Forgive Me (Say Something Book 2) Read online

  Forgive Me

  Say Something Series Book 2

  By Salice Rodgers

  ©Salice Rodgers 2015

  Published By Entertwine Publishing

  Cover By Entertwine Publishing

  All Rights Reserved

  Amazon Edition, License Notes

  Thank you for downloading this e-book. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

  All character, places, and descriptions come from the imagination of the author. All are fictional and any resemblance to real life persons or places is purely coincidental.

  Chapter One

  I need his heartbeat. I need his voice to tell me that everything is going to be okay and he will chase the bad things away.

  Ever since I got out of the hospital, I have been trying to get my life back to as normal as possible. What is normal really? However, living in a small town everyone knows everything, and I am seen as the girl whose father tried to kill her.

  I walk around the track once more. The doctors told me it would be good to try to work out my leg as often as possible. I soon found out that I loved to walk the track and watch the others as they go about their normal lives. What is a normal life? Perhaps, it's a life that I have always dreamed of having. Or a life without having to look over my shoulder wondering where Frank or Tank was.

  The track is lined with trees on each side, with a small pond in the middle full of fish. On each side of the pond are cement benches where some come to sit and watch the fish and the ducks. The first time Taylor and I came here we were kids and her mother brought us here to feed the fish.

  My walk usually helps to clear my head but today my stomach is in knots and I have a feeling that someone is following me. I walk faster and look over my shoulder. No one is behind me but as soon as I turn back around I walk smack into Tank's hard frame. His arms come around my shoulders, pulling me into the trees.

  “You should really have a track partner,” he says laughing.

  My heart hits my feet and tears fill my eyes. When the police had finally made it to Frank's after I was attacked they couldn't find him or Tank anywhere. They had both been like family to me up until my father paid them to help kill me. Now I don't know who they are anymore.

  “Let me go, Tank.”

  “Now that wouldn't be any fun would it?”

  His voice is laced with venom as he tightens his arms around me.

  “What do you want?”

  “How many nights did we work together and you always ignored me? Looking at me as a brother? I wanted more, Joslynn, and you never gave me a second thought. Then in walks a man with gunk on his arms and you are putty at his feet?”

  His words shock me. I never thought he looked at me as anything other than a sister. That explains why he was so protective as soon as Marshall started coming around and the reason he and Frank were at my house after someone completely trashed it.

  “You were always like family to me, Tank.”

  “That was the problem! I wanted more and you never paid me any attention.”

  “You're hurting me, Tank, stop! Marshall isn't even around anymore, why are you doing this?”

  “Shut up, bitch!”

  His hands tighten around me more until it's hard to breathe. From the look in his eyes, I know nothing I say is going to make this better. But I have to try.

  “Tank, look at me! You don't want to hurt me. Please let me go and just walk away.”

  “Not going to happen, Lynnie. You know the day your dad came into Frank's he offered us an out. A way to get rid of you and Marshall. He promised us it would be easy and then his dumbass brother had to show up and mess the whole plan up. Where are they now, Lynnie? They just left you.”

  His words hurt. He is saying things I have wondered about for the last month. Why did Marshall leave me? Why would Tank want an out? All of this was confusing.

  “What are you going to do, Tank?”

  “It's time to go home, Lynnie. It's time to go see Daddy.”

  His hand unwraps from my body, and he shoves a cloth in my face. It smells horrible. I dig my nails in his arm trying to pull his arm away. He knees me in the stomach causing me to take a deep breath and breathe in whatever is on the cloth. The world starts to spin, and my eyes get heavy. It seems like the more I try to hold them open the heavier they get. The last thing I hear before the world goes completely black is Tank's laughter.

  Chapter Two

  Marshall

  I left her lying in her hospital bed. The only way to keep her safe and keep this from happening again was to take care of the situation myself. I would sit in prison for life as long as I knew she could lay down at night and not have to worry about when the next attack would come.

  We have followed lead after lead on Frank and Tank and each one of them was a dead end. It's been almost a month and nothing. Luca is a computer genius, we met when my family and I moved, and all he can tell me is Frank's was sold to a Lucilla Montgomery. Whoever the hell that is? I pace the living room of the hotel room once again staring at my cell phone willing it to ring.

  Each time she called me it felt like a knife in the chest. I wanted to answer the phone and tell her I loved her and soon everything would be okay, but I knew she would try to talk me out of it so I turned my phone off and got a new one.

  Trevor walks through the door with coffee and sits on the couch waiting for me to sit down.

  “Any word?”

  “NO! Luca said Frank's sold as soon as it went on the market to a Lucilla Montgomery. He's digging now to see who the fuck she is.”

  “Man, if you don't sit the fuck down we are going to have to pay for new carpet.”

  “It's been almost a month, Trevor! I am tired of checking dead ends!”

  “Look Joslynn is like a sister to me but walking a hole in the carpet is going to help no one. You need to rest. You did get shot you know?”

  “No shit, really?”

  Trevor throws his arms in the air and mumbles fuck it. I grit my teeth and grab the coffee and sit down. I have been pacing for hours and come no closer to an idea as to what to do than when I first left the hospital. My cell phone dings bringing me out of my thoughts.

  “Luca, if you don't tell me something I am going to kill you with my bare hands.”

  “Man, I can't find shit on Lucilla, there's no address, nothing about kids, nothing! It's like she doesn't exist. I am looking into it every way I can. If you know anything about Frank I need you to tell me. Did Joslynn ever say anything about him? I need something.”

  “Fuck! No, she didn't tell me shit about him. He was her boss as far as I knew before he decided to help her father. He was like the father she never had!” I throw the coffee across the room. “This was supposed to be fast. I wanted to take care of the situation and get back to the love of my life.”

  “This shit takes time, Marshall, and I need it if you want solid information.”

  “I am out of fucking time and patience.” I hang up the phone and slam it on the table.

  “Marshall, just go home. She might know things that can help us and at this point I'm sure she would.” Trevor suggests.

  ***

  Pulling up outside Joslynn's, I take a deep breath and prepare for the worst. I hope she will forgive me for leaving her and be as understanding as Trevor thinks she will be when she sees me. All I did was to make sure she was safe and if the outcome could have been different I would have done it all over again.


  As I stand here at her door, I remember back to the time when Trevor told me he had seen Joslynn. I knew at that moment I had to come back here and see if she remembered me. She was the most beautiful little girl on the block, and I always promised to take care of her. She was the woman I told my mom I would grow up and marry one day. Yet I left her again, with good reason, though.

  Hesitantly, I knock on the front door and hope when it opens nothing comes flying out at my head. Taylor jerks the door open tears running down her cheeks.

  “Mar...Oh, my gosh, Marshall? Where the hell have you been?”

  “Trying to take care of shit. Where is Joslynn?”

  She starts to cry again and moves to the side opening the door wider so I can step in. I follow her to the kitchen and wait. My heart is in my throat as the tears roll down her face. What the fuck happened to Joslynn? Is she okay?

  “I don't know where she is, Marshall. She left this morning to walk the track at the park and she hasn't come back yet. I have called her and she won't answer her phone. I was supposed to go with her. I had to work, but she wouldn't wait for me. She promised to text as soon as she got back. When I got off work she still wasn't here.”

  “Let's go!”

  I walk out the door and pull my cell phone from my pocket. Trevor answers on the third ring.

  “Yeah?”

  “Meet me at the duck pond, Trevor, now!” I yell and hang up the phone.

  I used to go to the park as a kid to feed the ducks. It was my mom's favorite place to take us to eat ice cream after we would win a football game. The park is close to Joslynn and Taylor's so it only takes us a few seconds to get there.

  Chapter Three

  Joslynn

  I wake to the same smell I used to hate and instantly know I am in my old room. The lights are off, and it's dark outside. It takes a few seconds before my eyes adjust to the dark, and I look around to see that it's just the same as it was the day I left. My dresser mirror is full of photos of Taylor and me. All of my posters are still hanging up, hiding the holes in the walls after one of my father’s many drunken nights. I sit up and scoot to the corner of the bed. I am back at the one place I swore to myself I would never be again.

  This was my hell on earth and as soon as I turned eighteen, I was finally old enough to get the hell out. I packed a few clothes, crawled out of my window and went to Taylor's house. I walked out and never looked back.

  I slowly slide off the bed and walk to the window to look out. I feel a small bit of hope as I remember all the times I used to climb out of the window and run to Tay and stay for hours.

  I think my grandmother knew I was sneaking out, and it was her way of saying sorry by never getting on to me or telling my father that I was doing it. She would always tell him she didn't know where I was. Her favorite saying was 'kids will be kids, son, she will be back soon.' In her head I think she painted a picture of the same happy family I always did to make herself feel better for never stopping him.

  When I tug on the window it doesn't budge. I want to turn on a light and see what's holding it but the longer that piece of shit thinks I am still knocked out the better I will be. My hands are shaking as I jerk on it once more and it still doesn't move. The tears start to fall harder and all my hope is lost as I run my fingers along the frame of the window and feel the nails. When I lean in and look closer I can see them. The asshole nailed the windows shut!

  I jump at the sound of his laughter and look around the room. I have to get out of here before he realizes that I am awake. I fought like hell to leave this place and forget this life. I'll be damned if I will just sit and wait for him to come check on me and 'take care of things.' He has said that so casually like I am just a piece of property he can sell and never look back.

  I feel around in my pockets for my cell phone and come up empty. He knows the only way I am getting out of this room without breaking a window is through the door and into the living room. He didn't have to tie me up, he would know when I broke the window I was awake. He might be a drunk piece of shit but sometimes he's a smart one.

  I hear footsteps and run to the closet. It may not be the smartest place to hide, but at this point I am out of options. The door opens, and I close my eyes putting my hand over my mouth. I feel like one of the girls in a horror movie who always hides in the most obvious place. Like the killer won't look in the closet? Now I understand why they go there.

  “Come out, Joslynn!” My father says laughing.

  I can hear him walking all around the room until he starts to make his way toward the closet. I scoot farther back against the wall and pray he doesn't see me. His hands reach in and they grab my hair pulling me from the closet and throwing me to the floor. The pain in my head causes me to scream and he laughs harder.

  “Just like old times, huh?” I look up from the floor and see him standing over me, with his same old wicked smile on his face. Some things never change. He turns his beer up and guzzles it. I sit up and scoot as far as I can until my back hits the wall. He acts like there is nothing wrong with the situation as he walks to my bed and sits down.

  “You know your mother used to come in here and sit for hours when she was pregnant and just cry?”

  He looks around my room and scrunches his nose. When his eyes land on me, I flinch. He's never taken the time to talk to me before. Never told me anything about my mother other than she left. Why is he telling me this? He sits for a while and just looks at me not saying anything. I don't know if he's waiting for me to say something or if he is thinking about all the ways he wants to kill me.

  “You look just like her. That is one of the things I hate. When I look at you I see her. She walked out and left without looking back and left me with her bastard child. I wanted a son whom I could teach to grow up to be just like me and she leaves me with a snot nose little girl who looks just like her. Why didn't she just take you with her? I didn't want you.”

  I want to yell at him it wasn't my fault! She walked out on me not caring if I would be taken care of and loved. She just walked out and never looked back. He takes another drink of his beer and throws the bottle at the wall just above my head. Glass shatters and falls all over me, cutting me all over my arms as I throw them up to protect my head.

  “Why do you want to kill me? Why not just let me leave? I'll leave town and you will never have to see me again.”

  He laughs again and opens another beer taking a big gulp.

  “Let you leave? I have always wanted you gone. You and my mother just never seemed to see that.”

  “Please, let me go!”

  “You know it was so easy to get Frank and Tank on board? All I had to do was flash a check and both of them were ready to do whatever I wanted them to do. Money will make some of the most honest people do stupid things.”

  “What do you want from me?”

  I already knew the answer but the longer I could keep him talking the longer I stayed alive. I wanted out of here. I had to think of a way to get him to let me go. I don't want to die here. It would be too much of a victory for him. This was the place he could come and spew all the ways he hated about me and all the ways he wished I was never born.

  He drinks the rest of the beer, and I flinch while I wait for the bottle to fly at my head. The cuts from the last bottle were still stinging, the blood drying to my skin. If I moved in any direction I would get cut on the shards that lay all around me.

  “I have nothing. You have made sure of that since the day you were born. I want you gone, never around to remind me of what I lost or what I could have had.”

  He stands and walks towards me letting the beer bottle fall to the floor. As soon as he makes it in front of me, I tense waiting for him to hit me. With my back against the wall, I have nowhere to run. His foot goes back and he kicks me in the stomach. I lean over and lay on the floor, curled up in a ball. The pain of him dragging me from the closet has nothing on what my ribs now feel like.

  “I need more beer. It's going
to be a long night.”

  He laughs again and walks out of the room, shutting and locking the door behind him.

  Chapter Four

  Marshall

  When we make it to the park Taylor and I both run around yelling for Joslynn looking for any sign that she might still be here. Maybe she just wanted some time to think and wanted to feed the ducks. Trevor comes running up to us out of breath.

  “What the hell is going on?”

  “She's gone!”

  He looks between Taylor and I confused.

  “She has been walking the park every morning. Usually I come with her or we walk after I get off but today she decided to come by herself. Things have been getting to her with Marshall being gone,” Taylor says and shoots me a look of death. “Today is her fucking birthday and she said she wanted to walk. I told her to call me and let me know when she made it back home. When I got home her car was there but I can't find her anywhere and she won't answer her phone,” Taylor says crying.