Craigslist Lover Page 8

  “Our son,” he corrected her. “If you even think of calling the cops, I will snap his little neck.” Wayne handed the baby over. “Sit your ass where I can see you.” He patted the cushion next to him. McKenzie sat and began nursing Caleb. “I’m sorry,” he said, touching her neck, then up to her swollen cheek, inflicting a bit of pain. “I don’t like hurting you. You give me no choice.”

  She trembled as his fingers caressed her skin. If she even dared pull away, he might attack her again. McKenzie kept glancing at the clock. It had been almost forty-five minutes since she’d spoken to Tee.

  “Why do you keep looking at the damn clock? You have somewhere to go?” he asked suspiciously.

  McKenzie swallowed. She was trapped in his hellhole, but her son came first, and she couldn’t gamble with his life. Wayne’s threats were real. She glanced around the house for something hard, something that could inflict a lot of pain, and give her time to run out of the house with Caleb. Wayne was busy watching the game on the TV, and she was about to grab the gun when someone rang the doorbell and then knocked. McKenzie’s heart dropped, and she started to sweat. Wayne looked over at her, and then at the barrier. “Are you expecting anyone?”

  “No.” Her voice cracked.

  “If you called the cops, bitch—”

  “How could I? You broke my cell phone.” She pointed at the pieces scattered on the floor.

  “Answer the fucking door.” He placed his beer bottle on the coffee table as McKenzie stood, with the baby still nursing in her arms. “Give him to me,” Wayne demanded, “Now.”

  She gently placed him in her husband’s arms. McKenzie fixed her clothing and slowly walked over to the door. “Did I make a mistake?” McKenzie asked under her breath.

  She swung the door open, and was met with the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. It was like looking at the skies up above. The man standing before her wasn’t African American. He was white, nothing like Blair Underwood. Damn, he was tall and muscular, but still, nothing like she had imagined him. His biceps bulged under the gray hoodie he was wearing. Tee reminded her of Jason Lewis.

  His eyes widened as he stared back at her. It seemed like Tee was just as shaken as she was. He took a step forward, and surprised her when he caressed her swollen cheek with his callused hand. “Kenzie…”

  “Not what you expected, huh?” she whispered, making sure Wayne didn’t hear them. McKenzie rubbed her hands together, trying to calm her nerves.

  “No.” He stepped back. “You’re more beautiful than I imagined.”

  McKenzie knew he was just trying to be nice; she could see her reflection in the mirror. Half of her face looked like Frankenstein and the other side was puffed up from all the crying.

  “You have five minutes to get everything you and your baby need,” he whispered back.

  “Who is it?” Wayne yelled.

  “Sorry, ma’am, wrong house!” Tee yelled so Wayne could hear. “Would you be interested in purchasing meat in bulk?”

  “What are you going to do?” she asked, concerned for Tee and Caleb’s safety.

  “What someone should have done a long time ago.” Tee marched down to his beat-up red pickup truck, and pulled a baseball bat from the back and a pair of gloves. He pulled on the gloves and walked around the end of the truck and ripped off his license plate, throwing it in the back. He tilted his head, telling her to close the door.

  “We don’t need no fucking meat!” Wayne shrieked above Caleb’s hungry cries.

  McKenzie rapidly closed the door and rushed to the back of the house. She knew he would be suspicious but she only had a few minutes. She collected the baby’s items first and then some for herself, including her iPad. McKenzie grabbed her purse and all the banking documents she had hidden from Wayne.

  “McKenzie, what the hell are you doing? Caleb is still hungry,” he yelled.

  She placed the bags in the corner of the baby’s nursery and walked in to the family room like nothing was amiss. She’d learned how to act like everything is fine when it actually wasn’t, and she’d learned that from the best—she’d learned from Wayne. McKenzie sat, and he handed over the baby. She nursed him until Tee knocked on the door again.

  “What the fuck?” Wayne said, annoyed. “I thought you told that jerk that we don’t want shit.”

  “I did.” Her voice shook. “Do you want me to answer the door?”

  “I’ll get it.” Wayne stood, and marched over to the front door. McKenzie followed suit, and stayed back. As soon as he opened the door, he was met with a bat to his thighs, making him drop to his knees, the same position she’d been in, praying to save her baby’s life, just a few minutes before.

  McKenzie slipped her breast out of her baby’s mouth and kissed Caleb on the forehead. “I love you more than you will ever know,” she whispered, placing him in the bouncer. “You will never live the life I had to endure.”

  “How does it feel, motherfucker?” Tee swung the bat again, this time hitting him on his back. “Get up and fucking pick on someone your own size,” Tee roared as he released the bat, and balled his gloved fist. “Get the fuck up. Get up!”

  Wayne gasped for air, glaring at the stranger in their house. “You’re dead, and she is too.” He stood slowly, then rushed at Tee, head-butting him in the stomach and swinging.

  “That’s it asshole, fight back,” Tee wrapped his muscular arm around Wayne’s neck, and with the other fist, hit him on his back, then on the side of his torso. Wayne dropped back to the ground. “Motherfucker you met your match.”

  “Stop! Police!” Wayne squealed as he crawled on his knees, trying to get to the front door. “I get…it…stop…stop…please…McKen—”

  “Did she crawl when you beat her? How many times did she beg you to stop? How many fucking times?” Tee’s hoodie had fallen back and his face fully exposed. The veins in his neck protruded as he kicked Wayne in his chest with his steel-toed working boots, and then when the man was down on all fours, he punched him in his face a few times.

  Blood dripped from Wayne’s nose down his mouth as he tried to fight back but Tee overpowered him like he did every time he beat her. Tee continued his attack on her husband with no mercy. “How does it feel!” Tee shouted as his foot connected with Wayne’s stomach, making him gasp for air. “Answer!”

  Wayne face was covered in blood as he hissed. “You’re… her… savior… now?” He said in between short breath.

  “No.” Tee’s chest heaved up and down glaring at him viscously. “I’m the instrument He used to make you pay!” He bawled up his fist and swung connecting with Wayne’s nose causing a cracking sound.

  McKenzie stared in shock to see her husband receiving every bit of pain and humiliation he’d been inflicting upon her for years. She couldn’t help feeling a sense of satisfaction as he begged for Tee to stop. McKenzie knew she should stop Tee herself, but the words wouldn’t come out. This beat-down was payback for all her years of silent suffering.

  It was also her fault. Why hadn’t she been strong enough to leave? “Tee… Tee! Please stop!” She held her hands up in the air as she yelled. “I don’t want you to go to jail because of my weakness. I should’ve walked out years ago,” she cried, staring at her bloody husband being held up by Tee’s strong hands. “Two wrongs don’t make a right. He doesn’t deserve for you to pay for his cowardly actions, please…” She sobbed, her eyes stinging from the pain. McKenzie could hardly see out of her left eye and her forehead was tender to the touch.

  “If you come looking for her, I will kill you, motherfucker!” Tee clenched his jaw, giving Wayne a deadly glare. “Do I make myself clear?”

  Wayne raised his hands in defeat, blood dripping down his nose and swollen lips. He gasped for air, his chest heaving up and down. “Yay…” he blurted out. “She’s shit to me.”

  Tee punched him square in the face one more time, letting him fall unconscious to the ground. “He’s alive,” he said through gritted teeth. “Come on, sweetheart.” He grabbed his bat from the ground and inspected the room, making sure he hadn’t left any evidence.

  “Wait—my things.” She picked Caleb up from the bouncer, and Tee followed her down the to nursery. He grabbed her bags, and they rushed out of the house.

  McKenzie stepped over the man that had promised her forever, to follow a man that hadn’t promised her anything but kindness. For some reason, she trusted Tee with her life. As they walked down the path to his truck, some of the nosy neighbors were outside, wondering what the commotion was all about. Where had they been when she’d cried for help?

  She glared at them. “Go back in your houses. There’s nothing to see here.”

  He pulled off the gloves and opened the door, and slid the passenger chair toward the windshield. To her surprise, he had a car seat installed in the back. “Thank you,” she said as she strapped her baby boy—her whole life—into the seat. She broke down crying, and Tee wrapped his strong arms around her.

  “He won’t hurt you again,” he whispered. “I promise. Now we have to leave before your nosy neighbors figure out what happened and call the cops. Jump in.” He helped her into the truck.

  She glanced at her huge, fancy home, and her luxury car. To the outsiders looking in, she had everything a woman could ever want, but if they were to look closer, she was empty. She didn’t care that she was headed to a trailer park. McKenzie was happy to finally be free from the monster Wayne had become. She wouldn’t have done it without her handsome, blue-eyed Craigslist friend. Who would’ve thought, that crazy impulse she’d had when she’d seen that classified had turned out to be her way out. God did work in mysterious ways.

  “I got you and your baby.” Tee glanced her way and then at the road. “We have to get a protective order.” He drove to th
e nearest police station. Tee was about to get out of the truck and she stopped him.

  “You’ve done enough.” McKenzie glanced at his swollen, red knuckles. “I don’t want to involve you any further into my mess. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you got charged for defending me.”

  “I knew what I was doing.” Tee stared at her. “They don’t know it was me.”

  “I know Wayne. He’s going to come up with some over-the-top story about home invasion or something similar.” She positioned her hand on the door handle. “He’ll probably tell the cops that I was kidnapped, so I have to nip that in the bud. All of the power he thought he had over me, all stops tonight. Now I’m in control.”

  ***

  They drove away from the police station, continuing for about an hour before he took an exit down a dark road to a line of trailer homes. “I know this isn’t what you’re used to,” Tee said as he parked in front of a small, white trailer with a covered porch.

  McKenzie placed her hand on his muscular arm. “I meant what I wrote months ago. I don’t care about material things. A home is where you’re happy. I had a fancy home, and I was unhappy, and you live here and you’re happy. That says a lot, don’t you think?”

  Tee’s lips curled into a smile, and her heart raced. His smile was intoxicating. His teeth were a little crooked, making him more handsome.

  “Thank you for helping me out of my own home, because I was going to die by his hands or my own…” She slipped out of the truck and unstrapped Caleb.

  Tee stared at her, his smile disappearing as he listened. He didn’t say anything else. He grabbed her bags, walked up to his trailer, and opened the door. “Welcome.” He held the door open for her and Caleb, then stepped in behind her and turned on a light switch. “I don’t have internet here, but if you need it—”

  “I don’t need it.” McKenzie glanced around the small trailer. It wasn’t what she’d expected. It was a bit messy, but not dirty. He had clothes thrown on the brown sofa, and the kitchen was tiny.

  “Sorry about the mess. I wasn’t expecting company.” Tee grabbed the clothes off the sofa, and threw them in a clothes basket. “Mi casa, su casa.”

  His Spanish was terrible.

  “I won’t invade your privacy for long. I just have to pull myself together for a couple of days.” She kissed Caleb’s temple.

  “Kenzie…”

  “It’s McKenzie.”

  He smiled, and extended his hand. “McKenzie, I’m Toby.”

  Toby. If McKenzie had known his real name she would’ve known he was white. She chuckled, shaking his hand, and her pulse accelerated. “Nice to finally meet you, Tee… I mean Toby. I wish it was under different circumstances.”

  Toby caressed her palm. “You can call me Tee. I kind of like that nickname.” He released her hand.

  “Tee isn’t your nickname.” She smiled.

  “Just like Kenzie isn’t yours.” He wiggled his eyebrow. “But everything else I told you is true.” Toby gazed at her, making her more nervous. “You know me better than most.”

  “The same here.” She pointed at the overused recliner. “May I sit?”

  “You don’t have to ask to use anything in my home.” Toby looked at Caleb. “Your baby is cute.”

  She kissed her little boy again. “My pride and joy.”

  “Did you grab everything you and the baby need?” he asked, glancing at her bags.

  “I think so.” She sat. “He loves to be rocked to sleep.” McKenzie began rocking her baby in the recliner.

  “You can stay here as long as you need. I’ll be back. I have to run a few errands. I won’t be long. The towels and washcloths are in the closet to the right if you want to clean up.” He turned and walked out the door, leaving her alone. She heard his truck roar to life as he pulled away from the trailer.

  McKenzie stood and placed a sleeping Caleb on his blanket on the sofa, and walked around the small home. She was being a bit nosey, opening the door to his bedroom, and to her surprise, it was neat. Toby’s bed was made, there was a big screen TV on a dresser. McKenzie closed his door.

  She went to the tiny bathroom and stared at her reflection. McKenzie had dry blood and tear streaks on her face. The policeman had taken pictures, and asked her if she wanted to be seen by a doctor or if she wanted to go to a shelter for abused women and children. Her answer to both was no. She knew nothing was broken, and she could breathe all right, with just a little pain on her side. McKenzie smiled at her reflection. “No more suffering. He may try to hurt me again, but he won’t win.” She turned on the water in the bathroom sink, and washed away all the hurt and disappointment she’d felt the last three years out of the five she’d been married. McKenzie dried her face.

  Thank you God. Thank you.

  She turned in a slow circle, then started cleaning the living room, the dining room, and next, the kitchen. She dusted the few pieces of furniture he had, then the few family pictures he had hung up. McKenzie folded his clothes, wiped, and mopped. She opened his fridge and cabinets and proceeded to fix dinner. That was the least she could do. She hoped to finish by the time he made it back. When she was finally done, McKenzie picked up one of the photos and wondered if the women in the middle of the photo were his aunt and mother. She couldn’t imagine being so young and having to endure what he and his cousins had, and then she thought of her own son. If she hadn’t left when she did, her Caleb would probably have been in the same situation. She placed the frame back in its place. McKenzie got down on her knees and prayed. Soon after she began singing, “Never Would Have Made It Without You.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Toby parked in front of his cousin’s house and honked. Despite his past, Eric had done really well for himself. He’d been to jail as a kid a couple of times for minor bullshit like charging his father in court at a probation hearing. He’d been found in contempt, and then later resisting arrest after a fight. He’d been headed down the wrong path until a school teacher convinced them to join a group session down at the youth center. They learned how to channel their anger to positive outcome. Because of that teacher’s compassion, he was who he was today. Toby had hired him at the water plant and from that point, Eric saved all his pennies. He’d bought a house, complete with a picket fence, a couple of months ago in a very nice neighborhood. Now all he needed was a nice gal—and a child—to complete the picture.

  Eric opened his door and stared at Toby for about a minute before he marched down the pathway to his truck. “What the fuck? I’ve been calling you for hours.”

  “I turned off my phone.” Toby stared at him. Eric was more of a brother to him than his own. They’d grown up like two peas in a pod. “Get in.”

  Eric opened the passenger door and climbed in. “Spill.”

  “Everything about McKenzie is real.” Toby drove off. “He beat her.” With every thought he had of McKenzie, his grip on the steering wheel became tighter, causing his bruised knuckles to ache. “That motherfucker held her and her son at gunpoint. I did what any man would’ve done.”

  “Not every man,” Eric corrected. “I understand what you did and why. I would’ve done the same. Is he still breathing?”

  “Sadly, yes.”

  “I change my answer.” Eric rolled down his window. “I probably would’ve done more. Did he see your face?” He shifted in his seat to observe Toby.

  “No.” He hoped her husband didn’t remember his face as he’d beaten him. Every time Toby saw a police car, his palms would sweat. He wasn’t afraid of the cops or her husband but he wasn’t ready to leave her by herself just yet. If he needed to face the consequences of his actions, then so be it.

  “You left no evidence?” Eric asked, soberly.

  “No.” Toby glanced at his cousin. “I learned from the best, didn’t I?”

  “You shouldn’t have taken that chance. I would’ve made sure you covered every angle.” Eric pulled a box out of his shirt pocket and lit a cigarette.

  “You have priors, and I wasn’t going to be the reason you ended up back in jail.” Toby turned in to the nearest department store. “That cigarette is going to kill you.”

  “You have to die of something.” Eric flicked it out of the window. “My priors were as a teen, and anything else can’t be proven. I would never let you go down alone, Toby. Next time I’m riding with you, because if he is anything like my father, he’s not just going to give up. He thinks your crush is his and only his.”