The Race For A New Life

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Not long after getting back to the hotel, Rae entered a small conference room of the hotel. William and John were already there waiting for her. “Hey! I got your text, what’s up?”, she said. William motioned for her to take a seat, which she gladly did. “There have been some bad thunderstorms the past few days. So, there is flooding across where were we are supposed to be driving”, he said. Rae raked a hand through her hair and let out a deep sigh, “Oh great! So let me guess, another detour.” William nodded not looking too happy about it either, “It will be a full day’s drive to the next checkpoint. Luckily the local law enforcement will keep us in the loop about any potential risks.” Rae smiled at that, “Okay, well that’s good. I think.” William looked to his dad, “Well that’s it for me. I’m going to look for Grace.” John nodded at his son while he got up and left the room.

John then proceeded to grab Rae’s hand before she could leave as well. “So… As you know, we turned in your restraining order”, he said. Rae nodded her head looking worried, “Yeah, has something happened?” John looked uncertain how to approach what he had to say. “Apparently, Matt is actually wanted in Fort Worth. He has a warrant for abuse to a previous relationship before you. So, you are about to be completely free of him harassing you.” Rae looked hopeful, “Really?! I won’t have to keep looking over my shoulder anymore?” He gave her a loving smile, “Yes! You’re about to be free from any stress of this situation and live an actual life.” She immediately got up and rushed over to give him a hug. John caught her before she could hurt herself. “Easy now! I know that it’s exciting news, but you’re still hurt. And I know that Graham wouldn’t be happy about you hurting yourself more”, he said. Rae pulled away from him, beaming from the news, “Thank you so much, Mr. John! I don’t know to repay you.” He smiled back at her, “There’s nothing to repay. Now go get some rest, tomorrow is going to be a long day.” Rae nodded and headed for her room.

She was a few feet away from her room, when Rae suddenly felt a hand go around her mouth and an arm lift her at the waist. Rae wanted to retaliate, but couldn’t due to her injury and the strength of the person who had her. Quickly taking in her surroundings, she knew that she was in another hotel room. She tried not to panic; she didn’t fight the person as they removed her crutches and sat on the bed. With her head leaning back against the person’s shoulder, she took a stabilizing breath and recognized the cologne that they were wearing. “Hey there, baby girl!”, the masculine voice said in her ear. “Are you doing okay? You’re not wearing yourself out, are you?”, the voice asked. Removing his hand from her mouth, he looked at her patiently. “I’m fine, Matt”, Rae said. He gently brushed her cheek with the backside of his hand, “That’s good. That’s good, baby girl.” She then felt him start planting small kisses on her shoulder and neck. “Matt, I really should get to my room. Tomorrow will be a long day and I will need my rest” Rae calmly said as she got up from the bed. With that she got her crutches and went towards the door.

Suddenly the crutches were ripped from her, and Rae almost fell face first to the floor. However, Matt grabbed her and pulled her to him and to the bed. He pushed her onto her back on the bed and enclosed the space with his body. “You’re not going anywhere, baby girl!”, he said with a growl. “We need to talk first”, he continued to growl. Rae looked at Matt with fear in her eyes, “T-Talk about w-what, Matt?” He lowered his head next to her ear. “Well, for starters you can tell me why you have a restraining order against me”, he whispered. Her eyes widened, “Matt, it was just a security precaution. You were getting too forceful for my liking.” Matt lifted his head to give her a scowling look, “Do you honestly think that I would believe that, Rae?” She nodded franticly, “Yes! Yes, I do! Because I know that you love me, Matt! I know you do!” Matt nudged his nose against hers, “Then why don’t you love me, Rae? I know you don’t. But why won’t you let me show you how I love you? Maybe finish off where we started three years ago.” Rae tensed up at his words, “Matt, please don’t. You don’t want to make this worst.” “Do you really think that I’m that STUPID, Rae?!? A restraining order?! You had to add to the laundry list I already have?!”, he yelled at her. Rae’s eyes teared up, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”, she whimpered. Matt wiped away her tears, “No, you’re not. But I will make sure that you will be and that you come crawling back to me. I don’t care who I have to use for you to come back to me.” Her eyes widened again at his threat.

Matt then suddenly got off of the bed and went to gather his belongings. “Baby girl, I need to go off grid for a little bit. I’m wanted in Fort Worth, but don’t worry. I’ll keep in touch”, he winked at her as he went to the side of the bed. Rae tried to sit up, “W-Where are you going?” She mainly asked, hoping to get information to give to Mr. John. Matt smiled down at her, “Ah, baby girl. You don’t need to worry about me or where I’m going.” He bent down and gave her a compassionate kiss which cause Rae to flinch. Breaking away from her, “I’m afraid that’s all you get for now. But don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.” Matt then opened the door and quickly left her still in shock on the bed.

A few seconds later, Graham passed an opened door to see Rae lying motionless. Panicked, he raced over to her, “Rae? Rae? Baby, what’s wrong?” She snapped out of her shocked state to look at him in terror. “He’s gone! He’s gone! But he’ll be back!”, she said whimpering. “Who, baby?”, he asked with a furrowed brow. “Matt”, Rae whispered as she started to cry. Graham quickly wrapped her up in his arms. “Shh… Shh, it’s okay. I’m here and he won’t get to you”, he comfortingly said. Rae shook her head violently, “No, no, no. He will find a way. He said that he would keep in touch.” Graham tightened his hold around Rae. “Graham? What have I done? He’s going to make everyone I know and love pay until I am his again”, Rae said. He started rubbing her back, “Shh… Shh, everything will be alright. There’s a warrant out for his arrest and he would be stupid to contact you.” She pulled away to look up at him with a tear-stained face as he quickly began caressing her cheek. “I will not allow him to hurt you ever. He would have to kill me and a few others to get to you. And you know that he will not succeed in that.”

Graham quickly took out his phone and sent a text to someone. He then gathered up her crutches and carried her to her room. His mom was waiting for them at the door when they got there. Julia stayed with Rae while Graham met up with his dad, and talked about what Rae had told him.

Meanwhile, Julia helped Rae get ready for bed. “Hey sweetheart, you sure you’re okay? I can always get Graham back here in a flash”, Julia said softly. Rae gave her a small smile, “Yeah, I’m fine, Mrs. Travers.” Julia waved her hand, “Oh stop with the Mrs. Travers spiel. You can call me ‘Miss Julia’ or ‘mom’, everybody does.” Rae blushed at the thought of calling her ‘mom’. “Well, thank you, Miss Julia. I really do appreciate it”, she said sheepishly. Julia walked her way over to Rae and gave her a hug, “We are family, Rae! We look out for each other! No matter what.” Rae squeezed her to show her appreciation. Julia pulled away, gave her a kiss on the forehead and left Rae in her room.

In the morning, Rae found Graham waiting for her just outside of her room. “Good morning, beautiful! How are you this morning?”, he asked. Rae smiled at him, “Better now that you’re here.” He stepped up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I will always be there for you, Rae! Nothing or no one can take you away from me”, he gently said. He then leaned in and placed a loving kiss on her lips. When he pulled back, Rae was smirking at him. “Well then. I’m going to hold you to that, handsome”, she teased. Graham gave her a peck on the cheek before gathering her stuff and carrying her to breakfast.

On the road, the tension was back. For the seasonal flooding had caused so much damage to some of the roads and landscape, that the checkpoint had to be moved. With the news of the changed location, everyone made their way to the next checkpoint safely without any problems.

Darren was starting to get antsy with the quiet in the car. “You know that he will get caught, right? He will not threaten you or get to you again”, he finally said as he looked over at his sister. Rae shifted in her seat, she refused to look at her brother or say anything. He grabbed her hand, “Everyone will make sure that you’re okay, Rae.” She let out a heavy sigh, “Maybe I should’ve stayed with him and then we wouldn’t be in this mess. Or anyone. I wouldn’t be so stressed worrying about what he will be doing to make sure that I go back with him.” Darren suddenly jerked the car to the side of the road which caused Rae to hold onto the side handle. After cutting off the engine, he fully turned to her. “Rae, look at me.” But she didn’t budge. “Rae! Look at me!”, he said more aggressively. She moved her head slightly so he could see both of her eyes. “This is NOT your fault! He is just some possessive moron who can’t take a hint. He needs to be stopped before he hurts anyone!”, Darren said with conviction. Rae was about to say something, but noticed a car pull up behind them. She let out a deep sigh as she saw who it was.

Graham and William both got out of their car and walked to Darren’s and Rae’s car. “Hey guys! We just got word from our dad that Matt slipped through security at the next checkpoint”, said William. Rae started to freak out at the news, but Graham quickly grabbed her hand. “Hey, hey! Everything will be okay, baby! He is at least a hundred miles away from you! From any of us!”, Graham said, trying to comfort her. Rae started to calm down and nodded at Graham. William looked around, “Okay, so anyway, our parents want Rae to ride with Graham, just to be safe. So, Darren, you’re stuck with me till the checkpoint.” Darren nodded and then started to help Rae get into Graham’s car. Once they were all situated, they continued on with the race.

Later that day, Rae and Graham pulled into the checkpoint just south of Fort Worth. They were then directed to go to a little bed and breakfast instead of a hotel. The elderly couple happily showed them to their room. On the way, they noticed that Grace and Lacy were down the hall from them. Once they were situated in the room, Graham went to go check with his parents about what the plan was for tomorrow.

Rae was taking off her knee brace to change the bandage underneath, when she heard a scream. She grabbed her crutches and rushed over to Grace and Lacy’s room. Upon entering the room, she sees Lacy sobbing in Grace’s arms. “What’s going on? What happened?”, Rae asked. Grace looked up at her, “Lacy got a surprise package from someone.” Rae’s eyes widened, looking around she located the package. Making her way to take a peek inside the box, Grace tried to protest. Rae opened the flap and immediately covered her mouth to prevent herself from vomiting. She glanced over to Grace and Lacy; she then heard a noise at the door and saw Graham. He clearly was aware that something was wrong. “What’s in the box?”, he asked cautiously. Rae shook her head, “It’s … It’s her dog. Graham, … it’s not good.” Graham quickly had Grace move Lacy out of the room until the box could be handled.

Graham then came up to Rae, “Are you okay, baby?” Rae tried to not look into the box again. “Graham, he said that he would make anyone pay. Matt’s starting to make his point that I belong with him!”, she stage whispered. Graham wrapped her up in his arms, seeing that she was trying to not freak out. “Baby, we are going to stop him and everything will okay. Everything will go back to normal, alright? He will not be able to stop my love for you, no matter what he does”, he said. Rae looked up at him, “But I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of me.” Graham started rubbing her back to comfort her. “He will not hurt anyone once we get him. Also, my parents have everyone looking for him, okay? He will not be able to hide forever”, Graham said looking directly into her eyes. Rae nodded and wrapped her arms around his torso, praying to herself that he was right.

Instead of staying in her room that night, Rae spent the night in her parent’s room for safety reasons. Like being a child again, she slept in between them in the king size bed. At first her dreams were soothing and carefree. She felt safe and secure, but felt something nagging in the back of her head. Continuing to enjoy her dreams of bliss, she suddenly felt like she couldn’t breathe. Lifting her hand to her throat, she felt another hand clamping tighter on her windpipe. Rae tried to see who it was, but to no avail did she see the source of the hand. Her hair by her left ear moved to be out of the way. A hot breath engulfed it, sending chills down her spine. “You’re mine!”, a gruff and masculine said. Rae’s eyes widened in fear. “Matt!”, she barely whispered. His muscular body then appeared in front of her, his hand still on her throat. “You’re mine!”, he said again as he was about to hit her.

Shooting up and screaming from the bed, Rae automatically woke up her parents. Meanwhile Rae tried to fight off Matt who was trying to restrain her. Russell and Susan both were fighting to stop her from hurting herself. “What’s wrong with her?”, asked Susan. Russell then bear hugged his daughter to confine her thrashing. “I think she is still asleep. We need to awake her up or try to do something to calm her down”, he explained. Susan then started to sing a song that she used to sing to Rae when she was little. Automatically Rae began to calm down, and appear to still be asleep. Russell continued to hold her and rocked back and forth to comfort her. “It’s okay, princess. It’s okay, we are here”, he kept softly repeating to her. Rae suddenly blinked her eyes a couple of times, “Mom? Dad?” Susan cupped Rae’s face, “We’re here, my little pearl. You’re safe and sound.” Rae’s eyes started to brim with tears and she began to gasp for air. “I can’t do this, I can’t do this”, she murmured. Russell put his head on top of hers, “Yes, you can, princess. Yes, you can! You are so strong and beautiful! You will get through this!” Susan had them lay back down, “Don’t worry, pearl. It was only a dream. We are here, and we will never let anything happen to you.” Both Russell and Susan then kissed Rae on the head as they all drifted back to sleep.