Coyote (Hawks MC Next Generation #1) - Lila Rose Page 0,4

following weekend, when Dad had been passed out, we took what we could from the house, along with his pay from his wallet, and left. We moved into a small house just out of Ballarat, since we didn’t have enough money to go further. I didn’t go back to school until we changed our last name from Fry to Edwards.

Besides Mum informing the previous school, the only other person who knew I wasn’t going back was Darla. However, I couldn’t tell her where we were because we couldn’t risk Dad finding us. I’d asked Mum one night why we couldn’t have just gone to the police. Sorrow washed over her face, and she said, “I wished we could have, honey, but your father has many friends within the force, and I couldn’t risk any charges being swept under and us being stuck in the situation. It’s better this way.”

We stayed there for five years. Both Mum and I got a job and saved everything we could because we had our dream. We both loved baking and wanted it to be in our future.

It was after I’d completed high school when we’d moved back into town. We had always loved the town and knew a business wouldn’t survive in the area we’d escaped to. And since we hadn’t seen or heard anything from my dad, Percy Fry, we wouldn’t be hassled and could live many more years without sight of that man. There was also the chance he wouldn’t recognise me if we saw each other down the street. Then again, if he did, I doubted he’d care because not once had he bothered to come looking for us. Thank God.

Darla had kept an eye on him for us, and she was the one who told us he went about his days as if we’d never existed. Which was good for us and helped ease our anxiety to live a happy life. Not only that, but I made sure I would be able to protect myself just in case another man in my life ever thought he could hurt me.

Now, after seeing Cody, it brought up that dreadful day. The humiliation and hurt. God, I wasn’t sure why I was worried. I wasn’t even sure if he got my note or would know who I was.

I sighed as I refilled the coffee cups. I was being dramatic and allowing my worry to take control. I didn’t need to.

In all these years, I hadn’t seen him around, and he’d never been in the shop before. I highly doubted he would come back either. Honestly, I didn’t think he even lived in town anymore. So many others I knew from those days had moved away, moved to the city for work, like Darla had, only she went further to overseas a couple of years ago. It was sad to see her go, but her boyfriend had a business opportunity he couldn’t pass up. She now worked as a dental assistant somewhere in Ohio.

“Are you getting out of here anytime soon?” Denise asked. Like Stanley, she’d been with me from the start. I would be lost without her. She was only a few years older than me, but we became close within the first week. If it weren’t for Denise and Stanley, when I lost Mum, I would have given up. I’d been beyond a wreck losing her. For a while, I didn’t want to continue, wanted to give up, but I knew Mum would have smacked me upside the head and told me to “Suck it up, buttercup.” Eventually, I did. It was hard, but I kept going for Mum. And even after she passed, she made sure she took care of me. I’d been surprised when I found out she had life insurance and I was the sole beneficiary to seven hundred thousand dollars. A lot of it went into the business, paying off our debts, and buying the house we’d rented together, which was conveniently just down the road from the bakery.

“I’m going.” I smiled. “See you tomorrow.” Denise closed for me since the afternoons were quieter than the mornings and lunches. I also had to get up at 3:00 a.m. to cook the cakes, slices, cookies, bread, and rolls.

“You got it, and maybe then you can explain why you were hiding.”

I stilled. “Um, I wasn’t?”

She snorted. “Yeah, right.”

Well shit. If Denise knew I’d been hiding, would Cody? Shaking my head, I walked out the back to get my things before