"You sure you want that?"
"I told you before that I'm being serious. This isn't a spur of the minute thing that I just came up with. I need to find myself as an adult, to get away from all the crap with my family and learn to be the person I want to be."
"It's a good life. We can go all over the country. See the Everglades, the Mississippi. And the best thing is, we'd be together all the time. But … "
"But what?"
"But you don't have to decide tonight. This is a big decision to up and leave your family, and you don't want to have any regrets."
"You up and left yours."
"That was my foster family, not my real one."
I look up at his eyes, wondering if he's finally going to reveal more about himself.
"And your real ones?" I ask softly, unsure if he'll answer.
Steel stands and walks towards the tv, a silence hanging in the air.
"I never knew my father," he says with his back to me.
My heart wrenches in my chest. He opened up. Do I dare push for more? I want to know everything about this damn man, but he never talks about his past.
Do I go up behind him and hug him? Or is it better to stay here, sitting on the bed. My phone beeps again, but I ignore it. I open my mouth to speak, but Steel interrupts me.
"You'd better check that."
Sighing, I look at my phone. It's a text from Courtney
I'm not getting judgmental, but the guy has a neck tattoo. Don't you see warning signs?
While the phone's in my hand, I flick through some of the ones from my mother. She's having a conniption fit about my safety.
I only manage to look at the top one from my father.
The whole town is talking about my daughter whoring herself to a scumbag
It fills me with rage, and I slam the phone onto the pillow.
I don't care about answering any of them. I only want what's in this room.
Steel's still standing with his back to me. I wish I knew what he was thinking. Hopping up from the bed, I move to him and put my arms around him, pressing my face into his back.
"No regrets?" I say.
"Not a single fucking one."
"Me neither."
He spins in my arms to face me. Our eyes lock and I'm flooded with the warmth he always brings me. Always. That's all that matters. Not that anyone else cares, but if I'm learning anything, it's that what anyone else thinks doesn't matter.
"If you're serious, I'll phone Papa Smurf and find out where he's at. I've worked with him so long, there's no doubt he'd want me back. But I have to find out if he'd take you," he says, cupping my cheek.
On the one hand I'm buzzing with excitement. On the other, I hadn't considered the idea that I wouldn't be hired. I feel foolish assuming I could just expect them to hire me.
My phone starts ringing and beeping like crazy, all the vibrations move it to the edge of the pillow and onto the bed. The calls and texts keep coming.
Trying not to panic, I move back to the bed and grab it. Courtney is phoning. Do I answer it?
In the end I ignore it, and look through the most recent texts. My mother's hysteria has reached new heights.
I won't let that man take my baby's innocence
I snort with laughter. Too late for that, Mom.
"What's so funny?"
"My mother doesn't want you to steal my innocence."
Steel chuckles, "Too fucking late for that."
"Should I tell her?" I say, laughing, ready to type.
The phone rings again, it's Courtney. I let it ring until it goes to voicemail. Courtney instantly rings again. Have they put her up to something?
"Hey, what is it?" I say into the phone.
"Emily, I don't know what's going on with you and that guy, but you need to know your father rounded up a bunch of his friends to go out hunting for your car."
Courtney's words punch me in the chest and knock the wind out of me.
Hell Bent for Leather (Steel)
I don't know what the fuck the person on the phone just said to her, but Emily's face is paler than a kid who's just gone through the Haunted House.
"Thanks a bunch, Courtney. I'll call you later," Emily says and turns off her phone. She looks at me and says, "We need to get out of here, now."
"Huh?"
"My dad and his buddies are out looking for us."
"For real?"
"My parents have gone insane. Why don't they think I can make my own decisions? Good decisions. Ones that make me happy."
"I don't get it," I say, shaking my head.
"We have to go to the carnival now," she says, her voice forceful.
"I don't even know where they're at."
"Can't you phone from the car? My parents are freaking, I'm not having them hold me prisoner again. They'll know we're not in Colmar, and Woburn is the first place they'll start looking."
Maybe she's right, the carnival is the perfect place for her to grow up and get away from their hold on her life.
I grab her chin and force her eyes into mine. As much as I want to go back to being what I am, I'm not taking her to that life unless she's certain it's what she wants.
"Are you sure the carnival's the place you want to go?" I ask, my voice gruff.
"Yes."
"Really sure?"
"Yes."
"That doesn't sound like a carny talking to me."
Emily giggles and says, "Fuck, yeah I'm sure."
"We're in for some fun," I say and kiss her cheek.
Going around the room, I start gathering my stuff and cram it in my backpack.
"What about all your stuff?" I ask.
"It's gone."
"Huh?"
"There's no way I'm going home to get a damn thing. I'll buy whatever I need." Her words are strong, but her voice trembles. I drop the backpack and hold her tight against me.
"Don't be scared, Goldie, I'll take good care of you."
"I know," she says, sinking her body into mine.
I kiss the top of her head and stroke her back. We stay still for a minute, while she controls her nerves.
"We should go," I say, my voice soothing, "before they find us. A cheap motel is the first place they'll look. It's only eight. We can drive for an hour and find another place to stay."
Emily nods her head, and I release her from my arms. We move around the room, gathering the rest of my stuff and cramming it in my backpack. I bought some more clothes while I was here, and it's a struggle to fit them all in.
"I'll check out, you wait in the car."
I lock up the room and go to the office to check out. When I leave the office again, the Corolla is smack in front of the office door. Emily's sitting in the driver's seat, her fingers gripping the wheel so tight, her knuckles are white.
Opening the driver door, I say, "Why don't you let me drive?"
"You don't know where we're going," she says, looking up at me, her jaw tight.
"Neither do you."
I take her hand and lead her out of the car and around to the passenger side. She opens the door and gets in, and I close it again.
In the driver's seat, I pull out of the motel parking lot and turn right.
"If you go straight, you'll eventually get to the freeway," she says.
That was luck. We keep hitting reds, and I put my foot down each time the light goes green to get us out of here as fast as possible. Emily keeps looking all around, as if she's being hunted. I put my hand on her thigh, trying to relax her.
Once we've reached the freeway, we drive for an hour towards Raleigh. There's a sign for a gas station, so I pull into it and put the car in park.
"I'm going to phone Papa Smurf," I say taking out my phone.
"Okay," Emily says, and turns to stare out the back window.
"Papa," I say when he answers the phone.
"Steel. You had enough of chasing that tail and coming back?"
"Oh, I'm coming back all right, but I'm bringing my woman with me."
"Fuck, man, for real? You always had the magic."
"As real as day. You going to put her to work?"
"For you, anything."
"Thanks, Papa. Now, where you at?"
"Near Gulfport."
"Where the fuck's that?"
"Mississippi, right on the Gulf."
"Okay, what's that? A day's drive. I'll be there tomorrow or the day after." Depending on if I want to stop and show Emily something along the way.
"Buses here ain't that fast."
"We got our own car."
"No shit. In that case, I have your own trailer for the two of yous, if you can tow it. We're leaving in the morning, you get here first thing, and it'll be here for you."
"Fuck yeah, how you swinging that? Screw it, I'm not asking questions, I want the trailer."
My own trailer, there's no way I'm missing out on that.
"Then you better get driving, it'll take you about twelve hours and we're leaving in ten."
"We're on our way. Text me directions to Gulfport."
I hang up the phone and turn to Emily, my face beaming.
"We got ourselves our very own trailer." I can't hide the excitement in my voice.
"That sounds good," she says, unsure of her words.
"Can this little car tow a trailer? Google it."
Emily taps into her phone and says, "Up to fifteen hundred pounds, apparently."
"And this thing has a trailer-hitch?"
"My father made sure this car had everything there was to have. One of the perks of being the dealership boss' daughter."
"Is that a yes?"
"Yeah."
"We need to get ourselves to Gulfport, Mississippi by morning."