Craig met me at the door, a knowing look on his face. “Ready?”
“Yeah, let’s do this.”
“Florrie, I gotta ask just one last time, are you sure you want to do this?”
I turned to him, tears in my eyes and nodded, knowing this would be the last time I saw him. “I have to. I can’t let him go.”
He pulled me in for a hug, wrapping his arms around me and squeezing me tight. “I’m gonna miss you so fucking much.”
“Me too, but I have to do this.”
“I know.” He held me for another few seconds before pulling back and smiling at me. “Well, let’s get you on the road. We don’t have much time.”
I smiled up at him, grateful to have him on my side, and squeezed his hand. Together, we rushed down the hall to my old suite to get Reid. Since I knew that this could all go south, I figured stashing him here would be our best bet of getting away. When I opened the door, Reid looked up from the couch, like he already knew what was happening.
“The judge sided with the Fullers, right?”
“Yeah, he did, but I have a plan. We’re going to leave, okay?”
“What about Alec?”
I swallowed hard and shook my head slightly. “He’s not coming, but Craig is going to help us get out of here. But we need to leave right now.”
He stood, walking toward me quickly, but before we could leave, the door flew open and Alec stepped inside. His eyes darted from Craig to Reid and I. His jaw was clenched tight and his fists were balled up tight.
“Reid, wait in your room. Florrie and I need to talk.”
“Reid, we’re leaving,” I said, gripping onto his hand, pulling him closer to me.
“I need just a few minutes, bud. Give me that.”
Reid yanked his hand out of mine, giving me a small shrug before slinking off to his room. I turned on Alec, pissed that he was going to do this to me. He could step aside. He could let me walk out of here and I would be happy.
Craig stepped in front of me, putting his hand up against Alec’s chest. “Back off, man. You need to get the fuck out of here before I make you.”
“I need two fucking minutes,” Alec growled. “If you don’t step the fuck aside, I swear to God, I’ll take you out.”
“It’s fine,” I said to Craig, trying to diffuse the situation. It would be faster to just talk to him and then we could leave. Craig glanced at me, letting me know that he was here for whatever I needed, and stepped to the other side of the room.
“Say what you have to say and leave.”
“Florrie, you can’t do this. I know what you’re thinking, but this is insane. You can’t just run.”
“Alec, I can’t let him go to those people. They don’t care about him.”
He ran a hand over his face and sighed. He was giving up. “Florrie, you know I would keep him here if I could.”
I scoffed. “You haven’t tried to keep him since the day he came home with us. Everything out of your mouth has been about doing things that everyone else thinks we should do. We wouldn’t even be in this position if you hadn’t announced to Sean that we had him. He could have been living here with us the whole time and no one would have known.”
“Florrie, you can’t just take kids and decide to keep them. That’s not how this works!”
“That’s exactly how this works,” I snapped. “He belongs with me, and he wants to be with me. He doesn’t trust those people. Sure, they put up a good front, but what’s going to happen when they get him back to Utah? Do you really think they’re going to be good to him? They’re using him for his money, and I’m not going to let that happen!”
“You’ve lost your fucking mind.”
“I know exactly what I’m saying. I’m taking him to a non-extradition country. Hell, I’ll take him anywhere I have to so that I know he’s safe and away from those vultures. I could probably convince Knight to let me stay at his house in Colorado!”
“So, now you want to drag Knight into this? Make him an accomplice to kidnapping?”
“It’s not kidnapping. He’s mine! And he could be yours too, if only you would pull your head out of your ass and come with us. Do you really think I want to leave you? He’s ours Alec. He always has been. You just have to make the right choice and come with us.”
“Florrie, do you even realize what you’re asking? If we ran, we could never come home. Kidnapping is a felony. We’d be looking at twenty or more years in prison if we were caught. And most convicts don’t look too kindly on people that do things to kids.”
“We’re not doing anything to him. We’re protecting him from where the courts are sending him.”
“It’s kidnapping, Florrie. We can’t do that. We can’t put our friends in that position.”
“I’m talking about what’s best for Reid.”
“And what about me?”
“What about you?” I asked irritatedly. “You’re just pissed because my life doesn’t revolve around you. You’ve always wanted to be the center of attention and since Reid came into our lives, you’ve been pissy that it’s not all working out your way.”
He gripped my arms and pulled me into him. “I’m not pissy because he’s
