The car was still going after us when they grazed our bumper. Hayley gave a nervous look as the car gave another bump, but this time it was harder, as I almost hit the car in front of me. Luckily the car switched to another lane, leading me to also switch over.
“Is someone following us, Morgan?!” Hayley yelled.
I exited off of the freeway, making the other car do the same. I went into the nearest parking lot of a strip center and stopped. If I was going to confront the person who was following us, it might as well be in a public area.
Hayley looked at me as if I was crazy as I got out of the car. She unbuckled her seatbelt when I stopped her.
“Stay in the car.”
“No.”
“Don’t argue with me, Hayley!”
She looked away from me as I got out of the car. I stood at the back bumper as I waited for the person to get out. If he wanted to confront me, he better get out of the car to do it.
I folded my arms across my chest as the person walked toward me. I glanced at him, waiting for whatever he was about to do.
“Who are you and what the hell do you want?”
“You don’t need to know who I am, but I know you very well, Mr. Carter.” The guy said.
“Who sent you to follow me?”
“Can’t tell you that either. All I know is I need the girl.”
I shook my head, knowing that Lamar was the one who hired this idiot.
“Oh really?”
“Yes. Hand her over and all the charges will be dropped against you.”
“I see Lamar didn’t waste any time. How did he find me?”
“Just hand Miss Stevens over.”
“Give this message to the person who hired you. Fuck you.” I said.
“Fine; since you’re not cooperating, he gave me another order to do.” He said as he pulled out a gun from the waist of his pants.
“Now, hand her over; if you don’t I will kill you.”
“Well, I guess you’re going to have to kill me, then.” I said.
The guy was about to come over to me, when I went over to him. I threw him against the car, causing the gun to knock out of his hand. He pushed my face to the side, trying to push me off of him when I threw him on the trunk. He kicked me, throwing me backwards as he went to get the gun. I went after him, slamming him on the pavement as we struggled for the gun. He reached for it, trying to aim it at my chest when I heard a shot go off. The guy fell on me as I looked over. Hayley was standing over us, with a gun in her hand. She was shaking as she glanced from the guy to me.
“Hayley…”
She stared at me, not knowing what to do as she dropped the gun onto the pavement. She put her hand over her mouth as she backed away from us.
I pushed the guy off of me and went over to her. I held her as she began to cry.
“I had to do it. He was going to kill you, so I had to do it.”
“It’s okay, baby.”
“I found the gun under the seat. I didn’t even know it was loaded. I was taking a chance when I was aiming it…”
“It’s okay.”
She was still shaking as I held her even tighter. I didn’t want to stay where we were for too long. No one was outside, which was surprising since we were in a shopping center.
“We have to go, baby. Just get in the car.”
She nodded and slowly went to the passenger side.
I went inside the guy’s car to look for something to wipe Hayley’s prints. I found a towel that was in the backseat and wiped down the gun. I threw it in the passenger seat. I went over to the guy and dragged him to his car. I put him in the driver’s seat, took the towel again and put the gun in his hand, hoping it looked obvious as a suicide.
I noticed his wallet was inside the console. I took the towel and looked through it. I saw a picture of him along with Craig standing side by side. Now I knew who hired him. I closed the door and ran over to the car.
I looked over at Hayley, who was still in shock. I looked at my hands, seeing if I had any blood on me, which luckily I didn’t.
I gave a silent prayer, hoping no one saw what happened. If they did, then we were screwed; but for now, we had to continue.
I started off the car, knowing eventually we would have to ditch it. I didn’t want to, but in case someone did see us, they wouldn’t be able to ID us.
I knew I was going to have to confront what happened, but I wasn’t going to do it without a fight. I was wondering when someone was going to make their move; that’s why I’ve been figuring out ways to end this shit so I could live my life. Not only mine now, but Hayley’s. She was a part of this as I was, which didn’t sit well with me, but it was nothing I could do about it now but protect her.
Now that they decided to start something, I knew that I would have to be waiting and ready for them.
Hayley
I stared ahead at the dark road as Morgan continued driving. I couldn’t believe what happened. I had just killed someone. I never imagined I would ever do that in my life, but I had to do it. I was protecting Morgan, so it was self-defense. He would had done the same for me, so I shouldn’t have felt too guilty about doing it, but I did.
So many things were going through my mind, like whether he was married or had children. If he did, I took someone’s father away. Now, I felt sick.
I looked over at Morgan as he gave me an apologetic look. He pulled over onto the side of the road and gave me a hug.
“I’m really sorry. This is why I didn’t want to get involved with you. I knew I would mess up your life.”
“Morgan, stop.”
“No; you’re involved in my stupid shit and now, you’re not able to walk away. You should have stay behind and let me dealt with whatever was coming my way.”
“Morgan, I said I would be with you no matter what. Yes, what I did will bother me possibly for the rest of my life, but I did it to protect you. If I had to do it all over again, I would.”
He shook his head and sighed. “At first, I thought Lamar hired the guy to follow us. He kept saying to hand you over and the charges would be dropped. When I was putting him in the car, I looked into his wallet and saw that he knew Craig.”
“What? If he knew Craig, then how would he know about Lamar and the charges?”
“I don’t know. He could have been lurking around the hospital and used it to his advantage. Whatever the reason, just know that his family and your brother is after me, so I really have to lay low.”
“Does your uncle know we’re coming?”
“I haven’t had the chance to tell him. I’ll drive further out of the city before I do.”
“What’s going to happen, Morgan? I mean, now that this has happened, I could be arrested as well. I never thought I would be thinking about a criminal record or going to jail or…”
“Hayley, everything is going to be okay. Don’t worry about what will happen because for all we know, it probably won’t get to that point. Right now, we just need to focus on getting to my uncle’s without any other issues occurring.”
I nodded and continued looking at the road. My phone started to ring. I sighed, realizing I should had changed my number sooner, but with everything that had happened, I hadn’t had a chance to. I looked at it and saw my mom’s name flashing across the screen. Morgan glanced at me and back at the road.
“You probably need to answer that; after that, you have to either change your number or get a new phone.”
I continued to stare at it, not knowing if I should. What if they have someone tracing my phone? I couldn’t take that risk.
I saw a gas station while going down the road and pulled on Morgan’s arm. “Stop the car!”
He quickly hit the brakes and we both shifted in the seat. He gave me a crazed look as I unbuckled my seat belt.
“What the hell, Hayley?”
“I’m not going to answer my phone, so I’m going to use a pay phone. You have any change?”
He dug into his pocket and took
out a few coins. Hopefully this was enough to use it.
We both got out of the car and I went to the pay phone near the station. I checked the change, glad that it was the amount needed, and put it into the slot. I dialed my mom’s cell number and waited for a response. Hopefully she would answer since the number would be unfamiliar.
“Hello.”
“Mom.”
“Hales,” she whispered.
“Hi. I know you just called, but I couldn’t answer my phone. Are you somewhere private?”
“I’m actually at home. I came back to get a change of clothes. Where are you?”
“I can’t say. Are you alone?”
“Yes; your dad is still at the hospital. We’ve been worried about you, especially since you haven’t come to the hospital.”
“I know and I’m sorry, but I won’t be coming.”
“Are you with Morgan?”
“I’m not going to answer that.”
“Hales, if you think I’m going to tell Lamar, I’m not. Tamara told me what happened.”
“Yes, and I’m sure she’s helping him trying to locate me.”
“I know she called, but it wasn’t for Lamar. It was for me, sweetie. We all knew Lamar was going to start some mess, that’s why I wanted you to tell him yourself so it would have softened the blow.”
“How was that possible? He would have done the same things that he did when he confronted Morgan. He recorded us having sex, Mom.”
“I know. Tamara told me that, too. I know Lamar can be a bit overdramatic sometimes, but he thought he was doing it so you wouldn’t be hurt again.”
“Hurt again. What are you talking about?”
I could hear my mom sigh as I waited for her to respond. What is going on?
“Sweetie, Lamar has been acting this way because of something that happened years ago with your cousin, Samantha.”
I gave a confused look, even though my mom couldn’t see me. Why was she bringing up Samantha? She was about the same age as Lamar and the two were close. She used to come by the house all of the time and was pretty cool. She passed away about four years ago, but no one ever mentioned the cause of her death.
“You remembered when her and Lamar were supposed to had went on a trip together but didn’t.”
“Yeah, because that was the day she died.”
“She was heading to the house when she called Lamar, letting him know she had to stop off by her friend’s house to get his camcorder. He asked her if she wanted him to go with her, but she declined. When she did, they talked and when she was leaving he tried to kiss her. Samantha always told Lamar that this guy had feelings for her, but she never returned them. She only saw him as a friend, but he thought differently.
“When she told him to stop, he became a different person, telling her she led him on, which she never did. He became even more upset; he took her into his room and repeatedly raped her. After everything, she tried to run when he was asleep. She made it down to a park near his house. When she thought she was clear, she tried to call Lamar to tell him what happened; that was when the guy snatched the phone away, raped her again and then killed her. Her body was discovered in the park by a jogger during his morning run.”
A tear fell down my cheek as I heard the story, Now, everything sort of made sense about Lamar’s behavior. He felt it was his fault what happened to Samantha; that’s why he was trying so hard for me not to be with anyone. Although he was always protective, he became even more after my 16th birthday, which was also around the time Samantha was murdered.
“Wow, Mom, I didn’t…”
“I know, sweetie. We didn’t want you to know about that, since it hit so close to home. We all wanted to protect you, because we felt that could happen to you; but Lamar became a little over the edge with it, and for that, your father and I are really sorry.”
“It’s not your fault for what happened.”
“We could have done something to stop Lamar.”
“Maybe so, but Lamar is his own person. The times when you both tried to talk to him, he wouldn’t listen, so his mind was made up.”
My mom sighed again into the phone and I looked at Morgan, who had a concerned look.
“How did you all know what happened with Samantha?”
“The guy confessed to everything. He gave details to what happened and even told the police where he dumped her body. He felt guilty about everything and felt he had to come clean.”
I closed my eyes, trying to fight back tears. This was all becoming too much.
“I know I shouldn’t have told you this, but I figured you needed to know.”
“I’m glad you did.”
“But Hales, you need to come home. Your dad and Lamar are worried. And trust me, he will not press charges on Morgan. He was just upset and didn’t know what else to do to bring you back. He knew if he did, Morgan would have told you to stay, but to everyone’s surprise, you left with him.”
“How do I know when I return that he still won’t?”
“He won’t. Your dad talked him out of it.”
“Did he tell you all anything else?”
“About what?”
I sighed. If he didn’t, I sure wouldn’t.
“Nothing. But I can’t, not now. Until everything cools down, then I can probably return.”
“Hayley…”
“Sorry, Mom, but I can’t. I have to be with Morgan. There’s more to the story and Morgan can’t be there. I’ll try to contact you again soon; but just know that I’m okay.”
“Hayley, please don’t hang up…”
I put the phone back onto the cradle and wiped the tear that fell on my cheek. I turned to stare at Morgan who gave me a hug.
“So he’s not pressing charges?”
“No; my parents talked him out of it, even though that was surprising; but he probably figured he was asking for it, too.”
“Even if he was, I shouldn’t have went there. I should have kept my temper in check.”
“So now I know why he’s had a problem with me dating. It was all because of our cousin, Samantha. He didn’t want what happened to her happen to me.”
“I kind of heard some of the conversation. Even he never told me what happened. I’m really sorry.”
I nodded and wiped another tear. “We’d better go.”
“Okay. Probably in the next hour we could stop somewhere and get something to eat. I’m sure you’re starving by now.”
“Not really. I’m more exhausted then anything.”
“Well, we could get a room and rest.”
“You think that’s a good idea?”
“We’re going to have to eventually.”
“Okay.”
We both went to the car, knowing we should continue our journey. Now, I had a little understanding to Lamar’s behavior throughout the years, but it still didn’t excuse what he put me through. I just hope he could find it in his heart that it wasn’t his fault for what happened and that he could try and move on with his life.
Morgan
After another hour drive, it was time to stop at the nearest motel. As soon as we entered the room, Hayley went straight to the bed to rest. I laid beside her in bed, watching her sleep as I put my hand down her back. I sighed, realizing how much damage I had caused for the both of us. She didn’t deserve to be involved in this. Now that she killed someone, she was just as guilty as I was. Honestly, Lamar deserved to kick my ass now for what I’d done to her.
I pulled out my phone from my pocket and dialed my mom’s number. I knew I was taking a risk now with calling her, but I knew she wouldn’t answer the phone if it was from another number.
After several attempts, I was going to hang up, when she answered.
“Morgan.”
“Hi, Mom.”
“Where are you? You haven’t returned home and I was worried about you.”
“Please don’t be, but I had to leave and I’m not sure when I’ll be back.”
“Did you
go back to school?”
“No. Actually, I probably won’t be returning there either.”
“What? What is going on, Morgan?”
“I kind of ran into a little bit of trouble, Mom.”
“Does this have something to do with Craig? I knew this was going to happen! This is all my fault!”
“Mom, please don’t blame yourself.”
“But it is my fault! I married him and you were protecting me. After what happened, I haven’t been much help to you and you had to do everything on your own. For that, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” My mom said as she started to cry.
I glanced at Hayley and sighed. At this point, I wanted to break down myself. Everything was happening too fast and now, I didn’t know what else to do. But I knew I couldn’t. I had to be strong, not just for myself, but for Hales too.
“Please, Mom, stop crying. Just know that I’m okay. I’m going to beat this, so you don’t have to worry about me.”
“How can I not. You’re my son, Morgan. We took care of each other throughout the years, so it’s hard not to worry about you and not knowing where you are.”
“You know I’m a fighter. I’m going to get through this.”
“I really hope so. And why is Lamar not helping you through this? The two of you were so close, but now, I noticed things have changed. Does it have to do with you being with Hayley?”
I sighed. I really didn’t even mention to my mom that I was with Hayley. I guess even she knew about my feelings for her.
“Yeah, the two of us kind of have a difference in opinion about my relationship with her.”
“Oh Morgan, I’m sorry. Even I knew you were in love with his sister; that’s why you never cared about being with anyone before. Well, I’m happy that you two are together, I just wished it was under better circumstances.”
“Me too.”
“Well, I won’t keep you, since I know you shouldn’t be on the phone too long.”
I nodded. “You’re right. This might be the last time we’ll talk until I can figure out another way to reach out to you. But in the meantime, Aunt Doris will be coming by the house to check up on you.”
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