Wild Rogues (third in lone wolf series)

Chapter Five

Chapter Five:

                Abbey stared at herself in the narrow full length mirror of the hotel bathroom and swallowed hard. The bruises were all yellowing and turning green with age. Her hips, her stomach, her back, her legs…. All bruised so badly from Joseph’s angry fists and feet.    

                She still felt sore in places but for the most part the pain had faded—at least the physical pain. Now the emotional and psychological pain was ramping up. She was alone with her children.

                Completely on her own in a town she knew nothing about with very little money and no idea what to do. She had Joseph’s credit card but couldn’t use it because she knew that Jason would be able to track her if she did.

                Abbey heard Tanner and Audrey talking to one another in the other room and realized they’d woken up while she’d been showering. Quickly Abbey slid into her old worn jeans and her plain blue t-shirt that was far too large and had been Joseph’s. Abbey did not dress to impress—she dressed to hide herself so that Joseph would not get jealous if a man looked too closely at her.

                Taking a deep breath to combat her fears and uncertainties, Abbey opened the door and stepped out into the room.

                “Mommy!” Tanner exclaimed as he launched himself off the bed and ran to her. Tanner always greeted her this way, whether it had been four hours or four minutes since he’d last seen her. Abbey knew she would never get tired of it.

                As she held Tanner tight she watched Audrey on the bed with her two dolls. It sounded as if her dolls were having a fight and she used a deep voice for one of them before having it smack the other. Abbey closed her eyes and nearly cried at the sight before nodding to herself and feeling her resolve strengthen.

                That was why she had run. Children should not see violence between people as a normal part of everyday life. A child deserved to live in a world where families coexisted without ever striking one another.

                “Mommy, can we go to the park today? We can dress warm and wear our scarfs,” Audrey offered.

                “We might,” Abbey agreed. “We have to go check on our truck this morning and mommy needs to see about finding a job…”

                “Where will we go while you’re at your job?” Tanner asked, picking at her wet hair.

                Abbey swallowed hard, “I don’t know yet, baby, we’ll have to figure all that out later.” Abbey sat him on his feet, “Let me dry my hair and then we’ll get dressed and head out, okay?”

                “Okay mommy!” Tanner hopped down off of her and plopped himself in front of the television where one of his favorite cartoons was playing.

                After drying her hair and pulling it back in a pony-tail, Abbey dressed both the kids in their last clean outfit and headed downstairs. They filled their stomachs on the complimentary breakfast of cold cereal, donuts and juice, eating far more than they normally ate at breakfast because it was their first real meal in days.

                Abbey bundled everyone into their coats and scarves and set out into the cold Wyoming February weather. They walked hand-in-hand down the road. This town, Crittenden, was quite small and charming. There were two streets of storefronts, the single hotel and the clinic. The homes were on the outskirts of town and eventually there were no more homes, only open plains and hills. Off in the distance you could see the shadow of the rocky mountains.