Paxton spat his hurtful words at me and then he climbed from my bed. I was stunned, but I didn’t know why. Paxton had said a lot of mean things to me. This one hurt a little.
“Wow, Paxton. Band-Aids don’t fix bullet holes.”
Paxton’s eyes snapped to mine, fierce and angry. “Taylor Swift. That’s cute. How is it you can remember the words to high school songs, but not who you are?”
I sat up and scratched my head when he slid his shorts up his hips commando style, and left me. “And another one bites the dust,” I said out of frustration. This guy had some serious issues. I would have given anything to know what they were. Jesus Christ.
My lavender scented shower was spent, reflecting, first on why I couldn’t get pregnant, and then the sex. For the first time since my accident I understood something that I couldn’t begin to describe. Paxton was a drug to me, having the same effect as cocaine on an addict. It was physical, enhanced with complicated emotions and powerful poisons. I even felt like I wanted to crash, yet I was still feeling the high, the memory burning my chest every time I thought about it.
The thought of a walk along the beach sounded amazing to me. Maybe the magnificent beauty and the natural sounds of the ocean would relax some of the nervous energy.
I grabbed a pair of red shorts and the first T-shirt I came to from my closet. A smile and a frown simultaneously crossed my face when I realized I’d been tiptoeing, the feeling of being watched rushing over me. I internally chastised myself for my silly actions, but continued with my charade. Like a cat with precision, I opened the door. Internally chastising my silly actions.
“What are you doing?” I heard from above. I looked up to Paxton’s dark silhouette after a startled jump.
“I want to walk on the beach.”
“No, go to bed.”
“I can’t sleep.”
“You’re not going to the beach after dark. Forget it. Go to bed.”
“Can I at least—
“Shh, goodnight, Gabriella.”
I sighed an audible breath and walked inside. I might have been an idiot, but I was smart enough to know, complaining would do no good at all. I did however leave my room long enough to check on both my sleeping babies. Rowan first. She slept on her side with her little hands tucked under her cheek. Ophelia was on her back with her arms out to her sides, and her legs in some sort of weird position. I laughed and covered her legs.
The way my bed cradled my body and the scent of lavender sheets made me realize how tired I really was. Watery eyes followed a yawn as I turned to my side. Snuggling into a fetal position, I snuggled into my comfortable bed, welcoming sleep.
~~
“Don’t move, Clydes. Promise me you’ll stay right here.”
“We don’t want to, Mommy,” Izzy said with her body huddled up next to mine.
“Please, let’s just go,” I pleaded with a tight grip on Izzy’s hand.
My mom brushed the back of her fingers against my cheek and smiled. “Hey, we have to have money to eat, right? We’ll be back on the road in no time. Now sit here and wait for me. Don’t move from this spot. Don’t touch anything. Okay?”
Izzy and I both nodded and watched her walk away. The guy had his hands all over her before the elevator even closed. Izzy and I were only like ten, but we knew what she was doing for money. We’d seen it before. Hell, we’d even heard it. The summer we spent on the beach was all the sex education anyone needed. Izzy and I sat outside by a fire many nights while my mom made a few extra bucks. She seemed to rather enjoy it, but this place was different.
We didn’t like that guy. There was something about him. We both sensed it, and we were both scared. We sat in the dingy hotel lobby and waited. Neither of us moved a muscle. Not until a few minutes later.
The tattooed guy our mother had left with, exited the elevator alone. Without our mom.
“What’s he doing? Where’s mom?”
“Shh, I don’t know,” I replied, eyes following him to the door. Only he didn’t go to the door.
“Hey, your momma’s going to take a little nap. Why don’t we go for a ride? You like ice cream? Let’s go get a treat while your mom rests,” he quietly spoke in front of us.
“We’re not allowed. We have to stay here,” Izzy firmly told him.
“It’s okay. Your mom said it was okay.”
We both shook our heads. No way. We weren’t doing it.
The guy looked around the room and then grabbed Izzy’s arm. Hard. I jerked mine away before he had a chance. “You listen here, you little sluts. If you ever want to see your whore-mommy again, you’ll do what you’re told. I can blow your mother to tiny little pieces with a click of a button. You want that?”
Izzy and I both shook our heads, terrified out of our skin.
“Good girls. Now get up and take my hand. If you behave, I’ll have you back here before your momma even wakes up. You just have to promise not to tell her where we went, okay? If I find out you did, I’ll kill her. You got it?”
“We don’t want to go,” I whined with a pang in my chest, a pang that told me not to get in the car with him. I knew not to go. Everything in me told me not to go, but I did, and so did Izzy. If we ever wanted to see our mom again, we had to. The guy kept walking, one hand on each side of him.
“You two are about to make me a lot of fucking money,” the guy boasted as he led us across the street to a black car in a dark parking lot.
“Don’t cry, Gabby,” Izzy said after the guy closed the door, leaving us alone and afraid. I did cry. I was scared for my life. For Izzy’s life.
We sat in the middle of the seat, joined from the shoulders down. Hand in hand. He didn’t speak one word to us while he drove us a couple of blocks. He smoked a stinky cigar, filling the car full of smoke. We hadn’t drove five minutes before he pulled into a bank parking lot. Right up to a payphone.
“Don’t move,” he ordered as he got out.
“What’s going to happen to us, Izzy?” I whispered to her in the empty car.
“Shh,” Izzy hissed.
The windows were up, but we could still hear.
Rod. His name was Rod.
“Grant! This is Rod, man. You’re not going to believe what I got my hands on. You ready for this?”
I wasn’t ready for it. I still didn’t know what he was talking about. My ears were on high alert, my posture stiff, and my heart pounded in my chest.
“Two of them. Girls. Twins… Nah, man. This is gold. Their crack-whore mom is back at the hotel all fucked up. She’ll be out for at least five or six hours. Plenty of time…
“Fuck if I know. I don’t fucking care what her name is, or where she came from. All I know is the bitch is stupid. Some immigrant slut. But, damn, is she a pretty one. I just fucked the hell out of her before I borrowed her pretty little girls. This is gold, dude. I’m telling you. We’re about to make a shitload of money.”