“Okay, fine. When will she be back?”
There was a muted bang from somewhere in the house, and my sisters flinched. Fear pierced straight through me, and I didn’t fucking think as I rushed to my room.
“She… she’s been spending more time away at night. She might not be back for a day or two,” Tammy said, biting her lip, because we both knew what it was. And that explained why Terry was acting like a cunt.
“For fuck’s sake,” I cursed as I grabbed a gym bag from under my bed. “Did you try calling her?”
I yanked the top drawer of my closet open with one hand. I stuffed the bag with socks and underwear as she spoke.
“Yeah, her phone is off again. She doesn’t know he’s like this.”
“It’s not that bad,” Janie said. “He’s just a bit angry again, is all. We just need to stay in our room and we’ll be fine.” She gave me a small smile, but Tammy shot her a scowl. Janie was closer to Terry as well. She was the one that gave a crap about him, whereas Tammy acknowledged what a scumbag he actually was. My fucking family was chaos. It was only three more years until my sisters were out of there, but I was already thinking of getting them out tonight. They didn’t know it, but I had two spare rooms so they could stay with me at the drop of a hat.
“No, don’t defend him,” I said, gritting my teeth as I took shirts, shorts and trousers from hangers, throwing them in thebag as well. I was swiping toiletries from my bathroom when a crash echoed in the house from somewhere around them.
“Fucking hell,” I paused. “Look, I’ll be there in five hours, okay? Just lock the door and keep yourselves in there. Try calling Mum again.”
There was a shout in the background and both of them sucked in a breath. My hands tightened even harder around the phone.
“Dom, it’s okay,” Janie murmured, fighting to play the adult. “We just wanted a distraction, that’s all.”
“It’s not okay. If it was okay, you wouldn’t have called me.”
“But—”
“No,” I cut Janie off, softening my tone. “Don’t feel guilty about it. I’m really glad you called, okay? You know how important this is to me. And you know I’ll be there for you as soon as you ask.”
I just needed some cash and food and then I’d be ready to go. That’s all it would take.
“If something happens to you two and I’m too far away to help, I’ll go crazy.” I might be overreacting, and maybe I was so tense that a single call from them had set me off, but I wasn’t taking a risk. He hadn’t done anything for fifteen years but there was always a chance.
I suddenly regretted moving to London. My thoughts jumped between ‘I could have been there for them more’ to ‘But I would never have met Harry’ to ‘None of this would have happened to the people I loved if I’d made different choices’.
There was silence on the end of the line as I watched them both. “Okay, yeah,” Tammy said quietly. “If maybe you could come, that would be really good.”
“I’m going to keep my phone on me. Keep calling Sally. Hopefully she can come and deal with him. But just ring me if you need to get away from the house. I’ll come and find you, okay?” I paused to look at them both. They knew I’d come and help them in any situation but I needed them to stay in touch during this or I was going to fucking lose my shit. “If it gets too bad, I’ll book you a hotel room. Just get out of the house and I’ll take care of it.”
If there was one thing I actually liked about Sally it was that she cared about my sisters. She might pull all that crap with me, but they were her babies. If Terry ever hurt them, she would annihilate him.
“I’ll be as quick as I can.” At that time of night, it should have been a clear straight up the motorway to Newcastle as soon as I left London.
“Okay,” Janie mumbled.
“Look after yourselves until I get there, alright?”
There were two earnest nods before the screen went dark. I’d have stayed on the phone with them the whole time but it was easier for them to get lost in a movie while Terry got whatever the fuck he was on out of his system.
I dropped the phone into my pocket, zipping up my bag. I threw the strap over my shoulder, heading straight for the door.
Grabbing my laptop from the dining table, and my keys from the bowl, I shot out of my front door, keeping such a hard grip on my phone that my fingers were white. The last time I had held it like this was when I was still sexting Harry and fooling myself into thinking the world would somehow align itself for me and my fucked up desires.
As I started the car, clicking my phone into the holder next to the driver’s seat, I bit my lip, my heart clenching at the thought of the promise I made to Harry. I told him I’d be there when he needed me. It didn’t mean I would stop trying, but I thought I would have the week before Molly returned to do something,anythingelse.
But, he was getting his wish. He told me to go, so I was going. It just wasn’t under the circumstances I thought it would be.
I still couldn’t stop myself. I brought his number up the second I drove out onto the street and dialled through. I didn’t expect him to answer, but I could at least explain what was happening with my sisters. He would understand, if he ever listened to it.
I needed to keep the girls safe. I’d promised them that when I left for uni.