I woke up with a slight headache. The throbbing came from all the tears I’d cried last night. The text from Adam had made me go into defense mode. He didn’t know where I was, and I didn’t logically think he would be able to find me.
Ellie had immediately known something was wrong by the look on my face. She got up from her seat and knelt beside me, taking my phone. I hadn’t even noticed I was trembling.
She looked at the message and took a deep breath. “Sadie, you need to breathe,” she said, rubbing my back.
“You’re safe. I know it doesn’t feel that way yet, but you are. We’re all strangers to you, but please know that we only want to help. Reaper would never let anything happen to you while you’re under the club’s protection. Adam doesn’t know where you are, and he won’t find you tonight. Has he ever hurt you?”
“No. But it always felt like it was there in the back of his mind. It was almost like I was expecting it, though. There were times when I would flinch and wait for it to happen.”
Ellie spent hours with me, talking through what I was feeling. It felt good to be able to express how I felt to someone who understood. Emotional abuse and physical abuse were different, but both were abuse, and it was never easy to overcome that.
That morning, I felt like there had been a death in my life, but I also felt hopeful in some weird way. I didn’t think things would get better overnight, but I knew that with time I could become okay with the growth I had to do. I knew it would be hard and even painful, but I thought that with help, I could do it.
Ellie had told me that there wasn’t a magic formula for getting over my soon-to-be ex. She said that different things worked for different people.
For her, Reaper had come into her life at just the right moment. She’d picked up the pieces of her life with his help.
Even after listening to her, I didn’t know if that was in the cards for me.
I walked into the kitchen and saw Wrench sitting at the table talking to Reaper. I stopped and finally took in the man who was helping me today.
Wrench was broad-shouldered and looked to be all muscle under his tight black shirt. His dark hair was cut close on the sides and longer on top where it had that just-out-of-bed look.
He had a short beard that made him look irresistible, and the tattoos covering his arms only added to his persona. His nose was pierced along with his ears and just below his bottom lip. His pouty lips looked soft and inviting, and I had to stop myself from staring too long.
I hadn’t been attracted to a man in years. Since experiencing the way Adam had changed, the idea of being with a man made me sick to my stomach.
But today, it was like I was looking at a man for the first time. Something about Wrench spoke to me in ways I’d never experienced. I was never this physically attracted to Adam, and it made me wonder if I ever really had been.
“Good morning, Sadie,” Ellie called out when she saw me standing in the doorway.
“Morning,” I replied.
Ellie placed a plate of food in front of the empty chair next to Wrench, and I took the seat and started eating as Reaper and Wrench finished their conversation.
Wrench turned to me with a smile. “So, darlin’, I thought we could go by the new apartment first and let you get a look at the place—take some measurements, think about new colors for the walls. Then we can get you a new phone and a car. After that, we’ll shop for the other things you need.”
I started to open my mouth to tell him that it was too much, but he stopped me before I could say anything.
“And before you argue, we are going to help make sure you can afford it.” The tips of his ears were slightly pink as he finished. Was he blushing?
I huffed, slightly exasperated that he wanted to do all this for me.
“I’ll accept a little, but I have the means. I need to talk to a lawyer about how to hide this, but I’ve been writing horror books for a while now. They do pretty well. I’ve kept the money in a separate bank account that Adam doesn’t have access to.”
“You write, honey?” Ellie asked. “I love horror novels. Would I have read anything you wrote?”
I gripped my fork tight. I’d never told anyone this before, and I didn’t know how they would react. “I write under the name S. Taylor. Taylor’s my middle name. I didn’t want to use my real name and have Adam trace it back to me.”
Ellie dropped her fork, a stunned look on her face.
I glanced at the two men, and they shared her look of astonishment. I was about to ask if they were okay when Ellie squealed.
“We have read all your stuff. I always wondered who S. Taylor really was. They never did any interviews or had any pictures printed. I have so many questions.”
She grabbed my hand in hers and looked me in the eye. “How did you start writing? Did you always want to write? When do you find the time? How do you come up with your ideas? I mean, your last book, the villain, he just—”
Reaper chuckled, placing a hand on Ellie’s shoulder. “Let her breathe, Ellie.”
Ellie gave my hand a squeeze. “Sorry. I’m just so fascinated.” She waved her hands in the air like she was wiping away her questions. “We will have a girls’ night, and I’ll get all the details from you. Including”—she leaned in closer to me, a conspiratorial smile on her face—“all the deets to your next book.”
We all laughed, and Wrench turned to me. “Why did you keep it so secret?” he asked.
“I wanted to do something to help get myself out of here at some point. This community pretty much brainwashes girls to think that they have to be with their husbands forever and listen to everything they say. I would have left earlier, but I was holding out hope my son would change. Now that he’s old enough to make his own choices, I’m doing what’s best for me.”
They sat there quietly for a moment, taking in what I said. Even though the club bought property in the area six years ago, they hadn’t been living here the entire time. From the looks on their faces, this was new information to them.
Ellie reached out and squeezed my arm. “Now that you’re out, you never have to worry about that again. You are an amazing woman, and any man would be lucky to have you in their life. Now is the time to make yourself happy.”
I gave her a smile. If nothing else, this experience gave me a new friend.
“Though I can’t figure out one thing,” Ellie said.
I raised my brow at her, waiting for her next question.
“How do you have a son that old? You look way too young to have a teenage son.”
I laughed. “I just turned forty.”
Wrench dropped his fork and looked at me. “I would have sworn you were in your early thirties at most,” he said. His ears turned an even darker shade of pink.
Reaper burst out laughing, and I knew my face was the same shade as a fire truck.
Ellie wiggled her eyebrows at me as she tried to hide her laughter.
Wrench cleared his throat, his cheeks tinged pink. “I just mean you don’t look bad for your age. I didn’t mean it to be creepy.”
I looked around the table, confused by their reactions. “How old are all of you, then?” I asked.
“I’m thirty-three. Reaper is forty like you, and Wrench is thirty-five,” Ellie replied.
My stomach dropped as I realized that I was older than Wrench. I didn’t know what I thought would happen with him, but it hurt to know that I would never have a chance with him. Who would want an overweight mom who’s forty?
Wrench cleared his throat once more and looked at me from underneath his eyelashes. “Age is nothing but a number. Attractiveness comes from the inside.”
As Wrench and I walked around the cell phone store, the options overwhelmed me. I was lost in my memories of breakfast and the looks Wrench snuck my way when he thought I wasn’t looking at him. But I couldn’t take my eyes off him, so I saw each and every glance my way.
I circled the displays, my mind wandering as I stared at each phone. I stopped in front of yet another display, realizing I had no idea what to get.
“Having trouble finding what you want?” Wrench asked.
“Yes. I had a really cheap phone that was only used for calls and texts. This is all so much. I’ve never used a smartphone,” I told him.
“Have you ever gotten anything you wanted in life?” His voice was low, like he didn’t want the other shoppers to hear.
“Please don’t pity me,” I said. “You’re the last person I want to pity me. You’ve been so kind and strong. I don’t want you to think that I’m a charity case.” I looked away from him, but two fingers under my chin turned my head, forcing me to look into his eyes.
“I could never think badly of you. The moment you walked into the bar and saw your piece of shit husband cheating, you stood your ground. I didn’t pity you then. I thought you were strong. I still think that.
“Yes, you may have stayed in a terrible relationship longer than you should have. But you had your reasons. And once you knew you needed to get out, you made something of yourself to make it possible for you to leave. Plus, you were a complete badass yesterday. Never doubt your worth to me or anyone, Sadie.”
Even though I was still married and hadn’t thought about a man sexually in years, I was turned on at this moment more than I had ever been. This man just kept breaking down my walls. I didn’t know what I was going to do if he found someone else while I tried to piece my life together. I would have my heart broken in a matter of days.
Wrench turned to the display in front of us. “Now, let’s get you set up with a phone.”
After a few minutes, we chose a phone just like his—that way he could help me with any questions I had.
Even though I wanted to pay for the phone, Wrench insisted he pay for it. I smiled at the thought of how sweet he was being to me. I felt like a teenager whose crush was being nice to her.
What felt like hours later, we were back in Wrench’s car, my new phone all set up with Wrench’s, Reaper’s, and Ellie’s numbers saved in it.
“So as far as a car, were you thinking you wanted to go out of town and buy something new?” Wrench asked as he pulled out of the parking lot.
“I think I want to get something here in town. If I want to keep my money a secret, I can’t go around buying brand-new everything,” I said.
“I guess so, since you are like a millionaire now,” Wrench said with a laugh.
“Not really. I only make money based on how many readers I get. It varies from month to month. It’s better when a new book comes out,” I said with a shrug.
“Wait, you self-publish?” he asked, shock evident in his voice.
“Yeah. I have more freedom that way. I like to be able to tell my story the way I see it. It’s given me a decent amount of money to start over. Plus, I have another book coming out soon, so that will help.”
“God, you can’t get any more fucking perfect if you tried,” he muttered under his breath.
“Hmm?” I voiced, trying to get him to repeat it so that I knew I heard it correctly.
“Oh, uh, nothing.” His ears turned pink again, just like at breakfast.
Maybe I heard him right.
We headed to the used car lot on the edge of town and began the search. It turned out that Wrench was a mechanic, so he looked over the vehicles and helped me narrow my options by pointing out the ones in the best shape. There was a white SUV, and I immediately knew it was perfect for me.
Wrench nodded at my choice. “I’ll have a prospect take it to my shop, and my best mechanic will give it a once-over and make sure she’s perfect for you,” he said with a smirk.
I smiled at him, and then my old phone went off. I pulled it out and blanched at the message.
I started to tremble, my nerves filled with panic. I had experienced a few panic attacks over the things that Adam had said and done over the years, but this text seemed more threatening than the others, and I couldn’t control my body’s response.
I could hear Wrench calling my name but couldn’t answer back. It was harder to breathe, and before I could tell him what was happening, everything went dark.
