“Thatsoundscool,” I smiled. “But if you get scared in the night at any time, even if it’s three in the morning, have Elaine call me, and I’ll come right over to get you, okay?”
“Okay,” he agreed.
We left the fitness studio, stopping at the duplex for the first time since Swole had delivered the news of a volatile chemical lab in the neighbor’s basement. We packed up an overnight bag, and I took Dominic to the address that Elaine gave me. I was unexpectedly emotional as we said goodbye for the evening. It hit me how fast he was growing up, and I wasn’t sure that I liked it. It was one of those things that I couldn’t do anything about, but it still bummed me out.
I had a plan for the evening. To thank Trainer for being so great and letting us stay with him, I was going to make him dinner at his place. An electric ball of anticipation gathered in my stomach. This would be the first time we were alone together since our stolen time in my car behind the fitness center. I wanted to take things further tonight.
I knew that Trainer had a meeting with the Outlaw Souls tonight, so I sent him a text message, telling him to meet me at my place afterward.
I stopped at the grocery store and bought a couple of steaks. I wasn’t sure what Trainer’s favorite food was, but I figured I couldn’t go wrong with Ribeyes.
It felt weird to be back at my house, even though I was only gone a couple of days. Without Dominic and Trainer, it felt too empty. It was lonely, even with Gizmo there. I needed some noise. So I turned on some music on my phone while I cooked. My dad had always been into older rock bands - Styx, Genesis, Rush - and growing up listening to that stuff had made me a fan too. So, I was dancing around my kitchen barefoot with a pair of tongs in my hand while the steaks sizzled in the pan and singingI Can’t Dancewhen the music suddenly cut out, and the phone rang.
I answered it without even thinking to look at the caller ID. So few people had my number that it didn’t seem necessary.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Eve.”
Time seemed to freeze as cold fear took a hold of me. My blood pounded in my ears, and I couldn’t breathe.
“Nothing to say to your husband?” Jeff’s voice was too soft. It reminded me of the calm before the storm. Bad things were coming. “I’m disappointed.”
He was always disappointed. I couldn’t do anything right in his eyes.
“H-how did you get this number?” I asked, my voice strangled. I hated that the fear was so clear in my voice. I wanted to be stronger.
“You didn’t make it easy. I’ll say that much. But giving your new phone number to Olivia was a stupid mistake.”
“Is she okay? What did you do to her?”
Olivia was Dominic’s personal tutor. Jeff wouldn’t let him go to a public school where he could actually make friends. Instead, he’d hired a private tutor to come to the house and teach Dominic there. She was the only friend I had, but I was so stuck under Jeff’s thumb that we weren’t free to be a close as I would have liked. The day that I left, I bought my burner phone and gave her the number so that we could keep in touch. Jeff was right, it was a stupid mistake, but I had been feeling sad about completely abandoning my life as if Eve Donovan never even existed. So, I’d left one connection that I didn’t imagine in a million years Jeff would be able to find.
“Oh, she’s fine. Very concerned about you and Dominic, though. After all, you’re so unstable and have all that history of mental health problems.”
“What?” I had no idea what he was talking about. I didn’t have a history like that.
“That’s what I told her, you dumb cow.” There was the familiar anger.
Damn it. I should have told Olivia everything so she wouldn’t fall for that. All I had told her was that things weren’t working out between us and that I was scared of him. Jeff could be so damn charming I should have known he’d convince her of something like this.
“What do you want, Jeff?” I asked, lowering myself in a dining room chair because my legs were trembling.
“What do I want?” he repeated, his voice coated with rage. “I want my goddamn wife to know her place. I want you to get back here where you belong and beg me to forgive you. I want my son back-”
“No,” I interrupted. It must have shocked him because he fell silent. “You’ll never get Dominic back, do you hear me? He deserves so much better, and he’s going to get it.”
“You think he deserves to be stuck withyou? You’re worthless. I swear, you can’t do a thing right, but you think you’re fit to raise him on your own? You don’t even have any skills. How will you get a job and support the two of you?Ihave the money to take care of the boy.”
“Raising a child is about a hell of a lot more than money. He needs love, something that you’re incapable of.”
“He is mine,” Jeff snapped. “You both are. You belong to me. Do you understand that? I OWN you!”
By the end, he was yelling and had to pull the phone away from my ear. “Leave us alone,” I shouted too, my emotions overpowering my ability to even attempt a real conversation.
“Never. I’ll never leave you alone because your mine, Eve. I’ll find you and drag you back here where you belong.”
I couldn’t stand to listen to another word, so I chucked my phone across the room as hard as I could. It bounced off the wall and hit the floor in two pieces.
