Chapter Thirty-Four

Savannah

I knew there was something going on outside. I could hear Duke screaming. I tried to listen to what other voice I could hear, but I couldn’t make it out. I was too nervous to think that it might be Axel. But it was so early in the morning that I figured it wouldn’t be him. But if it wasn’t him, then who was Duke shouting at. Duke probably had a lot of enemies so I shouldn’t be surprised. But he generally liked to put on a front in front of people. Only a few of us got to see what he was really like. Unfortunately, I was one of those few. Everyone else looked up to him. After all, he was the head of the club. This wasn’t like him at all. I could hear that he had been drinking. And after losing the race last night, he was probably in a very bad mood.

“What’s going on?” Bobby asked. The two of us had been asleep but woken by the noise.

I shook my head. “I have no idea, but I’m not going to go out and find out either. I think it’s best if we just lay low and hang out here.”

Suddenly the shouting stopped, and I heard footsteps coming my way. Bobby looked at me in shock, and I pulled him towards me. It was clear that the footsteps were coming towards our room. Why did Duke have to get me involved in all of this? When he walked into the room, I noticed his bloodshot eyes. Even his face was red.

“Get up!”

I looked at him in shock. “What’s going on, Duke? We’re up. We’re up! We heard you shouting.”

“Get out of that damn bed. Get your child. Get your things. Right now.”

I stood up with shaking legs. I had seen Duke upset before, but I had never seen him as angry as he was at that moment. I didn’t know what was going on, but all I knew was that I didn’t want to go anywhere with this drunk and angry man.

“We’re not going anywhere,” I said.

“Get up and get out!” he yelled.

Get out? Was he kicking us out? I threw our things into a bag, and I picked Bobby up. Together, we followed Duke outside. I could feel Bobby shaking in my arms, and my heart went out to him. He could sense that I was scared too. I didn’t like him to see me afraid. I always wanted him to think of me as brave. But there was no way of hiding it now. We were both scared of Duke.

My eyes widened when I saw Axel waiting outside. So he had been screaming at Axel! I had been too scared to hope for it. I looked around and noticed that the people from all the surrounding houses had come out to watch what was happening.

“Daddy!” Bobby yelled when he saw Axel.

We were just about to walk over to him when Duke pushed us. We were halfway down the stairs, and we stumbled, but thankfully Axel rushed forward to catch us. Duke was screaming the whole way, threatening us and yelling at us. His face was getting redder with each passing minute. I heard someone tell Duke to calm down and I saw him looking out at the people. He looked embarrassed by the way he was acting, but he also seemed to have no idea how to stop.

“You’re going to regret this, Savannah,” he said under his breath. But because he was such a loud speaker it was still heard by the people close by.

I turned around, looked him the eye and said, “Fuck you, Duke.” My voice was clear and steady. I had never sworn in front of Bobby before, but I didn’t think he’d mind this time around. Anyway, he was too busy holding onto Axel. We walked out, and Axel opened the car door for me to get in. He handed me Bobby and then got into the driver’s seat.

“Daddy, you came back!”

“Of course. I was never going to leave you. Come on, let’s get out of here. I don’t know about you, but I never want to see that red-faced man ever again.”

Bobby burst out crying. The poor kid was probably so overwhelmed by everything. I didn’t blame him. I wanted to cry myself. I was only holding it in because I was trying to stay brave for Bobby. I pulled him towards me and patted his head.

“You’re going to be fine,” I said over and over again. “Are we going home?” I asked Axel.

Axel smiled. “We’re going home.”

And the moment he said the words, I started crying too. I sobbed silently as I held onto Bobby. The whole thing suddenly felt like too much for the two of us. We cried the whole way home.

At home, we all sat in the living room, not saying much to each other. There was so much to say that nobody knew what to say first. Bobby had stopped crying, at least.

“I don’t want to go back there,” he said finally.

“You won’t,” I said to him. “We’re safe now, really safe. Daddy came to us.”

We sat there for a few hours, just holding onto one another. I couldn’t wait to be alone with Axel to thank him for everything that he had done and to try and explain myself to him. But right now the only thing I was concerned about was Bobby. We had to make sure that he felt safe again.

“You know, I just realized that is not even seven yet. So much has happened and the day has only just begun,” I said as I suddenly saw the time on the clock above me. It had almost felt like night time to me, but only moments ago I was lying in bed with Bobby after hearing Duke scream. The whole thing seemed so surreal to me.

“You’re right,” Axel said. “And I’m starting to realize how hungry I am. So, I have an idea,” he said.

I hoped he wasn’t going to suggest we all go out because the last thing I wanted to do was go outside again. I was finally feeling safe again, and so was Bobby. Thankfully, Axel had better plans than that.

“How about we all have a big cereal feast together? I have about four different types of cereal at the moment because I haven’t been in the mood to cook. Let’s all have breakfast together.”

Bobby grinned. It was the first time I’d seen him smile in a long time and I realized now how much I had missed it.

“Yes! Can I put all four into one bowl?” he asked.

“Are you kidding me? That’s only the best idea in the world,” Axel said. “That’s what I’m going to do. How about you, Savannah? Four in one?”

“Four in one for me too, please.”

Bobby giggled, and the three of us sat in the kitchen eating our new cereal concoction. After breakfast, we settled in front of the TV to watch cartoons. Everything felt almost normal again. I saw Bobby’s eyes were closing though and that he was trying desperately to stay awake.

“Bobby, why don’t you take a nap?” I said.

“But it’s not night time.”

I laughed. “That’s okay. We’re all tired. Come on, let’s put you to bed. We’ll take a nap too. And then we can all wake up and play some games with lunch.” It was gearing up to be the most perfect day in the world.

“Really?” he asked.

“Really.”

Axel came with me, and the two of us helped Bobby get into bed. We gave him a bath because he’d been sweating from all the nerves that morning, and we put him into some fresh clothes. Then we put him to bed and read to him while he closed his eyes. Every now and again, I looked at Axel and smiled. My heart felt so full with my two boys at my side, and I never wanted to be anywhere else ever again.

“I’m going to go to sleep now and have the best dreams ever,” Bobby said.

“Oh yeah? And what are you going to dream about? The toto monster?”

He giggled. “Maybe. But I’m also going to dream about my new dog.”

I rolled my eyes and chuckled. “Oh yeah, I forgot I promised you one of those,” I said, and I looked at Axel. “For being so good when I snuck out of that house to find you, I promised that we’d get him a dog.”

“And I didn’t forget!” Bobby said proudly.

“I’m sure you didn’t. Okay, we’ll talk about it soon. For now, time to sleep. Happy dreams, my beautiful boy.”

“Woof!” he said in reply.