“How did you sleep?” Maxine asked, her voice quiet and distracted.
Naomi hoped to use that in her favor. “Fine,” she said. “Still tired. Don’t think I got enough.”
“Mmm,” Maxine said, clearly distracted. “You didn’t get inside until late.”
Naomi gulped. “I know,” she admitted, trying to be careful with her words. “I just needed some time alone.”
“That’s fair enough,” Maxine said, folding the paper up before placing it on the coffee table next to her coffee. “Have you thought about it, at least?”
“About what?” Naomi snapped.
“About introducing Sampson’s father into his life,” Maxine said. “He needs his father. It’s wrong of you to keep them apart.”
Naomi stared at her mother. “He’s a criminal,” she said. “I won’t let him near my baby.”
Maxine sighed, got up from the chair, and placed her hand on Naomi’s shoulder. “Just think about it,” she urged. “You know it’s right.”
Naomi didn’t know what had gotten into her mother. How was it right? Jeremiah was a criminal, and soon enough, he’d be on the run again. It was either introduce them and then explain to Sampson where his father disappeared to or go on the run with him.
Naomi watched as her mother slowly went up the stairs, her robe dragging on the stairs as she went. Was that something she wanted? Did she want them out of the house, living their own lives, no matter how dangerous or illegal?
Maxine’s footsteps stopped at the top of the stairs. Naomi could see her feet there, turning around to look back down.
“If he was good enough to make a child with,” she started, “he’s good enough to be in your life.”
“Mom, please don’t,” Naomi sighed.
“No,” she snapped. “You seriously need to re-evaluate your life choices if you refuse to let Jeremiah be in his son’s life.”
“You don’t get it,” Naomi shouted. “He’s running from the cops. He’s dangerous.”
Maxine walked halfway down the stairs, letting her feet thud loudly against the dark wood. “And yet you thought he was good enough to sleep with last night.”
Naomi’s mouth popped open in shock. Maxine raised her eyebrows and gave her daughter a knowing, pointed look. Upstairs, Sampson was stirring in his crib, calling out for his mama.
Heat rose up into Naomi’s cheeks as she thought about the fact that her mother had seen her last night. She averted her eyes and covered her forehead with her hands.
“I’ll get him,” Maxine snapped, before walking back upstairs, her feet stepping lighter this time.
Naomi sat around the living room sulking while her mother got the baby ready for his big day ahead. Naomi had a long work shift starting after lunch, but luckily her mother had the day off, so there was no need for daycare. It was a weight off Naomi’s shoulders. The daycare was so damn expensive that it ate up most of her wages.
She sat there and listened to her mother talking to Sampson, cooing to him in soothing tones as she helped him get dressed and brush the few teeth he had.
When they finally came downstairs, with Sampson cradled in Maxine’s arms, Naomi forced a wan smile onto her lips. Sampson immediately reached out for his mother, his tiny hands aimed right at her face and grabbing the air.
Maxine placed him in Naomi’s lap and watched as he instantly cuddled against her chest. Naomi didn’t understand why he was so attached to her—Maxine cared for him a majority of the time, not her. There was no reason for him to be so clingy.
“He loves his mama,” Maxine said, sighing heavily as she walked into the kitchen.
Naomi looked into her son’s eyes and couldn’t help but see Jeremiah in them. As much as she tried to deny it, her son was the spitting image of him. It was painful to look at him now. It felt wrong to even think that, but it was true.
Knowing that Jeremiah was out there yearning for us was hard enough. Having a reminder of his face cuddled against my chest was just adding salt into the wound.
More than anything, Naomi wanted to heal all the old wounds and have Jeremiah in their lives again. But she couldn’t. It was too dangerous. Letting her son grow up with Jeremiah as a role model was one of the most irresponsible things she could do. It just wasn’t going to happen.
She could feel Sampson’s body relaxing against hers as he slowly fell asleep. Upstairs, she could hear Maxine getting ready for the day ahead. Naomi allowed herself to relax into the chair with her boy’s dead weight against her. She slipped her eyes closed and listened to the sounds around her.
It was only then that she realized the distant rumble she heard was a car, trundling down the deserted road. Her ears piqued but her body remained still. Listening intently, she heard the sound grow louder.
Naomi tried to reason with herself that it was just a random car coming down there, that it didn’t mean anything, but the pit in her stomach told her otherwise. Somehow, she knew something bad was going to happen.
The car grew louder as it gained speed, rushing through the winding road as it came up to the house. Then it skidded to a stop, sending dirt kicking up into the air. Naomi could see the clouds of dust outside the window, billowing out in large waves.
She took hold of Sampson gently and climbed out of the chair, careful not to wake him as she walked toward the window. She could see the car, surrounded in clouds, but not much else.
She waited there, watching, as a figure came out of the car and slammed the door shut. Naomi felt the horror come over her as the dust started to settle, revealing Jeremiah’s tall, slender frame.
Before he could come up to the front door, Naomi went out onto the porch, her hand supporting Sampson’s back as his limp body slept.
“What are you doing here?” Naomi hissed, trying to keep her voice quiet.
“Honey, we gotta go,” Jeremiah called. “Please, get in the car, I’ll explain on the way.”
She scoffed at him, feeling the anger rising. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on.”
“Please,” he begged. “I will explain everything to you once we’re on the road.”
“On the road?” Naomi asked, feeling her voice raise. “Where the hell do you think you’re going to take me?”
“We gotta go!” Jeremiah shouted.
Sampson stirred in her arms, his head moving around as his eyes started to open.
“You’re going to wake him,” She said, whispering so as not to disturb him more. “Stop shouting.”
“I have to shout,” Jeremiah replied. “This is serious. I need you to just get in the damn car!”
“Not until you tell me why!”
She couldn’t hold the anger back. It was building in response to his demands. All She could think about was his arrogance. Who did he think he was, coming back into her life and telling her to get in the car?
Jeremiah raised his hands to his hair and tugged at it as he cried out. “Just get in the car!” He shouted, waving his arm to the passenger seat.
Naomi opened her mouth to speak, but she was instantly distracted by the sounds of sirens in the distance. She turned her head to hear them better, and her heart sank through her chest. Then her eyes drifted toward Jeremiah, ever so slowly.
“Are those...” She couldn’t finish the sentence.
“For me?” Jeremiah asked. “Yeah, they are.”
Naomi barreled down the steps to the porch and stood opposite him, feeling her whole body burning with dread.
“What the hell did you do?” She hissed at him, clutching onto her son as she stared into Jeremiah’s eyes. “What have you done?”
“Nothing!” Jeremiah shouted. “I didn’t do shit. The gang, they didn’t take kindly to me saying I was out.”
She stumbled back a step, shocked by what he as saying. “You did what?”
“I told them I was out,” he repeated. “I said I was done—for you.”
“Why would you do that?” Naomi cried. “Did you think th
ey’d just up and let you go?”
“No,” Jeremiah whined. “But I didn’t think my own father would snitch on me.”
Naomi put her hand on her forehead as she tried to think clearly through the panic. Jeremiah’s father snitched on him to the police, no doubt pinning all the crimes on him. That’s why they were rushing down there, following him.
She looked up to him and saw his panic-stricken face. “And you want us to go with you?” She asked. “On the run?”
“ ‘Omi, we won’t have a choice,” he sighed. “It’s this or never seeing each other again. Both options suck but I’d rather have you in my life instead of running from you.”
Naomi swore under her breath as she looked around at the place she’d called home for the majority of her life. How could she leave it? It was all she’d ever known.
But now that Jeremiah had come back, she wasn’t about to let him slip away. She gnawed on her bottom lip as she thought about all the possibilities.
What would her life be like if she just let him slip away? Would Sampson ever forgive her? Would that be the right thing to do? Or would it be better to take her boy away from everything he’d ever known just so he could be with his father?
The sirens kept on whining in the distance, growing louder and louder. The pressure was on, and it wasn’t helping Naomi make a choice. She was torn between two sides of herself: rational and emotional.
The two sides of her mind were fighting, thrashing around as one tried to win over the other, but no answer was forthcoming.
“Too late,” Jeremiah said, suddenly sounding defeated.
Naomi was drawn back into the real world. Her eyes followed Jeremiah’s, where she saw police cars in the near distance, their lights flashing and pulsing through the trees.
“Christ,” Naomi swore. “Fine, let’s go.”
Jeremiah planted his hands on her shoulders. “No,” he stated. “You go up on the porch. Stay out of sight.”
There was a cutting edge to his voice, one that told her not to argue. She climbed the steps and stood next to the front door, ready to slip inside at a moment’s notice. She turned her head to the left and watched as the police cars drove erratically across the road.
They stopped just shy of Jeremiah’s car, and the police piled out, their guns already drawn and their mouths shouting. Jeremiah just stood there, his back turned to them, shaking his head slowly.
The cops walked up to him slowly, shouting words that just blurred together in Naomi’s ears. Everything felt distant, like it was underwater, as she watched them approach Jeremiah’s back.
Within a second, he was on his knees, in the dirt, his hands being twisted up his back. Naomi couldn’t help but cry out and take a step forward, yelling at them to leave him alone.
That distraction was enough for him. Jeremiah’s clothes fluttered away from his body in torn, mangled shreds as he leaped up through the air. It only took a split second for his fur to burst through his skin. A long, protruding snout burst out of his face, complete with sharp teeth and thick, gooey saliva dripping from his jowls.
As he turned through the air, his shifting legs and arms hit against the policemen, sending them sprawling to the ground. His body had grown a couple of feet, the muscles tense and tight, as he moved to stand on four legs instead of two.
A large, ripping snarl echoed through the air as he stared at the police. They lowered their guns in shock as their mouths popped open, gawking. Jeremiah rolled his long, slender back, causing the fur to bristle all down his spine.
Naomi pressed her back against the wall and clutched Sampson against her body, feeling everything in her tense uncomfortably. She’d only seen Jeremiah shift a couple of times, and she found it terrifying.
She cradled her son’s head against her chest as she wondered if he would ever do that, or if he hadn’t received those genes from his father. Naomi didn’t want to think about it—she’d been avoiding it for years—but she couldn’t help now that Jeremiah was right in front of her, stalking the police officers as they held up their guns.
Jeremiah threw back his head and howled. It was a piercing sound that penetrated through the trees all around them, carrying off into the distance. Naomi pressed against the wall with the heels of her feet, too scared to dart inside the front door.
When Jeremiah was done howling, he sauntered up to the police, his shoulders rising and sinking as he walked. They all just stood there, staring up to the lumbering beast. It was as if they didn’t see the attack coming. But it came anyway.
Jeremiah opened his jaws and sank his huge, sharp teeth into one cop’s leg. He gripped the leg tight and dragged it right, sending the cop flying into the ground. Jeremiah lifted the cop up, right into the air, before throwing him into another cop. They both spiraled through the air before landing on the dirt ground, hard.
Naomi winced as she watched them struggling to get up. Their bodies writhed on the floor, kicking up small clouds of dust. Jeremiah wasn’t done, though. He rounded on the last cop there, a couple of feet behind.
He snapped his jaws and growled, sending harsh vibrations through the air. The cop cowered behind his open door, only leaving his feet exposed. Jeremiah backed away slowly, knowing that the cop wasn’t going to follow him.
He refused to turn his back, but he did shift back to human, letting his body shrink and his fur to recede. Within a second he was standing naked, staring at the open cruiser door, making sure the cop wasn’t going to pop his head over.
As he stared, he collected his clothes and began to haphazardly put them on. Naomi watched the writhing cops. One of them had started to scream, reaching out for his mangled, bleeding leg. Jeremiah lifted his hand and motioned for Naomi to come down off the porch.
She stayed there for a moment, startled. When Jeremiah took his eyes off the cop, he raised his eyebrows as if he was asking: what’s taking you so long?
Naomi knew there was nothing else she could do. She ran down the steps quickly, still holding onto her son, and joined Jeremiah by the car. Her whole body was shaking as she stood there, waiting for him to tell her what to do.
“Get in,” he snapped.
Naomi did as she was told, slipping into the seat and wrapping the seat belt around both her and Sampson. He was wriggling in her arms, trying to look at the bright flashing lights that seemed to surround them.
Jeremiah piled into the car, his body covered in sweat, and started the car. He pumped his foot on the accelerator, and they sped away. Naomi felt her body crush against the seat as gravity pulled on her. She held onto Sampson as tightly as she could and risked a glance to Jeremiah.
His golden eyes were wild as he focused on the road, twisting the car with the turns in the dirt.
“What are we going to do?” Naomi asked.
“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “Get new names. Start over somewhere.”
“Won’t they find us?” Naomi asked, feeling her chest tighten at the idea. “Won’t they always be looking?”
“There’s ways to stay hidden,” Jeremiah said simply. “I managed it until the gang snitched on me.”
Naomi knew it was true. He had managed to stay hidden and not get arrested for three years. It was possible… But was it right?
She supposed she didn’t really have much of a choice anymore. Jeremiah had taken out two cops, no doubt injured them badly, and she’d been seen escaping with him.
That was it. Their fate was sealed. Naomi looked over to him and watched the droplets of sweat dripping off his forehead, onto his cheeks.
“We’ll stay at a motel tonight,” he said. “After that, we’ll be going across the country. I know a guy that can get us some IDs.”
A knot formed in Naomi’s stomach as she thought about going by a different name in some new, random town. Even though she didn’t like the idea, she knew that the future was going to be a wild ride.
Jeremiah removed his right hand from the steering wheel and grabbed hold of hers, squeezing it t
ightly.
“It’s just us three,” he said, his breaths rushing out of his mouth. “Just us three against the world.”
Naomi couldn’t stop herself from smiling. She did like the sound of that.
* * *
FIN
Also by Becca Fanning
I hope you love series!
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