Allie

I have a bruise forming just above my brow where Ted hit my head against the top of the car. He had grabbed me by the back of the neck to shove me inside, and when I tried to push away, I only ended up getting hurt.

And I guess Vivian is the type to point a gun at the sky and shoot the clouds just to maintain order.

Jadon, bless his heart, didn't get scared. He tried unbuckling himself to get to me. When Vivian threatened to point her weapon at him, and did so through the window, Jadon settled back in his seat with his eyes on me.

I let Ted force me inside the car, knowing Lucas was listening. When Vivian took my phone, I saw the screen light up and knew no matter how far we got, Lucas was listening.

He had to have noticed.

We haven't lived here long enough to know which neighbors are home, and I don't know if they would risk Vivian's trigger finger.

Maybe they will call the police.

Ted slams my door, and of course when I try to open it, he flicked the child lock.

"Mommy?"

"Hush, Jadon, okay? Daddy's going to get here." Oh, I hope so because I'm struggling to be brave for him.

"Mommy."

Oh, my head. My vision is blurring already. There's definitely going to be a bruise.

"Get to the damn boat, Theodore, and get rid of her," Vivian says through gritted teeth. "If he's not going to take care of his mistakes, you and I will. The tickets are in the glove compartment with your new names and passports."

What boat? When did we get involved in something on a boat?

Ted climbs into the car, slamming his own door. I noticed the rental sticker on the lower corner of the windshield when I sat down. If anyone ends up searching for us, they won't know what the car looks like.

"Mommy."

I groan, pressing my palm to the tender spot on my head. "What, Jadon?" How much shit are we really in? Lucas will not get here in time and know what direction we're going. That, plus I no longer have my phone with that handy location tracking thing in it.

My only reasonable option is to take Jadon and run wherever we are going. We will run when Ted isn't looking and I will hide until I can get us connected to a phone. That's my plan.

Plan B is to scream when we are in public.

When I turn around to face him, his face is pained with fear. I know he's afraid and trying to be brave about this, though he doesn't need to be. So, I don't smile, but I school my expression.

"You and I are going to be okay."

"Your nose is bleeding, Mommy."

Shit.

I dab my finger on the spot, and Ted watches me examine the blood on my finger. More of it drips down to my lip. His eyes scream petty apologies, but I can't accept them. "I didn't mean to hit you, Allie."

Just like he didn't mean to bruise my arms or leave me stranded in the city alone at night. There is a pattern forming here. I always complied with whatever he wanted, so he never behaved this way. There was no way to know he would act out like this had I not strayed from his perfect plans for me.

"Where are you taking us?"

Vivian crosses her arms from where she stands in the driveway and watches us with an impassive gaze like we are of no consequence to her.

"Viv got us tickets to the Caribbean for a few weeks until they get everything settled for us."

Clearly, Vivian and Mark are not on the same page since he only just warned us to leave. Unless that was his plan all along. Scare me into leaving the safety of work and do exactly this.

Screeching tires and the sight of Lucas leaping out of my dad's car are the heroic entrance we needed right now.

"Oh, fuck no," Ted grumbles. Ted peels out of the driveway and wets his lips when we come face-to-face with Lucas in the street.

He looks terrified. I know his chest is pounding as hard as mine right now.

"Daddy!" Jadon kicks my seat. "Mommy, look! He's here!"

Lucas and I lock eyes, and a new fear creeps up my spine when Ted chuckles.

"Allie, you choose now," he says through a grin. Ted revs the engine.

Lucas points and says something while shaking his head in a warning.

"You either come with me willingly, or Lucas-fucking-Kennedy leaves the neighborhood in an ambulance. Can't do shit to you if his legs don't work."

There it is. That's what I feared. It's been territorial since the first day and now Ted has the upper hand.

Jadon struggles in the back behind us and screams when Ted slams his foot on the gas.

"Three..." The engine gradually rolls into a loud purr, threatening Lucas three houses away.

"Ted, stop!" We speed past the first house and the rush of fear and adrenaline surge through me like electric shocks.

"Two..."

I keep my eyes on Lucas. He's really going to hit him. "Fine! Okay!"

Lucas' eyes are wide saucers just before Ted speeds around him. He reaches for my handle, but it slips out of reach before Ted turns the corner. The force of the turn sends me sideways, and I hit the window near the same tender spot on my head.

Jadon screams and cries for Lucas in the back while Ted speeds down the road and out of the neighborhood. His driving has always been on the safer side, but right now, it's pointed all the way to the erratic side.

"Ted, slow down!"

He ignores me.

"Ted, you have my child in here. Please, if not for me, drive safe for Jadon."

He regards me with a cool demeanor. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that, Al."

He speeds onto the highway leading out of town while I try to watch Jadon from the side mirror. He continues to scream and cry for Lucas, but it's no use. Our best option is to run whenever he pulls the car over. Ted whizzes past one car, cuts off another, and a band of drivers are suddenly laying their fists onto their horns.

"Ted, please."

"We had it, Allie. You and me. Things were good. I was finally ready to settle down and make that commitment. I mean, even Jadon was happy to have me around all the time. We're buds. Sure, Mark applied a little pressure earlier this summer, but it wasn't like I was holding off from this any longer. I was just put off because you were like a final investment and since you weren't giving it up, it was a risk."

That's disgusting.

Ted jerks the wheel and swerves into a new lane while I try to hold in my vomit. Jadon's cries are reduced to soft sobs and nose sniffles and I just want to curl up in the back beside him and hold on to him. This reckless driving is bringing back far too much for me.

"We didn't fight. You and I know each other, Allie. Friends our whole lives. For whatever reason, it's like he busted the lock to your damn chastity belt as though it was all that special and then Lucas put it all back together just to hide the key in his back pocket for later." Ted points a finger to the road as if to make a point. "Not to mention, he had Katrina Vandenburg at the fucking ready and on her knees whenever the fuck he wanted."

Ted scoffs. "I mean, spoiled fucking kid. He always got the better scores because they all fall for his charm. You included."

This is about territory for him. Some sort of imagined rivalry between Ted and Lucas that Lucas doesn't even acknowledge.

"You slept around and were with me because Mark needed you to monitor me, Ted. Be honest."

He nods at that. "True, I needed incentive to get the ball rolling, but it doesn't mean I didn't want you, Allie." He reaches for my hand and I rip it away. Ted settles on holding my knee instead. "I had every intention of you and me in this whole forever plan, but I needed to get it all out of my system before settling, you know?"

"I don't understand you or why you're doing this at all."

"Because I love you, Allie, and I'm sure with a little distance between you and him, you'll remember you love me, too. You were saying it not that long ago, anyway."

Ted growls and adjusts the rearview mirror. "Of course."

I open my mouth to ask what he sees when he veers off the highway and onto a road.

"What are you doing!"

Ted ignores me and speeds down the road. I check over my shoulder when Jadon quiets down. I'm such a failure at protecting my son right now. Had I gone with my gut and gone somewhere else, we wouldn't be in this mess.

That fear taking over prickles and pinches the nerves going to my shoulders and I can't take it any longer. I can't watch something happen to Jadon again.

"What are you doing!" He roars when I un-click my seatbelt. "Allie!"

Ignoring him, I climb into the back seat with Jadon, wrapping my arms around him.

"Allie!"

Jadon clings to my arms and cries. I hold back from crying, even if that's all I want right now. "I'm so sorry, baby. It's going to be okay, I promise." His fingers around my arms settle a piece of that gnawing discomfort in my belly, and all I have is this pain in my shoulders and spine and the bump on my head. The nosebleed might be over.

"Fuck!"

Ted rips the car around a corner, and the car catches air momentarily before landing on an uneven road.

No. It's not a road.

I look out the window, and he's driving on unpaved ground between trees. Ted's driving us into the woods.

"Ted, stop. You're going to crash."

Jadon is going to get hurt.

"Put your seatbelt on, Allie."

Something knocks us forward from behind, and the car fishtails until slamming into a tree. I cling to Jadon, cupping his head on the window side until I'm forced back against the other side of the car, hitting the back of my head a little too hard that my vision goes dark.

I can hear Jadon screaming through a ringing in my ears. Screaming is good. It's not silence.

Forcing my eyes open just enough to see him through spots and clouds. There is no blood. The airbags went off in the front seat, and I can't see anything else.

"Jadon..."

"Daddy!"

The sound of the door ripping open is enough to open my eyes again to see two strong arms reach in and rip Ted from his seat.

I count down from ten and focus on opening my eyes. The ringing in my ears never stops. Jadon looks fine, which is all I care about.

Slightly dizzy, I help him unbuckle and pull him onto my lap. I just need to sit for a minute before I can crawl out of here.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he says. His breathing is hard and fast, but I don't feel any blood and he's not crying. I don't think anything is broken.

It's the worst possible time for flashbacks to that awful day, but they're forcing themselves to the forefront of my mind. All I see are tubes and monitors when I was rushed to the hospital.

"Mommy, are you okay?" Jadon wraps his arms around my waist and nestles his head into my chest. "He's here. He came for us."

The ringing in my ears settles, and I can hear the hard hits and groans outside the car. Lucas is straddling Ted on the ground with a bloodied face while he lays one fist after another into Ted.

"I told you not to go near them." Lucas takes a swing down on Ted's jaw.

He looks positively feral right now.

"Where's my fucking ring, Ted? Huh?"

Another punch.

What? What ring? Did I forget something?

Lucas has a split lip and is bleeding, too. Ted must have got a hit in. Lucas spits blood down on the ground and grins at Ted. "You want to know what's funny? Your little theft did absolutely nothing except prove that she still didn't want you and is with me because it's always been me."

He leans down and lowers his voice. I cover Jadon's ears, afraid of whatever he's going to say. Lucas looks like a dark angel over Ted with a bloody, sinister smile on his face. Whatever he's going to say, Jadon doesn't need to hear any of it. "I still got to eat her out and fuck her off our bed while she screamed my name. How's that one?"

Oh my god.

Lucas leans back up and chuckles down at Ted. "Fucking pitiful, Theodore. You don't get to have the girl, Ted, just because Mark says you can. He's fucking nobody to her and shouldn't make promises he can't keep. She's a person and not cattle, you asshole."

Ted chokes under him and we hear sirens in the background next.

Lucas stares down at Ted with a murderous rage in his face. "And don't you ever call my son a bastard again."

Lucas delivers one more punch and I try the doors. They're all locked so they can't be opened from the inside. We have to crawl through the front.

"Jadon, hang on. Let me open the door." He sits back and watches Lucas beat on Ted. My head feels like it is splitting in half. "Shit," I mutter to myself.

Ted takes a swing, hitting Lucas, but it's nothing compared to the damage Lucas has done. I hope Lucas' shoulder is okay. I know it bothers him sometimes.

Jadon is fine, and Lucas is fine. Therefore, I'm fine.

When I stumble out of the car, I go for the back door to let Jadon out. We hear a rumbling engine from behind. Maybe it's the police. Hopefully. I think I hear sirens in the distance, or maybe it's my brain all rattled from the crash.

Jadon messes with his shoe on the ground or something while I catch my breath. Once I can breathe, I pick Jadon up and lean against the back of the car. The front is completely smashed in to a large pine tree. I don't know how I didn't go through the windshield or come out with more injuries.

Lucas lays one last hit into Ted and pushes up from the ground, and with my eyes closed, I take a minute to appreciate the fact that we're all still standing.

And breathing.

That car in the background is getting closer. I can hear them. Thank goodness. Let this be over, please.

"Allie, watch out!"

Huh?

Two hands shove Jadon and me just before that car comes barreling through, hitting Ted's car and I can't see Lucas.

The sirens follow.