Saving Us

by Jennifer Foor

He laughed and turned his head. "You could have told me that from the beginnin'."

  I cuddled up closer to him. "Well, I had a lot to sort out. I needed to be sure that I was what you really wanted."

  "Regardless of me, Blaze, you never should have been with that bastard."

  I smiled and kissed his chest. "I know. I'm where I want to be now, that's all that matters."

  Obviously!

  Chapter 4

  Conner

  It was so easy being with Amy. She was unlike any woman I'd ever been with. I loved the little quirks about her, especially when she tried to play hard to get. In the next few days, after my cousin and his family finally left the farm, Amy was insisting on reopening the salon. The only problem I had with that was the fact that Rick was somewhere out there and I knew he was just waiting for an opportunity to corner Amy alone. I wasn't willing to put my girlfriend in danger, not to mention the safety of our unborn child.

  Saying that was still so strange for me. It wasn't planned, but I couldn't have been more stoked about it. In some ways, it made me feel like Amy wouldn't leave me now.

  After much consideration, I decided to go with Amy and check out the place. Her father agreed to meet us there and get in contact with the alarm company. I also called and arranged for Amy to get a replacement cell phone. We forwarded her other phone number’s calls to the new phone, which meant she would still receive any of her customer’s personal telephone appointments.

  When I saw her getting ready in the morning, I wrapped my arms around her waist and decided to try and persuade her to stay home one more time. "You know, if you stay home we could have lunch together and possibly have a quickie in one of the barns."

  She laughed and leaned over to put on her mascara. I watched the silly face she made as she began to apply it. "Conner, I have to go back to work. We've talked about this."

  I leaned my head on her shoulder and looked at her through the mirror. "I just have a bad feelin' about it."

  "My father is coming and making sure that only the two of us have access to the building. I will keep the door locked and ask clients to ring the bell for entry. The locks will be changed by noon today. You have nothing to worry about. Besides, you promised to take me there and pick me up when I close. I will be perfectly safe."

  I sighed. "I just worry about you, that's all."

  She turned around and reached her hands up my chest. "Conner, I love you. I promise you that I will be okay. You don't have to worry. I'm a big girl and I'm not as weak as you think. I have something to protect and there isn't anything that can take that from us."

  Maybe I was sounding like a pussy. I knew what Ty felt like when he was afraid of losing Randa.

  A loud scream caught our attention. I flew out of the bathroom and met Ty at Bella's door.

  Ty walked up toward my little niece, who was standing on her bed screaming still. "Iz, what's wrong?"

  She pointed toward a pile of toys. "There's a mouse in my room, Daddy. It ran over my foot. Get it out!"

  Ty looked back at me and I could tell he wanted to laugh. I followed him over to the pile of toys. "Bella, go run into your parent's room. Me and your dad are going to take care of this."

  She got to the door and turned around. "When you catch it, can we keep it? I never had a pet mouse before."

  Ty pointed toward the door. "Princess, we can't keep a mouse. You know the dog will try to eat it. Where is that dog anyway?"

  "She's hiding under Jax's crib."

  He sat up on his knees. "Why is she hiding?"

  "Because she ate another pair of my underwears and so I beat her with em."

  "Iz, don't beat the dog. If she does it again you tell us, you hear?"

  She disappeared out of the doorway. "Okay, Daddy."

  Ty looked up at me and started laughing. "You believe that shit? That dog has eaten a dozen pair of underwear. Why the hell do dogs like the smell of soiled underwear?"

  I lifted up my hands. "Fuck if I know?"

  "If it's not one thing, it's another. Okay, I'm going to lift the toys and you grab the damn mouse."

  I crouched down and got ready. "How do you even know it's still in this pile?" That mouse could have been in the kitchen by now.

  "I have to at least check. I lied to Iz about the last one and when she saw it again, she got all pissed at me. You know I can't stand when she gets mad at me. I have to be her hero."

  "For Christ sakes, you catch mice, not lions."

  "Shut the fuck up and just help me. I promised your sister that I would feed the boys this morning. They were up all damn night again."

  I shook my head, feeling like catching this sucker was going to be impossible, but as Ty lifted the next little bear, It dove down into the pile more. "Did you see it?"

  I shook my head and got my hands ready. Now, most people would hate to touch a mouse with their hands. They were the same damn thing as a hamster. One time we had these two hamsters that got out in our house. We searched everywhere for them. One night our lamp shorted out and then there was this horrible smell. My dad pulled the couch out and there was a fried hamster, sitting next to the cord. That next week the other was sitting up on the couch right next to him one night after work. When we caught him we realized he had doubled in size. My father pulled the couch away and a giant ass spot of carpet had been eaten up. The hamster died a couple days later, I'm sure of carpet poisoning. My sister cried for days over it. After that, I really didn't care about hamsters.

  When I saw the little mouse making another move, I closed my hands around it. It tried to squeeze out, but I closed my hands tighter. "Where do you want me to put it?"

  "In a plastic bag, then smack it on the floor until it dies." Ty was so serious, I had to take a double take.

  "Say what?"

  "Yeah, you can't let it go. It will come back inside the house. I don't feel like doing this shit every damn day."

  I shook my head and carried the mouse into the kitchen. Ty followed me and opened the plastic bag. I dropped the little rodent inside and watched him tie the bag in a knot. I walked away before I could witness his rodent cruelty. I got what he was doing, but damn, it was fucked up.

  Amy was already wearing her coat when I saw her next. She had the keys to my truck in her hand. "Can you go warm the truck up? I don't want to go out there and freeze."

  I grabbed the keys and bowed down in front of her. "Yes, Ma'am."

  She laughed and pulled me up off the floor. "Did you want the mother of your child to get cold?"

  "You're goin' to play that card on me already?"

  "Only if it works." She giggled and I could tell she felt embarrassed.

  I kissed her forehead and grabbed my coat, before walking outside. I started my truck and got out to clean the ice off the windshield. When I got down to where the wipers were, I noticed a piece of paper was folded and tucked under the driver’s side. I grabbed the paper, ripping it in half to get it off of the frozen glass. I looked around, knowing it had probably been there for a few nights. I hadn't moved my truck in days, so there was no telling when it had been put there. Once I climbed into the truck, I opened up both pieces of the note and put them together. Right away I could tell that it was a woman's handwriting. It was too neat and big to be a man’s. It wasn't addressed to me, or Amy, or anyone.

  I stopped by the other night, but didn't have the nerve to knock on the door. Please call me back. I want to help.

  Heather

  I crumpled up the note and tossed it behind my truck seat. Amy and I had talked and I had promised her that I wasn't going to call Heather. As much as I wanted to know what the girl wanted, it wasn't worth fighting with my woman over. Heather was the last person on earth to be trusted, so calling her was like calling the devil and asking for a favor. We couldn't take the chance of her stabbing us in the back for her boyfriend Rick. She was a sneaky person, who had made my entire family suffer in some way.

  I spotted Amy walking out of the house and ran to hel
p her walk across the ice. I couldn't have her slipping and taking a fall. While she was at work, I would make sure she had a safe path for when she got home. "Slow down, Blaze. You don't have to act so excited to get away from me already."

  She put her arm through mine. "You know it's not like that. I own a business and I have responsibilities. Trust me, if I could stay in that warm bed with your sexy ass all day, I would. I don't think you understand how hard it is to concentrate on cutting hair when all I can think about is your mouth between my legs."

  Just hearing her say that brought a smile to my face. I don't know why I was feeling so sad. She would be back in my truck by the evening and in my bed a few hours later. "I'm sure glad I never had serious girlfriends before you. This worrying shit is a pain in my ass."

  She got buckled in her seatbelt and waited for me to climb in my side before answering me. "Thank you for caring about me. I know you hate it, but it feels so nice to be loved. This past week has been one of the best of my life."

  The drive to the salon wasn't as long as I wanted it to be. Her father was already standing at the door when we pulled up. I jumped out and ran over to Amy's side to help her out of my lifted truck. She put her arms around my neck as she kissed me and I lifted her down. "You better miss me today."

  She giggled as we walked toward her father. “I will show you how much when you pick me up tonight."

  I reached out and shook hands with her father. "Good morning, sir."

  "Thanks for bringing her out here, Conner. I'm going to stay until I know she is locked in here safely."

  He put his arm around Amy and I could tell right away how glad she was to have him back in her life. "You two worry too much. I'm going to be fine. I left him and there's nothing he can do to change it now."

  I leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. "I'll call you in a couple hours. If you need anything you better call me."

  She smiled. "Okay, I promise."

  Once I climbed into my truck, I watched her father take a look around the parking lot before they walked into the salon. She was in good hands and it made it a little easier to drive away knowing that.

  Rick was out there somewhere. Sure, he could have left town and maybe in a perfect world, he did. My world wasn't perfect and I trusted nobody except my family, at this point. In the back of my mind I feared that he was just lying low, waiting for the opportunity to take the one thing that meant everything, away from me.

  Chapter 5

  Amy

  It was great that Conner was so worried about me. It was also a big pain in my ass. For someone that had felt like a prisoner in a marriage for so long, it was hard to not feel that way when Conner was being overprotective. Sure, Rick had physically hurt me, but I didn't see him doing it in public. He'd always been a perfect gentlemen when people were around.

  My father hadn't seen me since I left his house a disarray after running from Rick. So much had changed since that day. After telling my father about my pregnancy, even he jumped on the 'keep Amy safe' bandwagon.

  I didn't schedule any customers until after ten so that we could deal with getting the locks changed and working with the security company. I had even considered going with a new company altogether, but when I explained my situation they said they would make sure that my ex never stepped foot into my salon again. Trust me when I say that if I never saw that lying, cheating, bastard again, it would be too soon.

  While waiting for the security company to get finished, my father and I sat around eating donuts that he had gotten for us. I started licking all of the chocolate off the top of the one in my hand. He started to laugh. "You know, you used to do that when you were little."

  I laughed and looked down at the donut. "It's the best part."

  He chuckled some more. "Your little half-brother does it too. I reckon it's in our genes. You know, the boys have been talking about you like crazy. Maybe, if you're okay with it, you and Conner could come over for dinner one night this week. I never approved of your choices in men, but that boy is good for you. I can tell his intentions are good."

  "You obviously haven't seen his tattoos."

  He laughed again, but I knew he hated tattoos. "Yeah, I stopped judging people for those reasons a long time ago. My wife has several tattoos, so I really can't use that as an excuse anymore. Unless he has Satan on his body somewhere, I really don't care about them. I can tell he loves you. He wants to keep you and that baby safe. It's all a dad can ask."

  Of course, my mind went straight to Conner. Underneath of his tough appearance was a beautiful man that would risk his life for me. I knew that was how my father saw him. It probably didn't hurt that he called my father 'Sir'. "He's glad that you and I reconnected. Family is very important to Conner."

  "Good. He's got some major responsibilities now. I hope he continues to impress me. Speaking of which, have you two thought about where you are going to live once the baby is born. Four and a half months are going to come faster than you think."

  This was a hard topic to talk about. I'd only been free from Rick for a week. As much as I looked forward to a future with Conner, we hadn't set anything into stone. I didn't think he was going to leave me, but aside from him saying he was going to build us a house, I didn't know a when or how he was going to afford it. "He's planning on building a house on a piece of family property. In the meantime, we are going to stay with his sister and her family."

  "It's hard living with people. Are you sure that's a good idea?"

  "Dad, Miranda is my best friend. She would tell me if it was a bad idea. Her and Conner are very close too. There are places we can go to stay out of their way. I'm sure Conner is thinking the same thing as you are."

  He shook his head and looked right at me. "I just want my grandson to have a good home to come home from the hospital to. If you need money, all you have to do is ask. I know that you are going to have legal issues soon and I plan on being there every step of the way. The sooner we can get that asshole out of our lives, the better."

  I took a long drink of my juice that he'd got me. "I concur. I'd be happy if I never saw him again."

  He stood up and walked over to Miranda's station. I watched him eye up her picture. "This is Conner's sister, huh? She's a pretty girl."

  I started laughing. "Too bad your both married, huh?"

  He chuckled and looked around the room. "Yeah, too bad. This old man still has some moves though."

  I knew he was teasing, but I didn't want the visual of my father getting freaky. "Eww, Dad, please!"

  The guy from the alarm company walked in and cleared his throat. "You are all set on our end. The new security pin is what you requested and the authorized names have also been changed with a passcode for each person. I just need you to sign this paper and you'll be good to go." He handed my father the paperwork and I watched him sign everything. He waited for the man to leave before he turned to talk to me again. "Now, we just need that locksmith to get done and you will be all set, sweetie. I know I will sleep better at night knowing that this is taken care of. I can't believe that man kept us apart for all those years. You let me get my hands on him and there won't be any court date to attend. I will bury that son of a bitch so far down that they will never recover the bones."

  "Dad!"

  "I'm sorry, I just hate what he's done. He not only hurt you, but he stole from us both. This salon has been yours from day one, but you don't have a penny saved. I know there is money somewhere. I've got some people I know looking into him. We're going to figure this out and when I do, I will nail his ass to the wall."

  I could sense my father's blood boiling as he spoke of Rick. My dad was upset about the business and the money, where all I wanted was to be free of him. If there was money out there for me somewhere, I would love that, but it just wasn't my first priority. "Dad, at the end of the day, I'm happy now and that is all that matters to me. We can make more money."

  He walked up and unexpectedly hugged me. "You're right. We can make mor
e money. I just wish you had it all along. I worked my whole life to provide for my family. I don't want you to have to live with other people."

  I pulled away from him and tapped him on his chest. "We can talk about this another time. I'm sure Conner has a plan. He always does."

  The locksmith took another hour to finish, but as he left, I was holding new keys to my salon. Aside from a couple women wanting to have their hair done, I hadn't gotten any threatening phone calls. I convinced my father that I was going to be fine thirty minutes after my first client came in. When he left, I felt both relieved and regretful. The sense of security that he offered had left the building and I was all on my own.

  By the time lunch came around, I had cut three clients hair and done a color treatment on one of my regulars. When the phone rang suddenly, I jumped before walking over to answer it.

  Hello?

  I could hear someone breathing...

  Hello? Is someone there?

  Still nothing...

  I hung up the phone and it rang back instantly. I was almost afraid to answer.

  Hello?

  Blaze, it's me. Can you hear me? My phone is bein' stupid.

  Did you try to call me a second ago?

  Yeah, could you hear me talkin' to you?

  No! I got all scared it was a crank call.

  Sorry, babe. I was callin' to check on ya, not scare ya.

  It's fine. I'm fine. The locks are changed and the alarm codes are all reset. It's been quiet.

  Alright, I better get back to this fence we're reparin'.

  Okay, I'll see you around five then?

  I might get there earlier if I can. See you in a bit, Blaze.

  We ended the call as another customer came in. It was a little old lady that knew more town gossip than I could ever possibly remember. She sat her floral purse down on the chair beside her and got comfortable. "It's about time you reopened. I was thinking that I would have to go back to that Sally woman's establishment. Did you know she has five children by all different men? That's not very Christian if you ask me."