking shit. I have warned you about locking the door in MY house.” I tried not to react to his outbursts. If I did, he would get satisfaction out of scaring the hell out of me. “You are gonna pay for that. Lucky for you though, Terence here is going to take you off my hands.”
“I’m your daughter… not a piece of furniture.”
“No, you were a mistake, one we just couldn’t get rid of no matter how hard we tried.” I felt hatred for the man standing in front of me, worse than I had ever felt before. There was no love lost, they had told me many times since I was old enough that I was a burden to them and wished that I was dead. I was now desensitized to it. What concerned me though was the asshole moving toward my bed and one blocking my door. I was going to have to leave everything behind because there was no way I could pack anything. I had my phone in my pocket, that was all I needed. In one quick movement, I was up off the bed and out the open window. My reaction time was a lot quicker than theirs and over the years, I had learnt and moved my bed to make it so I could make a fast escape. As soon as my feet touched the floor, I was running. I had a place I could hide out and call for help. I prayed, this time though, that they wouldn’t take me back.
I shuddered at the memory and took Cash’s hand in mine. I was safe. They couldn’t get me now. Even if they did find me, Cash would protect me from them.
“If they call you again, you tell them, they come anywhere near me and I will kill them.”
“While I make sure she gets away with it.” There was an icy tone to Cash’s voice, one that scared the hell out of me. He wanted to be the one to put a bullet in my father. Make him look him in the eyes as he sent a bullet through his skull. He knew what had happened. Cash was one of the few people that I had told. We had also told his father so he could make sure they didn’t come anywhere near me. All four of them had done a brilliant job at keeping me safe. In the back of my mind though, I couldn’t help but wonder, would my parents ever be stupid enough to try something?
Chapter Thirteen
Cash
Walking back into the house with dinner and dessert for later if Vannah felt like it, knowing she always went for something sweet after savory, I locked the door behind me. Finding her where I left her, she was looking down at her book, her brows creased in a frown.
“You okay, Sug?” The sound of my voice snapped her out of whatever it was, and she looked up at me.
“That was quick.” I frowned.
“I have been gone for a while, again I ask, are you okay?” She nodded.
“I’m fine, just been thinking.”
“Oh Lord, that is never a good thing.” She threw a pillow at me and made a face.
“Ha. Ha. Ha. Very funny.” Moving over to her, I put dinner down on the table and sat on the couch next to her, turning to face her.
“So, what’s on your mind?”
“I was just thinking about our conversation earlier.”
“About Shelby and Mark coming to the wedding?”
“Not just that. More about the last time we saw them. It’s like every time we have seen them, we are walking on eggshells around each other. I’m just tired of it. It’s like they are still ruining our lives.”
“It’s not too late to invite them you know.”
“I know but it just doesn’t feel right, ya know? I have always thought about the people I wanted at my wedding and it would always come back as our close family and friends. It’s why I never wanted to have a big wedding and told you let’s just go down to the courthouse and do it.”
“I get that. We will leave it as just the family, then. We can do something more later if you change your mind. I am happy to do whatever you want to do.” Vannah leant over and kissed me before curling into me. Wrapping my arms around her, I ran my hand down her arm. “Sug, there is something I need to tell you. I have just never found the right time.”
“Oh, that doesn’t sound good.” She sat up and looked at me.
“All depends on how you look at it, I guess. Grab your food before it gets cold and I will talk.” She nodded, leaning over to take the bag from the table. “It’s about them.” Her hands stopped moving and she looked up at me.
“Maybe you had better tell me now, before I eat.”
“Okay, I was working late one night and decided to do a search on them because we hadn’t heard anything in a while. What I discovered was that your mother is in jail. I looked at the charges, seeing manslaughter below it, I looked up your father. Now I don’t know the whole story and if you want me to try and find out, I can, but it looks like your mother killed your father.”
“So it’s over… He can’t hurt me now?”
