Damon (5 page)

Connor had
just turned five.
He wanted to go to school and when Anthony had told him no, Con
nor had told him to go to hell.
He
had backhanded the little boy.

“You’ll have r
espect for your provider, boy.
I don’t have to
have you as part of the deal
. Y
ou’ll listen to me or feel my bel
t on your back ‘til you bleed
. Y
ou should feel honored that I’m willing to take something like
you into my house and raise.”

Charl
ie came at him with a skillet.
She’d hit him several times that day, mostly in the head, before he left the hous
e screaming that she was nuts.
No police came to see what the screaming was about, but then she wasn’t surprised. They never even came wh
en she called them to help her.
She and Connor left with only
their clothes on their backs.
It had taken
him eight days to find them.
She’d heard that he had hired some psychic woman to find the
m, but that she’d been no help. Thank goodness.
That had been five months ago.
Then four days ago, she and Connor gotten away again.

It had taken some work and ne
rves of steel to do it.
They didn’t have any money and knew that in order to get any, they’d have to figure out a way to get into his loc
ked bedroom while he was gone.
The padlock on the door was bad enough, but the bars on the windows were nearly imposs
ible to overcome.
The plan was to get Connor inside in the morning
and then out again that night.
It had to be him because Charlie was too important to the daily activities around the
house to be missing that long.
When Anthony went to the bathroom to shower, Connor slid in the crack
of the door and under the bed.
Once he was locked in for the day, then there was no getting him out again until Anthony came h
ome and opened the lock again.
And that terrified Charlie worst of all.

They had nearly gotten caught when Anthony had asked where her bra
t was and Charlie didn’t know.
He had slapped her and when Connor had
heard it, he had made a noise.
Charlie grabbed Anthony to keep him from going to look for Connor and that was when he’d beaten her as badly as
he had.
It was another day before they could leave. Charlie was in so much pain and then Anthony had beaten Connor when he had b
urnt the toast for his dinner.
The belt had always
scared Connor and he knew it.

The morning after that, they walked to the ne
xt town and then got on a bus.
The driver, another woman, had helped them get on and had even let them stay on the bus and got food
for them when they made stops.
That was probably the only reason they’d made it this far. No one had ever seen the two of them but the cross-country drivers.

~CHAPTER 4~

Damon had fixed dinner for him and Connor about an hour ago and the little boy was so quiet that D
amon knew something was wrong.
He’d tried asking, but Connor just shrugged his tiny shoulders and co
ntinued to play with his food.
As soon as the meal was over, he went to his room and closed the door, not even going to see his momma.

Damon was fussing in her room trying to figure out how
to ask Charlie about her son.
He didn’t want to alarm her with anything. Damon was sure that little boys had moods just like
adults, but he was concerned.
Finally, he sat on the chair next to the bed and told her about her injuries.

“You will be
able to get up in the morning.
I want to have Tansy here just in case you get a little dizzy and I’ll need
help getting you back to bed
. Y
ou’re such a little thing I could carry you, but I don’t wan
t to cause you any undue harm.
The catheter will come out too
if you get along well enough.
Do you have any questions?”

“I’d
like to get moving again.
Connor told me he explained what was going on in our personal lives. He shouldn’t have said a
nything and I’m sorry for that.
As
soon as possible, we’ll leave.
If you could give me a total of what we owe you, I’ll give you as much as we can and I’ll send you the re
st if we make it out of here.”

Damon wanted to tell her she wasn’t going anywhere, but for some reason knew that she would dig in her he
els and leave in spite of him.
He had to figure out a tactful way of letting her know she could depend on him, all of them.

“Miss Kirkpatrick, you’re welcome here
for as long as you need to be.
No one knows where you are and
you are certainly no trouble.
My family loves Conn
or already, especially Morgan.
I think she’d take him in a heartbeat if she thought—”

“He’s mine!
No one is t
aking him from me, you hear me?
He’s my son and I’m g
oing to take him when I leave.
And no one is going to hit him again either, not so long as I have breath in my body.”

Damon let her rant.
He knew that she wasn’t lashing out at him but
at the man who had hurt them.
When she wiped at the tears on her cheeks for the second time, he got up and handed her a box of tissues that were on
the end table next to the bed.
He didn’t say a word, but returned to his chair while she blew her nose.

“I haven’t a clue what this man has over you, if anythin
g, but I do not work like that.
I have never hit anyone except my brothers
and believe me, they hit back.
Co
nnor and you are welcome here.
I was only saying that Morgan loves him because he saved one of her sons a hard bump to the head
and probably several stitches.
She said she had never spent a more enjoyable afternoon wi
th anyone as she had with him.
He was polite and very generous with his time and patience
with the boys
. Y
ou are
raising a very fine boy there.
As for what he shared with us, that is something that—”

“I’m not going to give you anything more on our personal—”

“That’s quite enough!
You have been sna
rling at me since you woke up.
I am not this
other man. I am Damon Grant.
And if you continue to piss me off, I will not kiss you.”

He stalked out of the room.
Damon wasn’t sure which of them
was more shocked, her or him.
He didn’t have any idea why he’d said he was going to kiss her and until t
hat very moment,
he hadn’t had a
ny clue he had even wanted to.
But now that the thought had entered his head, he wo
ndered what it would be like.
He walked down to the other bedroom that Connor was in an
d knocked on the door lightly.
At his quiet, “it’s your house,” he went in.

Connor was standing on a chair trying to tape up
the poster he’d gotten today.
Damon felt his heart leap to his throat, but
didn’t move to pull him down.
Instead, he walked up behind him and held the poster in place with his lo
nger reach.
The tape Connor had in his hand was wadded up and stuck
to everything but his fingers.
In frustration, he threw it in the trash.

“Shouldn’t hang it anyway.
I’ll ju
st have to leave it when I go.
Don’t know why I even wanted the stupid thing.
Just got it ‘cause there was nothing else there to buy and she
wanted me to have something.”
He flopped down on the bed and left Damon standing there holding the poster.

“Wait right
here and I’ll be right back.”
He went to his office and found some tac
ks.
He was nearly back to the room when he remembered something else, headed back
to his room, and picked it up.
Connor was wiping
at his face when he walked in.
Damon went to the desk and laid the tacks and book on the table, giving Connor space.

“Damon, you think I
could get something to drink?
I’ll drink it in the kitche
n and be real careful with it. I won’t make a mess.”
Smiling, Damon thought he was a great kid.

“Sure, but if you wait a second, we’ll hang this pos
ter up and then I’ll join you.
I thin
k I could use some tea myself
. Y
ou want it ov
er here or closer to the desk?
I think this
was a good choice, by the way.
Having a poster with all the animals on it gives you lots of memories of them instead of one with just the pandas on it, I think.”

He was quiet for a long time, so long tha
t Damon turned to look at him.
Connor was staring at the closet w
ith his clothes hanging there.
Damon thought h
e looked sad and a bit lonely.

“I’ve never had stuff before.
Momma tried, but that bastard, he’d
tear it up ‘cause it was mine. He didn’t want me, just Momma.
He told her that if I were to die on the street, he’d
not shed a tear, but be happy.
She cried for so long that I
didn’t think she’d ever quit. I don’t want to go, Damon.
But Momma said that if we s
tayed, you all might get hurt.
He hurt her friend whe
n we tried to get away before.
Momma said that money
and a badge is hard to fight.
I guess she’s right, huh?”

“Sometimes. But Connor, I’m not going to let anything happen to you or your mom.
I made you a pr
omise and I intend to keep it
. Y
ou stick with me,
kid, and we’ll make you safe
. Y
ou just have to trust me.
I
know that’s hard, but you can.”

It took them another thir
ty minutes to hang the poster.
They hung it in four different places before th
ey found one that was perfect.
Damon decided that he was going to take the kid to get m
ore things to put in his room.
And he was going to have someone come in and set him up with a
computer and some video games.
He’d have to have Jacob or little James
come over and help with that.
Damon decided to ge
t some things for Charlie too.
And maybe he’d kiss her anyway.

~~~

Charlie was awake when D
amon brought in her breakfast.
It wasn’t clear liquids anymore, b
ut a bowl of oatmeal and toast.
There was a large glass of juice and some
fresh fruit, strawberries too.
She looked up at him in surprise.

“I didn’t cook this.
My sister-in-law Ronnie came by and wanted to borrow the truck so while I cleaned out the firewood and swept it out for her, she ma
de breakfast for us.
Connor is on his second bowl. I wonder where he puts it all.”

“It’s lovely. I like oatmeal.
And stra
wberries are my favorite fruit.
Is Connor giving you any trouble?”

“No.
I wish he would give m
e something to complain about.
He’
s great.
If you don’t min
d, it’ll be me getting you up.
Tansy had to go to her sister’s last night and she won’t be coming back until tomorrow.”

She didn’t understand what he wanted to
complain about, but let it go.
He went out of the room and when he returned, he had an
arm load of towels and a bag.
She flushed when she read the name on the bright pink bag.

“Cait and my mom went shopping yesterday a
nd picked you up a few things.
I didn’t look inside, but from your embarrassment you know what’s inside.
There are also s
ome pants and a shirt for you.
They guessed on the sizes, but they seem to look all right all the time so it can’t be too bad.”