“Yes, like people touching my privates,” she whispered. I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her up and onto my lap.
“This is one of those bad secrets, baby girl. Even if Daddy said not to talk about it, he was wrong. You need to tell me everything, so we can be sure you and your sisters are safe. When have you seen something like this before?”
“Sometimes Daddy and his friends…” she whispered. “When Mommy’s at work, sometimes they had stuff like this. And one time I found the twins playing with some. They thought it was candy but I yelled at them and they stopped. Daddy ran in and took it away from them. He said not to tell Mommy, that it was important because we’d all get in really big trouble.”
That motherfucking asshole.
I couldn’t believe this was happening. I knew Randy was scum, but leaving meth where his babies could eat it? What the fuck? And how the hell had Hannah let things get this far?
“And did you ever share the secret with Mommy?” I asked her, wondering what I’d do if she said yes. If my sister had knowingly allowed this to continue… No. She wouldn’t. Not Hannah. She’d slit his throat before she let him put the girls in this kind of danger. I had to believe that.
“No,” Callie said, sniffing. Holding her tight, I started rocking her softly, rubbing her hair. “I didn’t want Daddy to yell at me. It was really scary and his friends were mean, too. One of them made me sit on his lap. Then he took away my Lambie. He said I’d only get it back if I kept the secret. I’m scared he’ll come back, Auntie Mandy.”
“It’s okay,” I reassured her, even though it wasn’t. It wasn’t okay even a little bit. I couldn’t even wrap my head around how not okay it was, but I had to stay calm. Otherwise she’d panic. “Just tell me—besides that time and today…have you ever seen it any other times?”
Callie nodded her head, then started sobbing. I cradled her little head against my shoulder, rocking harder. It hurt. It hurt so bad to think of her going through this alone.
I wanted to kill him.
This wasn’t just me being angry, I realized. I literally wanted Randy dead. Then maybe the girls would be safe.
Callie cried harder, sniffling loudly as I rocked her harder.
“It’s okay, baby girl,” I said, even though that was a big fat lie. It wasn’t okay and it never would be. “You cry all you want. You’re safe now. I’ll never let them scare you again.”
“You promise?” she said. I kissed her head.
“Yeah, sweet girl. I promise.”
“Pinkie promise?” She pulled away, holding one tiny, trembling finger up for me. I wrapped my own around it, catching and holding her gaze.
“I promise on my pinkie that I will never, ever let those men scare you again.”
Callie nodded slowly, then laid her head back down on my shoulder. I rubbed her back until the tears started to slow, kissing the top of her head every few seconds. It was warm and just a little sweaty. She still smelled like baby. This wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair.“Are you going to tell Daddy?” she finally asked. “He’ll be mad. Really mad. He said that if I told anyone, they’d take us away from Mommy. That she’s a bad Mommy and they’ll find out and take us away!”
Her voice rose and I clutched her tighter. “No, baby. Nobody will take you away from your mom. I promise. Me and her, we’re going to make sure you and your sisters are safe. Whatever needs to happen. Sometimes we have to do tough things, baby girl. You did something really hard by coming to me with this, but it was the right thing to do. I’m proud of you.”
She nodded sleepily and I continued rocking her, my thoughts racing.
Randy had been doing drugs—heavy drugs—here at the trailer with his friends.
Counting tonight, they’d left those drugs where the kids could find them at least twice, and one time the twins had nearly eaten them. Then he’d taught his daughter to lie about it, and God only knew what other time bombs were still waiting to be found. Or whether he’d bring anything else over, for that matter. He still considered it his right to come into the trailer—we’d learned that the other day, when he’d broken the locks to get inside.
For all I knew, there were more baggies of this crap somewhere.
Then I heard a low, distinctive noise. Motorcycle. Ah, shit. I’d totally forgotten about Shade. Glancing down at my phone, I saw three text messages from him, demanding to know what was wrong. Next to it sat the bag of meth. Jesus. Randy had invited his druggie friends into his children’s home. His kids could’ve died, but all he’d cared about was keeping the secret from Hannah. What the hell had he been thinking?
He wasn’t.
He wasn’t thinking at all, because Randy didn’t give a shit about anyone but himself. Up to now I’d seen him as scum—a loser who’d abandoned his family—but that wasn’t the case anymore.
Nope, Randy had just graduated to active-threat status, and I couldn’t let that stand. Hannah and I were going to have to get the hell out of this trailer. It wasn’t safe, not when Randy felt free to break in whenever he wanted and there was motherfucking meth in the bathroom. We needed to move, and we needed to move soon.
Guess I’d be claiming that five hundred bucks after all.
“Why don’t you go to sleep in here?” I told Callie as the motorcycle grew louder.
“Okay,” she whispered, crawling into the bed. Then I went into the living room and peeked out the window, expecting to see Shade. Sure enough, he was just pulling up outside. My hand clutched the phone and the baggie tight as he swung his leg off the Harley. Oh, shit. I needed to hide the drugs, and hide them fast.
He knocked on the door and then the knob was turning. Crap crap crap! The little lock in the knob must not have caught and the deadbolt was still broken. I shoved the baggie down my shorts as Shade pushed through the door.
“Hi!” I said as he took me in.
“What happened?” he asked. “I heard part of it. What the fuck’s going on?”
“Nothing,” I said quickly. “Callie just had a bad dream.”
“Bullshit.” He stepped in, closing the door behind him. “You were freaking out and you’ve been crying.”
I reached to touch my cheeks, startled to realize he was right. They were wet. I shifted nervously, and the bag of crystals in my panties poked uncomfortably. That’s when the full horror of the situation hit. There was a baggie of meth tucked up against my crotch.