Chapter Thirty-Two

Savannah

Bobby was fast asleep, and I really needed him to wake up so that I could talk to him. I sat there for a while, just watching him. He was so peaceful, but the moment he woke up, I was going to have to break that peace. I felt like a terrible mother. Nobody had warned me how hard motherhood was going to be. It was like having a piece of your heart walking outside of your body. I felt the need to protect him with every waking moment I had, and yet I constantly felt like I was not doing a good job of it. I had never loved anybody as much as I loved my son. I saw the clock above me and knew that I didn’t have much time. I had to wake up him and explain everything to him.

“Bobby, wake up. I need to talk to you.”

Bobby lifted his head and frowned at me. He rubbed his eyes and sat up.

“What’s wrong, Mommy? What’s going on?”

“Nothing is wrong. But we need to talk. Now, I need to go and do something very important, and I need you to stay here and be a good boy. Can you do that for me?”

His eyes widened. “No, Mommy. I’ll come with. I’ll be quiet. I promise. I don’t want to stay here on my own. Please don’t leave me.” There was panic rising in his voice, so I took his little hand and squeezed it gently. I had hoped he would just say yes, but I knew that he would probably put up a fight. Bobby was a very clever and brave boy, but for most of his life, he had been with me. It wasn’t often that I’d left him alone, and if I had, then it was usually in the hands of someone we trusted. Perhaps I’d mothered him too much over the years, but when we lived at the XMC house, I never wanted to leave him alone. Even before I had run away. Even before my father had died. I did everything with him so that he would feel safe. The only people that I had dared to leave him alone with had been Axel and Pop. For the rest of the time, he was with me and only with me.

“Listen to me; you’re going to be fine. Can I tell you a little secret?”

He nodded. A little tear fell down his face, and I wiped it away.

“I’m going to go and see your daddy.”

“Daddy? Please, can I come? Please.” I hated the desperation in his voice. I hated that I would not be able to give in this time. This was something I had to do without him.

I shook my head. “I’m not allowed to see him. You know what Duke is like. But I’m going to go and talk to him and see if he can help us. I have to be careful, and I have to be quick. There’s a guard waiting at the front door, so I’m going to sneak out the bathroom window. I’ve already checked it, and it will be easy to do without anyone seeing me. I’ll come back the same way, and nobody will even know that I went out. You’ll be fine here. Duke is not here, so you can just stay in bed and pretend to be sleeping. Okay? I have to make sure that I get to Daddy without anyone seeing me. I’m only telling you all this because I know that I can trust you and count on you. Do you understand?”

Bobby nodded. He seemed pleased that I had told him the truth and that I was treating him like a big boy. “Will you be quick?”

“My darling, I’ll be as quick as I can. But like I said, Duke isn’t going to be here, so you’ll be fine. Okay?”

“Can I put a pillow under the duvet, so it looks like you are sleeping too in case anyone comes in?”

I looked at Bobby and shook my head in disbelief. Where did he learn something like that? “You’re a clever kid. That’s a great idea. I tell you what: if you stay here like a good boy and if I manage to talk to your dad, I promise you that we can go and get you a dog soon.”

“Really?”

It probably wasn’t the wisest thing to say to a kid that would hold me to this promise. But if anyone deserved a dog, it was Bobby. I nodded. “Really. I love you, Bobby. And I’m sorry about all of this. I’m doing the best that I can.”

He nodded again. “I know you are.”

I waited until Duke was gone and the house was silent. I helped Bobby make a makeshift body in the bed and then kissed him goodbye. He looked frightened, and I hated leaving him, but it was the only option that I had. I had to at least get the word out to Axel. I put a dark hooded jacket on, snuck out to the bathroom and climbed out. The escape was easy, and with everyone watching the race I didn’t have to worry about anyone looking my way. I climbed into the car and drove off to the race. I didn’t have the keys, but my years around the club had taught me a few tricks, and I knew how to hot wire a car with ease. Now the only concern I had was getting to Axel on time and not bumping into Duke.

I spotted Axel right away and was grateful when I saw him alone. I drove right up to him as he stood by his bike and called him over. At first, he didn’t seem to know who I was, which was a good thing. I wanted to make sure that from a distance nobody would know it was me. If even just one person from the opposing team recognized me, I was going to be in trouble. And I was in trouble it meant Bobby would be in trouble.

He walked up to the car and gasped.

“Savannah!”

I put a finger to my mouth. “I’m not supposed to be here. Quickly, get in.”

He got into the car and immediately took me in his arms and kissed me. His soft lips against mine made me tremble. I felt my body melt into the chair. I almost gave into the kiss but I had to be quick, so I pushed him away.

“I can’t stay. Listen, I’m here because I overheard Duke and Jock saying that they were going to sabotage the race.” The words tumbled out of me. I had to get them out as quickly as possible in case someone came past and saw us.

“What? Are you serious? How?”

“They’re going to do something to your bike. Is there any way you have a spare bike somewhere that you can switch to at the last minute?”

“Uh, actually. . .yeah, I can use Spike’s. He bought his along too.”

“Good. And you’re fine to race with it?”

“Yeah, I’ve used his bike so many times.”

“Switch when the race starts. Okay?”

“I can’t believe you came to tell me this. How did you get away?”

“I snuck out the window,” I said. “I had to take a chance, Axel. I couldn’t let you do this race without knowing. I’m just so glad that I managed to get here on time and pull this off. I can’t let them see me. He’s such a coward. First, he makes Jock race instead of him, and then he makes a plan to do something to your bike. He’s a scared and stupid man. So stupid that I overheard what he was saying.”

“It’s so good to see you. I’ve missed you so much. So much. Where’s Bobby? It was torture seeing him the other day. I hope he doesn’t hate me.”

“He doesn’t hate you. He could never hate you. I told him the truth about where I was going today. I had to. He’s such a good boy. He’s in bed now, waiting for me. Thankfully there’s nobody at the house except for the stupid guard watching the front door.”

Axel chuckled. “You thought of everything. I don’t want to leave you. I just want to stay here with you.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to leave either. But you have a race to do, and I have to get back.”

“Are you okay though? I just need to know that you are fine. I’ve been going out of my mind not being able to talk to you. I worry about you and Bobby every single day. He hasn’t  done anything to you, has he? Please tell me hasn’t.”

“We’re fine. We hate it there, and we hate Duke, but we’re fine. And don’t worry, he hasn’t done anything to us. I won’t let him.”

“The race is about to start, and it’s quick. Stay and watch it. I want you to see it.”

“I’ll do my best. But I can’t be seen.”

“Don’t worry. Everyone is watching the race. I better go. Thank you for the warning. You’re amazing; you know that?”

“I try,” I said and smiled at him. It felt so good to see him again. I’d missed his face.

He kissed me one more time and climbed out the car. I watched him walk over to Spike. Spike turned around briefly and waved at me. I waved back. I watched them switch bikes and saw him heading to the start line. My desire to watch the race overcame me and I decided to stay and see who won. My heart was beating so loudly in my chest it was hard to hear anything. I thought back to that first race I had done with Axel. I remembered how happy I had been that he hadn’t gone easy on me just because I was a girl. Axel had always seen me as an equal. It was one of the things that I had always liked so much about him. The memories came flooding back now. How he’d exchanged the pink slip for a date. How we’d raced to the pub. How connected I had felt to him from the very moment I had laid eyes on him. Please win. Please win.

I listened to the roaring of the bikes' engines and watched as they sped off. The crowd went wild. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I climbed back into the car and drove to the end, just in time to see that Axel was crowned victorious. A tear fell down my face in happiness. He did it. I didn’t know what was going to happen next, but I could only hope that his victory meant that he would get us back. Either way, Duke had not won. I couldn’t wait to go home and tell Bobby. I had to get out of there before anyone saw me. I had to get back to my son.