Freeing Tuesday (21 page)

“My mom went missing when I was seven. I always thought that she ran away like I did, because I would rather think that than think of what probably happened to her. With a father like mine, in the back of my mind, I knew what happened.” Evan loosens his grip but he doesn’t push me away to see my face like he usually does, this time his fingers run through my hair and down my back until he reaches the hem of my shirt and slides under it, connecting with my skin. “I lived twenty years of my life missing a piece of me. The only piece of me that was good and it turns out it was a lie.”

“What do you mean?” he whispers as he kisses the top of my head.

“The other day, when they were questioning me, they offered me witness protection for my help but I told them no. I’ve been hiding for over five years and I’ve been safe. I did that by myself, I kept myself safe. Me, not them. Why would I want to hand over control to them?” My entire body shakes and for the first time ever I tell myself that it’s ok to let my emotions out. The tears roll out of my eyes as if on cue and run across his bare chest. “They told me they had something that might change my mind and then they opened the door. My mother was standing there with a smile on her face, like she was the last night she tucked me into bed. She stared at me like there was
nothing
wrong. How could she do that? How could she just leave me there with that monster?”

The sob that breaks free from my chest scares me and Evan tightens his grip on my hips. “I’m so sorry, baby.”

“I freaked out. Told them I didn’t want to be near her, I didn’t want to see her. I looked at her and told her she was dead to me and was better off that way. What kind of a daughter says that shit to her mother?”

Evan

I roll us over, flipping so Tuesday is under me and I can stare down at her. I lean up on my elbows, my hands cupping her face and I wipe away the tears that cover her cheeks. The entire time I have known her, I have never seen her cry as much as she has since the FBI showed up.

She stares up at me, eyes glistening with tears as she waits to see if I’m going to say anything. I let her talk for a bit, not saying anything because I know if I start talking, she will stop.

“Being a parent takes more than just having the same DNA. She lost the right to be considered your mother the day she walked away without you. She couldn’t have expected you to welcome her back with open arms.”

“But she did! She walked in like she owned the damn place and told me that she missed me. Said I looked good and then looked at me like I was crazy when I told her she was dead to me.”

“So now that you know, what are you going to do about it?”

Tuesday sighs, running her hands along my skin and as much as I know this isn’t supposed to be a sexual situation, just the way she touches me makes me want her. I don’t act on what I’m feeling though, because that isn’t what she needs right now. Right now she needs me to listen, to be there for her and I swear to myself that even if it takes our entire lives, I am going to show her I can be deeper than just how far my dick goes.

“I don’t want to go into the program. I won’t do it. I hate her right now, I don’t want anything to do with her because she left me there and I had to deal with all that on my own.” Her voice dies out when she wipes more tears away so I give her a second to think without pushing her. “I hate her, Evan. I used to miss her, mourn her and wish she would come back but now that I know she left, I
hate
her. I don’t like feeling like that towards someone I loved for so long. I think I need to hear her out, find out why she left me alone there, but I don’t think I can do it alone.”

Leaning down, I slide my hand into her hair and kiss her lightly. “Anything you need, baby, I’m always going to be here for you.”

                              
***

Tuesday’s hands are shaking like a leaf in a hurricane when we get out of the car. We talked most of the night about what she wanted out of this meeting and the only thing she could think of was
why
. Why her mother walked out on her and why she never came back for her. The only thing I want to know is
how
someone can walk away from someone like Tuesday and not think twice about it.

Crazy. That’s the only think this woman could be for leaving her way back then.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” Tuesday mumbles into my chest when we get onto the elevator. I cup her cheek, my thumb rubbing back and forth along her jaw.

“If you don’t want to, we can leave. We can turn around right now and walk out of this hotel and we won’t have to talk about it again. But, I know you want answers and leaving without talking to her isn’t going to get you any.”

She pulls me down and plunges her tongue into my mouth; her teeth tug on my lip ring, letting me know without words how much she needs me. Like she needs just a few minutes to think of anything other than what is on the other side of those doors. I grip her hips and push her against the wall, pinning her there with our mouths fused together until the bell dings and doors open.

Tuesday

My fingers tap against my thigh while we wait for the Agents to bring
her
in. I won’t call her my mother and I don’t know what name she has been going by for the past twenty years, so I don’t know what to call her.

Evan tightens his arms around me, his face buried in my neck and the rush of his breath on my skin seems to be the only thing keeping me from bolting out of the room.

“Hello Mallory.” Her voice pulls my attention away from where Evan’s fingers are stroking lightly against my arms. She moves across the room toward me but I shake my head and she stops, rerouting herself to the couch across the room.

I take a deep breath, trying to find my voice and when I do I skip all pleasantries. I don’t even have it in me to correct her on my name, mainly because I don’t
want
her to know it.

“Why?”

She takes a deep breath and smiles. “Why what, Mallory? You need to be more specific.”

“I don’t even want to be here, so don’t get smart with me. I told you the other day that you should have stayed dead but one question has burned through my brain since you walked into the interrogation room. So…
Why
? Why would you leave me there?”

The smile drops from her face and I can see the tears brimming in her eyes from across the room. Even though I thought I was all tapped out after all the crying I had done in the past few days, I felt my nose start to tingle and my eyes well up.

“I’m
so
sorry,” she holds her hands up when I start to interrupt her. “I know you don’t want to hear that, but I am. More than I could ever tell you. They took me out of there but we couldn’t get near you.”

I grip Evan’s arms tighter against me, hoping they keep me from breaking because right now I feel like I’m going to shatter. “I was seven!
Seven
! How could you even think to leave your seven year old daughter in that hell?” My shouts echo through the room and her hand covers her mouth while her tears coat her cheeks.

I scream at the woman who gave birth to me, yelling anything at her that pops into my head, not caring how she feels and she just sits there and takes it. She doesn’t get up; she doesn’t yell back, she just sits there crying silently.

“What the hell did you expect to get out of letting me know you were alive after twenty years?”

“I just want you safe. I want you back in my life. Honey, I have missed you so much. I know I have no place telling you what you do, but I should think Witness Protection is the best option for you.”

“The best option for me?” I pull myself away from Evan’s body and stalk toward her, my voice rising with every word that I speak. “The best option would have been for you to take me with you! Or, maybe you should have been smart and not have had a baby in the first place!”

She stands, finally finding her voice again and she meets me in the middle of the room. “You don’t know what happened. I met Robert when I was eighteen, he forced me to stay with him and when I found out I was pregnant with you I knew I was stuck. You don’t know what it’s like”

All I want to do is slap her and leave but the comment about me not knowing what it’s like hits me and I lose my temper even more than I already had.

“I don’t know how it feels?
Me
? Obviously your wonderful Agents didn’t fill you in on everything that happened after you left me, so allow me.

“Your lovely husband forced so much shit on me that I can’t even look in the mirror without being sick! I wake up from nightmares hearing the screams of the people he forced me to kill!” Her hand shoots to cover her mouth and the tears start back up but I push forward and keep yelling. “I get sick over the fact that he traded me to a human trafficker to save his own life and I can’t even handle talking about what happened after that!”

“That’s why I’m telling you that you should be in Witness Protection. They can keep you safe, you know how all that works! They won’t stop coming after you.”

I walk backwards until I bump into Evan and he slides his arms around me.

“I have spent over five years keeping myself hidden without anyone’s help and before that I took care of myself for twenty without yours. So don’t walk in here and try to be a good parent now that I don’t need one.”

I turn and pull Evan toward the door, ignoring her sputtering behind us as we leave and I am fine until we press the call button for the elevator.

“You alright?” the Agent that walked out with us asks.

I shake my head, burying my face in Evan’s chest while we wait.

“I didn’t even get her name.”

All of that and I still don’t know what name she has gone by for the past twenty years.

Evan shifts his shoulders, turning towards the man beside us before he leans in and kisses my neck and whispers to me, “Elizabeth. Her name is Elizabeth.”

Tuesday

This is the first time we’ve gone out since I’ve been back and I tried as hard as I could to convince him to just stay in with me tonight. Order pizza, drink beer on the couch; hell I even offered to let him do whatever he wanted to me, if he would just stay home.

It’s not that I don’t want to go out. I just want one night where it’s just us. One night where I don’t have everyone else watching what we’re doing. I want to be in Evan’s arms, alone, until the last possible second when one of us has to leave.

I take a deep breath and slide onto the stool Evan pulls out for me. His free hand grazes my thigh and he winks at me when he pulls his seat around the table so he doesn’t have to let go of my hand.

The waitress hands us our menus without taking her eyes off of Evan. They slide over his face, heating as they drop to his muscular body and all I want to do is tell her off. I know what’s under that shirt. I’ve run my fingers, eyes and tongue over every inch of his magnificent frame more times than I can count.

I look at her nametag and find it perched on her barely covered tits.
Jillian
. The name rattles around in my head, sounding familiar, while I watch her practically drool on the table.
Holy shit
. I look up and meet her eyes and it finally clicks where I know her. This is the chick that Evan tied up in the bed of his truck.

Immediately, I drop my gaze to the menu and clamp my jaw shut so I don’t say anything while she is standing here. I feel her eyes on me and can see her hand inch toward Evan’s, her finger slides over his knuckles. Evan pulls his hand back and I look up just in time to see her wink at him. He smiles at her and just when I’m about to lose it, he leans into me, gripping the back of my neck and kisses me, his tongue diving into my mouth, claiming me as his in front of her.

Evan’s fingers caress my cheek when he pulls back and I can’t help the smug smile that breaks out. He is the only person that makes me feel like this. Jillian is still standing next to us but she looks more shocked than anything when Evan tells her that we need a few minutes alone to decide. I glare in her direction as she huffs and walks away.