Saving Us

by Jennifer Foor

  “Will they do that to me, or is it just between them? I don’t want to have something like that happen to me.” Ty didn’t ever seem jealous of Colt winning Van. I think he liked that the two of them found each other. Van was always special to him, but not in the way she needed to be. After he fell in love with my sister, it was obvious that what he and Van shared had been a deep friendship. They grew up together and had a past, but appreciated that they were now family. I don’t know if either one of them could have been happier with the turnout. When all of that went down, I felt so left out. They were all so happy, while I was miserable. It was the reason I turned to the parties and the pills. I’d been so darn immature. Amy made me want more. She was what I always wanted.

  “If he knows what’s good for him, he won’t go near you.”

  She smiled and wrapped her arms around me, pulling my body close to hers. “You are always protecting me.”

  It amazed me that she had to be reminded of that. After all this time Amy still thought I was going to just leave her. She was wrong. I’d die before I let someone hurt her. “I always will, Blaze.”

  Chapter 13

  Amy

  If I thought the ride to Kentucky was rough, well the ride home was ten times worse. The twins were in rare form and Bella was exhausted and cranky herself. I sat in the backseat with Miranda on account of Conner’s legs being so long. I think the ride to Kentucky had been extremely uncomfortable for him.

  We’d had a good time, even though our visit had been for something so sad. After the whole prank thing, everyone got along like nothing had happened. Conner had said it would be like that, but I didn’t believe him until I saw it for myself. We had a huge card game going the night before, in which I won. They said it was beginners luck and it would be the last time I ever won again. Conner seemed proud of me, which made me all giddy over my accomplishment. Honestly, it had been all luck. I was never the best at cards.

  When we passed the sign welcoming us back to North Carolina, it made me sad. I wanted to believe that I could get through anything as long as I had Conner by my side. The thing is, I just couldn’t be certain. Rick had lied about pretty much everything I ever knew. I still hadn’t told Conner about his phone calls to the salon because I was too afraid of what Conner would do. To me, he was a gentle man, but I’d seen him get pissed and he wanted to kick Rick’s ass more than anything.

  Ty and Miranda headed over to his parents for dinner, while Conner and I climbed into his bed and enjoyed the quiet. Living with three kids wasn’t easy. I already felt like I was imposing, so I tried to help out or stay out of the way.

  The following morning I drove myself to work. Jax was running a fever and Miranda stayed home to take care of him. Conner had already left to work somewhere on the farm and I really didn’t see it as being a big deal. There was nothing wrong with my car and I had a new phone in case something did happen. While driving, I found myself constantly checking the rear view mirror.

  “Come on Amy, get it together. There is nobody following you,” I said to myself.

  As I pulled up at the shop, I noticed that the parking lot was pretty empty. I grabbed my keys out of the ignition and reached over for my purse, but didn’t stick the keys inside. Miranda had given me a bottle of pepper spray to have for safety. I knew I was being a worry wart, but I held the keys up as I walked, like I was prepared to spray someone in the face.

  I inserted my keys into the door and felt something touching my shoulder. As I turned around, I tried to grab my keys out of the door, but they had to be turned to come free. Instead, I took my elbow and threw it back to push myself away from whoever was behind me. My arm made contact directly with the person’s face. They hunched over holding their face and the first thing I noticed was that it was a female. She had brown hair and it was pulled into a ball cap, plus she had on sunglasses, even though it wasn’t very sunny out. “Oh my God! I am so sorry. I didn’t know someone was behind me.”

  Thinking that it was a customer, I opened the door and pulled her into the salon while she held onto her bleeding nose. “I am so sorry, sit down here and I will get some rags.” I ran into the back room and grabbed a few rags and wet them.

  When I got back out to where the woman was sitting, I noticed she still had her head down. She wasn’t saying much as I approached her. “Just lean your head back and put one of these up to your nose.” I went to grab the glasses off of her face to help, but she grabbed my hand.

  “Wait!”

  That voice…I had heard it before, but couldn’t place it.

  “Amy, I’m in trouble. Please don’t freak out.” She removed her glasses and it took me a second to realize who it was.

  “Heather?”

  She stood up but kept the rag over her nose. I watched her finger come up. “Please just hear me out. I didn’t know where to go. I’m afraid he’s going to kill me.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Who is? What does this have to do with me? Why would you even think I would be a good person to help you? Do you have any idea how much I hate you?”

  “Please, Amy, you have to listen to me. I’m in real trouble here.”

  I looked at Heather for the first real time since I’d realized it was her. She’d dyed her hair a dark brown and was wearing jeans and a hoodie. Anyone that knew the girl, knew she didn’t even own the kind of clothes she had on.

  I put my hands on my hips and sighed. The girl seemed petrified of something. I started to pull my cell phone out of my pocket. “I need to call Conner, before you say anything to me.”

  “No! You can’t tell anyone. Please just listen to me. I overheard something that I shouldn’t have. Amy, Rick isn’t who we think he is. He has some kind of secret and I’m afraid I got too close to it.”

  I sat down on the chair beside her. Obviously she had gotten my attention enough for me to listen. “What are you talking about?”

  She started crying right away. I refused to give her sympathy. She deserved to cry for all that she’d done. Maybe that made me an equally horrible person, but she’d caused the people that I loved too many problems for me to be cordial.

  “You know that I was seeing Rick, right?”

  I rolled my eyes. “You can have him.”

  She shook her head. “No! I don’t want anything to do with him or his lies. That’s why I’m here. I think we both are in serious danger.”

  I stood up and looked right at her. “Heather, come out with it. I have people coming here soon. I know Rick is an asshole, that is why I left him. You know this already, so I want to know what exactly it is that you are here to tell me.”

  She put her hands up to her face. “Just give me a second. I slept in that abandoned car in the parking lot.”

  Wow. Was she really that scared that she couldn’t go home to her own house?

  “Why did you do that?”

  “He told me that if he found me, he would kill me. I threw my phone away and have been hiding ever since.”

  I tightened my face up and shook my head. “Heather, Rick may be a wife beater, but he is hardly a murderer.”

  “I guess you don’t know about his first wife?”

  “I know she left him with a kid.”

  She shook her head and sighed. “No, that was his second wife and she didn’t leave, she went insane.”

  “What are you saying? He was only married twice.”

  “Amy, he has been married three times. I swear that I am telling you the truth.” She looked right at me. “His first wife died under suspicious circumstances. Look it up on your phone.”

  I pulled up the internet on my phone and searched for my husband’s name with death of wife next to it. When nothing came up, I looked over at Heather. “There’s nothing here. Heather you need to leave. I am going to have enough problems filing for divorce. I don’t need this nonsense.” I started to turn around, but she had stood up and grabbed ahold of my arm.

  “Search Richard Martin loses wife.” The look on her face was tha
t of a very scared and very determined person.

  “Who the hell is Richard Martin?”

  She tapped on my phone. “Just look it up, Amy. If you want me to leave once you see it for yourself, I will.”

  I was disgusted being in the same room as this woman. It made me especially sick knowing that she’d slept with not only my soon to be ex-husband, but also Conner. I hated her so much. To prove her wrong and get her out of my salon, I typed it into the search engine and hit enter. “When this turns out to be nothing, I want you to lea…Holy shit!” His picture popped right up on the screen. “Is this…Is it really him?”

  “I wouldn’t have believed it myself had I not found a little address book in his truck and searched it myself.”

  I’d seen pictures of Rick from twenty years ago and this was definitely him. I stood there just staring at my phone for a second before I could even read the article.

  Elena Brewer Martin Dies After Falling Down Stairs

  I read the article and looked up at Heather. “So, it says she died from falling down the stairs. It doesn’t say anything about her being murdered.”

  “Search Elena Martin death.” Heather stood there waiting for me to do it.

  Sure enough, in black and white, it said that police had accused the husband of foul play. “Apparently they had lived in a small town in Colorado and everyone there turned against him, especially his in-laws. They won custody of his son and refused to let him see him anymore. He was questioned and taken into custody, but was cleared for lack of evidence. The thing is, why would he change his name and never talk about it to anyone? I mean, he has a kid out there and never mentioned him before. That night I found that little book shoved between his seat, I never said a word until I went home. When he called me, I asked him who Elena Martin was to him. Amy, he started flipping out and threatened to kill me if I told anyone. I could hear the pure anger in his voice. The next morning I went to go out to work and he was standing outside waiting for me. I made it to my car before he took a bat and busted out my window. Thankfully, I managed to floor it and pull away before he could get to me. He called me and told me that if he found me, I would be dead.”

  I heard what she was saying, but was so shocked that I didn’t know what to say to her. I was so angry for living with that man that I obviously had known nothing about. What else could he be hiding and was he really capable of killing the woman? “Well, why would you want me to get involved?”

  “The last time he called and threatened me, before I got rid of the phone, he said he was going to take care of me and you. Amy, I think he wants us both dead.”

  I shook my head. “We need to call the police.” I picked up my phone and dialed.

  Heather stood in front of me with tears streaming down her face. Once the police were on their way, I made sure all of the doors were locked and we sat there waiting.

  “I am really sorry, Amy. After Conner told me about what happened to Miranda, I just wanted to clear my conscience. I didn’t know that Rick’s big secret could warrant our safety. I pretended to still be into him to get dirt for you. Now I think I may have just got myself killed.”

  “Don’t talk like that. The police will pick him up. It’s going to be alright.” I was shaking like a leaf, but trying to reassure her. “I need to call Conner.”

  Heather grabbed at me again. “Please, just wait to tell him. I can’t face that family right now.”

  “He is the father of my child. Rick has already threatened me before. Conner needs to know this.” I started dialing just as my phone was knocked out of my hand. It went flying across the salon and onto the concrete floor, where the battery went falling out. “What the hell?”

  “Amy, please wait! Conner is going to flip out and try to take matters into his own hands. Do you want him out there looking for someone who could potentially be that dangerous?”

  She had a point and with his temper, Conner wouldn’t back down.

  The police finally arrived and we told them about the threats Rick was making. Unfortunately, we didn’t have proof to back it up on. Heather had gotten rid of her phone and he hadn’t called me for a while. The police wrote a report, but said that they couldn’t do anything unless he was there trying to hurt us. Even a phone conversation was just hearsay at this point.

  As the officers left, Heather broke into tears. “What am I going to do? He’s going to hurt me.”

  “Leave town.”

  “I don’t have any money and now the window in my car is busted out. It got down to twenty last night and I was sleeping in my car.”

  I hated this girl, but somehow she and I were in the same boat. I had a family to go home to. Heather had nothing. Maybe I shouldn’t have felt sorry for her. In some ways she deserved this. Karma was a real bitch. Still, I couldn’t turn my back on another human being. If something happened to her it would be on me and then I would have stooped as low as her. “I will give you everything I have in the safe.”

  She didn’t argue about it. “I will pay you back every cent.”

  Once I handed her the money, she thanked me again and left out the front door. Customers started coming in right after and it was too late to close the doors and head home. Every time the phone rang, I jumped. My heart raced all morning. By lunch time, I was calling my appointments and rescheduling them. I told them I wasn’t feeling well and they all bought it. It was the honest truth. I felt like I was going to vomit.

  I literally ran out to the parking lot and locked myself in my car before starting it. On the ride home my hands were shaking so bad that it was hard to hold the steering wheel. When I pulled onto the dirt road, I saw Conner walking toward me. I was going to have to tell him the truth. He was going to go ballistic.

  Chapter 14

  Conner

  I knew something was wrong the moment that I saw her pulling up the driveway. I met her at the spot where she normally parked her car and opened the door. “What happened?”

  She stood up and wrapped her arms around me tightly.

  “Amy, what’s wrong?”

  “I think we need to go inside and talk about it.” She never moved her head up to look at me. I was more than concerned considering the way she was clung to my chest.

  I grabbed her purse and followed her into the house.

  My sister had both of the boys in high chairs and was feeding them. “How come you’re home so early?”

  Amy sat down at the table and put her head down. I looked over at my sister and she seemed just as concerned as I did. I knew her driving to work was a bad idea. Her going to work at all was a bad idea.

  “I don’t even know how to explain this. There is so much that I don’t know. Heather didn’t even know all the details.”

  I heard that blondes name and thought my sister was going to lose it. “What did you just say?”

  She turned around to face me. “Conner, I need you to sit down next Miranda and listen to me. Something happened today and you both need to be aware of it.”

  “If that little bitch did something, I will kick her ass,” Miranda threatened.

  I held up my hands. “Just calm down and listen to me. For once she didn’t do anything, well, at least not to me. She’s in serious trouble, actually.”

  I had about enough of the waiting. “Amy, spit it out!”

  For the next ten minutes she explained how Heather had come into the salon in disguise and warned her about what Rick was up to and what happened in his past. I have to be honest and say that none of it was shocking to me. The guy was a total punk.

  While I was still thinking about everything she said, she grabbed my arm. “Please say something.”

  “You said you called the cops and they couldn’t help you?” I was trying to remain calm even though I knew I was slowly losing it.

  “Yes, they came and said that we had to have proof that he was threatening us. Right now it is just two women saying that someone threatened them. Without me even seeing him for a while didn’t help.
”

  “You ain’t goin’ back to that salon. Call who you need to and have them come here instead.” There was no way I was going to put her in harms way, not now, not ever.

  “I don’t need a babysitter. That is my business Conner. I can’t just tell people to go somewhere else.” Her makeup was running down her face from where she was starting to cry.

  “I never said you needed a babysitter, but I’ll be damned if I let something happen to you and that baby. Stop bein’ selfish. I need to know you’re safe.” I was adamant about my decision. She was staying away from that salon, at least until we could figure out a way to keep her safe.

  I slammed my hand into the kitchen table, catching everyone off guard and scaring the twins enough to make them start crying. “Conner, you need to calm your ass down. How do you even know that Heather is telling the truth about bein’ threatened? We all know how she lies.” My sister didn’t have to tell me what I already knew.

  “Have you heard anything I’ve been saying? Rick may have killed his first wife. I didn’t even know about her. I thought his family was all dead and they might be alive somewhere. He has a son that nobody knew of. You’ve seen what he did to me when he got mad. I don’t doubt anything Heather said. I hope she’s away by now, because even after everything she put this family through, I wouldn’t wish harm on anyone.” Amy started crying harder. She got up and headed in the direction of our bedroom. I let her walk off by herself, while I stayed back to talk to my sister.

  “This has gotten out of hand. I need to take her back to Kentucky. We’ll be safe there.”

  She shook her head. “She won’t go with you, Conner. You know how hard headed she can be. She just reconnected with her father again. You can’t expect her to leave everything because some douche bag is out there with some vendetta.”

  “Well I sure can’t sit around worryin’ about her leavin’ the house. Somethin’s gotta give.”