“I was furious and just wanted to get the hell away from them. There was a huge row, and I ran out to get in the car and just drive away but she got in the car with me, still telling me what a bad person I was, how everyone hates me, so I floored it, went straight through the gate. I genuinely don’t know what came over me, I was just so mad.
“There was no plan to hurt anyone, Callum.”
He sits up and pulls me into his chest, resting his cheek on the top of my head.
“Stephen and one of the witches chased after us. That just panicked me even more. Helen was screaming at me, trying to get me to stop the car and go back, so I did. I spun around and headed back to the house because I wanted her out of the car.
“Only we were going really fast, and so was Stephen. I swerved to try not to hit them but wasn’t… I didn’t…”
“Hey, you don’t have to go on,” he wipes at the tears on my cheeks.
“They ran off the road into a ditch but our car flipped, went down the side of an embankment and hit a tree. In all the chaos, Helen hadn’t put her seatbelt on.”
My eyes close as I picture her body. Callum stays stock still as I continue telling him what happened.
At first not comprehending that she was halfway through the broken windshield, blood everywhere. Then the engine caught fire. I was screaming the others were screaming as they tried to get to us. It’s as clear as if I’m there in the moment, fighting to get out of the car, stumbling and falling on the floor as the whole front of the car went up in flames, and Helen too.
Stephen tried desperately to get to his mom and his clothes caught fire too. He managed to put the flames out, but he was badly burned up one side of his body.
There was nothing more any of us could do. He collapsed and passed out while I stood there, watching my stepmother burn.
“I’ll never forget the smell.”
Callum hugs me tighter to him. “It was an accident.”
“I was the one driving, I was the one who got behind the wheel of the car and was out of control.”
“They pushed you to it, Charley, they have to take most of the blame, the rest of it was an accident.”
“Do you really think they saw it that way? I was questioned at the hospital, but never arrested. The investigators could see what happened and put it down as a terrible tragedy. That was how the news reported it too.
“My so-called family never stopped trying to make me take the blame, they called me a murderer and worse. I had to go back to that house, where they blamed me for her death.”
“Did they hurt you?” he asks, the rage back.
“I fell down the stairs one time,” I say with a mock laugh. “My room was trashed while I was out, a lot of my belongings were burned. Things of my mom’s. I’d had my college pulled out from under me, so there was no hope of getting away. I had to do it myself. So one night when they were all out, I grabbed what I could, and I left.”
“How did you end up at Elegance?” he asks.
“Mom was a dancer, I used to love watching her and I’d trained for years. Helen tried to get me to stop my lessons, but I never did. I had dreams,” I pull away and sit up facing him, drawing the sheet over me. “They took that away too, because I know they’re still trying to find me, so the only way I can dance…”
Callum nods as he understands what I’m getting at. The only way I can dance is in a place where they would never think to come looking. They’d be disgusted if they saw me up on a stage at Elegance. It was the only option I had. I never expected I’d grow to love it there, or that the people around me are some of the nicest I’ve met…
And then there is Callum, he’s facing me, trying to contain the rage rippling under his skin at what they did to me.
“I’ve managed to get far enough away that I don’t think they’ll come looking.”
“Is that your way of telling me not to give them what they deserve for hurting you?”
“That is me letting you know I got myself out of it. The sacrifices I’ve made along the way brought me here. And I’m… happy.”
“You sound surprised.”
“Is dancing at a strip club and sleeping with a member of a motorcycle club normal to most people?”
“Probably not.”
“I don’t care if people judge me for that. I’ve been welcomed here without question, no one has tried to hurt me.” I scrunch up my nose. “Apart from that one guy.” Callum grunts but holds his tongue. “It finally feels like I can slow down, stop running.”
