18. Badass Mamas

18

BADASS MAMAS

LIVVIE

W ake up. Wake up. I wanted to pinch myself because this must be a horrible dream. Nothing is real…

I startled awake, my chest heaving. Only I couldn’t open my mouth; something gagged me. The solid icy surface laid under my cheek and arm. Finally, my heavy eyelids lifted and slowly opened to a cockeyed room; I was lying sideways on a stone floor.

Only one small square window above the sink lit the room. The walls of dark wood were haunting, and I could make out the shapes of pine trees outside. I was in a cabin, perhaps? Men’s voices drifted into the room, muffled from a distance.

I attempted to lift off the floor, but my wrists were tied. I grunted and worked to sit upright.

“River, your mother’s awake.” That was Tori’s voice behind me.

“Mommy!” His arms circled my neck; a welcomed relief. “There’s bad men everywhere.”

“River, help your mom take that thing out of her mouth like you helped me,” another voice instructed. That’s was Porsche?

I twisted my head to see them in the exact shape I was in. Wrists tied behind their backs, sitting on the floor, and no other furniture in the room.

His little fingers dug at the tape, scraping my skin, but wasn’t getting anywhere fast, adding to his frustration. “I can’t do it. I’m trying to save you, Mommy. I can’t,” he cried, bursting into tears. This must be so heartbreaking for him to see me this way.

“Sh. River, take a deep breath and calm down. Remember, we need to keep our voices down so the bad men don’t hear us,” Tori warned.

He collapsed against me and whimpered. “I want to go home. I want Daddy. He said he would find me, and that Lucky would always find me. But they aren’t here yet.”

We all froze, hearing a car approach outside. Two doors opened and shut, then more male voices could be heard.

“Livvie, we woke up a few minutes before you. He was curled up by your side and came to our rescue. Only the tape over our mouths must have been easier to remove than yours,” Tori explained.

“You are the best hero, River. You got our tape off. As soon as I can, I’m going to hug you so tight. But you know what heroes do best?” Porsche got his attention.

“What?” His head popped up off my stomach.

“Heroes never quit. They keep going. So take a deep breath, and try again to help your mom, okay?”

I’d forever be grateful to these two women for being here and awake and with him when I was still out of it. And for encouraging him like this.

He knelt beside me, and struck a hero’s pose I recognized from one of his cartoons. “I’m going to get you tape,” he said, exactly like a determined caped crusader would.

Within minutes, this time, the tape tore free. Ignoring the pain of my skin burning around my mouth, I whispered a hundred times while he hugged my neck, “I love you so much, my baby boy.”

“I love you, too. Am I a hero like daddy?”

“Yes. You’re exactly like him. Now, sweetie, can you try to undo the ropes around my wrists?”

“I already tried that with Porsche. I couldn’t do it.”

Damn those fine motor skills. I swore when I got out of here, I’d be a better mother, and devote attention to getting him up to speed in kindergarten as soon as possible. Then a voice inside of me said not to beat myself up. As a single mom, my kid was fed, loving, kind, caring. I didn’t need to be perfect. Our life was far from it, but he loved me anyway.

Questions returned, swirling in my head. I scooted my bottom on the ground until I faced the women. “Did you meet with Spence last night at the shop? I’m so sorry, but he forced me to call you?—”

“We know. It’s okay, Olivia. None of this is your fault.” Tori said.

“He-he told me about you two, about being in hiding. I had no idea. I thought the way you and Nate looked at each other with such love in your eyes, that it was real between you.”

“Hm…” Tori paused, a wistful smile on her lips. “It’s the most real I’ve been with a man.”

Porsche sniffled, her words coming out shaky. “Nate was the best father. I don’t care if it was fake. Mom, will we ever see him again?”

“I don’t know, sweetie.” A tear fell from the corner of her eye, too. “I hope so. Gah, I always suspected someone on the inside. I had no idea it’d be Spence. He and Nate were Cap’s right-hands on the security team. If I’d only known.”

“Cap?” I asked.

“The kind man who helped us get away from my grandfather in the first place, before Nate brought us here,” Porsche said.

I had no idea what these women had been through in their past, at the mercy of horrible men, as they didn’t know mine either. Oddly, we were thrown together, fighting for our lives. The only thing I could hope was the men we’d come to care for in Kissing Springs would find us.

All of a sudden, a dog barked. “Olivia? River? If you’re in there, take cover!” Blake’s voice shouted from somewhere outside of the house.

“Daddy! Lucky!” River shouted.

All the air left my lungs. We had nothing to hide behind, but so help me, I’d protect my child if it was the last thing I did.

An entire army of louder, yelling voices converged outside all at once, then gunfire joined the fray.

“Get down, baby,” I yelled at River, and managed to launch myself over his body. Tori did the same with Porsche.

The two of us, like badass warrior moms, locked eyes as if sharing each other’s strength to hold on as long as we could while our children cried beneath us.

“Olivia? Thank God, you’re awake. Stay with me, sweet pea.” Blake’s voice came across differently than usual. Strained? Tearful? And why was I on my stomach?

I tried to move, but I yelped through excruciating pain shooting down the shoulder blade. Like a burning similar to the night Ward hit me when I landed against the hot stove at the bar, but worse.

Blake’s voice was closer this time, at my ear. “Stay down, baby, don’t move. I have to keep pressure on your wound until we can transport you out of here. Stay with me. I love you.”

Love? Wound? “River…”

“He’s fine. He’s right here by my side. You saved him. We love you. Try to stay awake…” His voice faded into the distance.

“Mommy…” River too, sounded so far away. All I wanted was to hold him to my bosom, brush his sweet baby hair, and sing him a lullaby.