“I can’t, fuck, you know I can’t. I got a little girl who needs me. Didn’t do right by her at the start, I’m not going to give up on her now. She’s too little for me to go that far away.”
“I know,” I say, and a tear rolls down my cheek.
I know and that’s what hurts me the most.
God dammit.
Why do the best things in life...have to come at such a cost?
“I’M FINE, DELILAH, seriously,” I say, holding Star on my lap. “It has been two weeks; I’m feeling really good. I can help out around here.”
“You were shot, Maggie. I don’t need you pulling or tearing something and ending up back in hospital.”
I exhale. “Seriously, I’m going to go crazy if I can’t do something soon. This is driving me insane.”
She laughs. “You’ll get through, I promise.”
With a grunt, I put Star down on the ground.
I have only four weeks left. Four weeks before I have to leave for my new job, my new life and every day that gets closer, I feel worse about my choice. I know it’ll be over, the second I walk out that door, Hugh knows it too and neither of us is willing to admit how that makes us feel. He goes from grumpy, to loving, to clingy to ignoring me in the span of a day. He isn’t coping, and I’m not in the position to tell him he’s wrong.
Still, at night when he lays down with me, he can’t keep his hands off me. His mouth explodes, his body ravishes, and he makes love to me in a way that makes the tears flow every single time. I drift off to sleep crying silently. I have thought a thousand times of leaving the job and staying here, but Hugh refuses to let me. He said, deep down, he knows I’ll resent him if I am forced to stay, and I’m worried he’s right.
A part of me, a huge part of me, really wants this.
Delilah tells me I could just come back after a year, do the long-distance thing, but that isn’t something I can promise.
I’m not going to make promises that could be broken.
I’ve done enough damage.
“You’re thinking about it, again,” Delilah says, watching me stare off into the distance.
“Yeah,” I murmur. “I can’t help it.”
“I know it’s hard, but remember you always have a choice. We’re always here. Hugh will always love you.”
Will he, though?
I am starting to think that the second I go, he is going to slowly but surely be filled with so much rage he’ll just end up hating me. I can’t say I’ll be able to blame him, either. It wouldn’t be fair for me to ask anything else.
It’s a consequence of my decision.
I give Delilah a smile and then go to my room to rest. It might have only been a few weeks and although I feel as though I’m going crazy being stuck inside all the time, I am exhausted, and it has taken its toll on me. Not to mention the fact that whoever did this to me is still out there. The club has been working around the clock to try and end this, so that we are all safe again.
So far, I haven’t heard a damn thing.
Hugh won’t tell me what is going on, he said it’s confidential and they have to keep it close to their chests.
I get that, but still, I feel like he could tell me but he’s choosing not to.
Once again, something that I have to deal with because of what I’ve chosen to do.
They’re going to blow up the world of those rich people, I wonder what’ll come after that?
My phone rings just as my head hits the pillow, I use my free hand to reach over and grab it, bringing it to my ear without checking who it is.
“Hello?”
“Hey,” Gabby says, her voice soft. “Sorry if I woke you, I was just wondering...have you spoken to Hugh today?”
“Not since he went to the club this morning, why?”
“We can’t seem to get hold of anyone. They’re all MIA. I’m guessing they’re up to something they don’t want us involved in, but I don’t like the fact that we don’t know where they are.”
My heart pounds against my ribcage as I sit up. “Has anyone gone past the country club? Are they there?”
“Yeah, Eve drove around just before. We couldn’t see them. They’ve closed the garage. They’re just...not here. We have called, none of them are answering. Do you think we should be worried?”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “I think we should be, but I also think they might have a plan. Are we sure they haven’t left something for us? At the club? In the office? Maybe they didn’t want to tell us what was going on for some reason and have instead left some sort of note, or clue, or something to let us know?”
“I didn’t think of that, we’ll go and have a look, see what we can find. You try and get hold of Hugh, maybe as Delilah if she knows anything. I’ll check into the office and club and get back to you.”
“Okay,” I say.
I hang up and try Hugh.
No answer.
What in the ever-loving hell is going on?
23
“Delilah, calm down, I can’t understand you.”
“Maggie, I...”
“Hey, what’s going on? Are you okay?”
“There are cops everywhere. I don’t know what’s going on, what’s going on?”
I shake my head in confusion. “What do you mean? Where are you?”
“At the country club. I was just stopping into see my mother because she wouldn’t answer my calls and when I got here, it is swarming with police...I don’t know what’s going down.”
Is this the clubs doing?
They’ve been MIA for a day and night, not answering, not giving us a single damned thing. We’ve all been worried, wondering what the hell is going on, but I’m starting to think this is all part of their plan.
“I’m coming to get you,” I say. “Wait there and don’t move, I’ll be there soon.”
“Ok,” she sobs, hanging up the phone.
I’m not meant to be driving, but screw it, I’m going because clearly something huge is going down and I’m going to see what it is. Star is with Delilah, she took her so I could have a rest, so I don’t have to do anything but get into the car. I move quickly, well, as quickly as I can and head to the country club.
By the time I arrive, the place is swarming.
I mean swarming.
Cops, reporters, people surrounding the place trying to get some information. I park and move towards the crowd, looking for Delilah. It takes me a few minutes shoving through the crowd, looking anywhere I can. People are talking rapidly, reporters are yelling and screaming for answers, and the place is chaos.
I finally see Delilah standing with her mother, Star screaming in her arms, tears running down her cheeks. Her mother is sitting on a chair, head hung, and there are police officers standing beside them. I shove through the people surrounding them and when Delilah sees me, she crumbles. I take Star from her arms, carefully bouncing the poor baby girl who is beside herself from all of the drama unfolding around her. It’s too much and she’s frantic.
“Hey, hey,” I say, pulling Delilah into my spare arm as I keep trying to bounce Star. “It’s okay, it’s okay.”