Hearts In Rhythm Read online

“No, you’re not,” Dylan was before him in an instant. “This is my boy. I have every right to him.” He began to try to take Samuel out of Brandon’s hands. Allie forced herself between them and faced Dylan.

  She shoved him on his chest. “Get out! Get out now! You have no right to him. Just get out!”

  Tears streamed down Samuel’s cheeks. His crying almost matched the volume of Allie’s voice. He was reaching for his mother, almost hysterical. Brandon smoothed his hair and held him tight to keep him from wrenching loose from his grip.

  Dylan’s voice remained steady. “You can’t stop me from seeing him, Allie.”

  Gail stepped around the corner from her bedroom.

  “It’s time for you to go. Or I’m calling the cops.”

  Dylan began backing towards the door.

  “Don’t think you’ve heard the last of me. That’s my boy, and look at him. You’re unfit, Allie. I’m going to prove it too. I’ll see you in court.”

  At that, he turned and walked out.

  Allie turned towards Brandon and Samuel who was still screaming. She wrapped both her arms around them and began to sob.

  “No one is taking my boy away. No one.”

  * * * *

  Allie lay awake that night. Samuel was nestled beside her, sleeping deeply. His heavy breathing was a sweet sound to her ears. She, on the other hand, was restless. Her mind was a whirlwind of questions. What if Dylan gets a lawyer? There was no way she had the money to afford one, but she wouldn’t dare go to court without one. She could only hope he was bluffing. He didn’t even know Samuel. Why would he want a relationship with him now after all this time?

  She contemplated her options. She had none. Except to run. She could take Samuel and go someplace else, not tell anyone, not even her mother. It would be best that way, so no one would be forced to lie.

  But where would she go? She lay in bed, one leg thrown out of the covers, stroking Samuel’s head imagining a new, different life. She envisioned a nice little two-bedroom house for her and Samuel. It was white with Kelly green shutters on the windows. There was a puppy in the yard, and there was Samuel running and playing, the puppy at his heels. She was there too, sitting in a rocker on the porch laughing at her son and his dog. Yes, it was possible. She could make a good life for the two of them.

  She eased out of bed, pulling her arm gently from underneath Samuel’s head so not to disrupt his sleep. She froze in the dark room when he groaned and rolled to his side. She waited just a second to make sure he was back to sleep and padded to the dresser. She opened her sock drawer and found the pair of black socks with four leaf clovers stamped on them.

  She reached into the toe of one and pulled out the roll of money that she had been saving. She unfolded the bills and counted them. She already knew how much money was there, but she wanted to double-check herself. She didn’t have enough to last long, but enough to get her settled and one month’s rent paid. She replaced the sock back in the drawer and walked out of the bedroom.

  Using her cell phone as a night-light, she went to the bookcase in the living room where her mom kept an atlas that had a page for each state. She sat on the couch with the atlas in her hand and began thumbing through not looking for any place in particular.

  Her thoughts wandered to her mom. She would be distraught when she discovered them gone, but it would be a relief to her as well. Allie knew her mom loved her and Samuel dearly, but they were also a big responsibility, one might even consider them a burden. Especially since Samuel’s accident, Gail had appeared depressed. She was always gloomy, but Allie noticed a more pronounced sadness. She felt guilty, Allie knew it, but accidents happen. Even the child welfare, when they came to the hospital to investigate, dismissed it as accidental.

  Allie knew Gail would take their leaving hard, but it would be best in the long run for everyone. And then there was Brandon. The band would suffer, but not as much as she would suffer if Dylan really did what he threatened. She could be replaced as a drummer, and they would survive. She would miss Brandon, but she didn’t know his feelings for her anyway. He has Simone and it would be best if she gets out of the picture. New scenery and a new start away from her mom may be just what she needed.

  She opened the map wide and it fell open to a random page. She would let destiny decide her future. She squeezed her eyes shut and lifted her finger. Turning it slowly, a childhood song came to mind. Round and round and round she goes, where she stops nobody knows. Her finger plopped down on the page. She slowly opened her eyes and shone her phone toward it to see her fate. She lifted her finger and read the name underneath. Paramount. Paramount, Massachusetts. What a fitting name. A supreme choice for a very important move.

  * * * *

  Across town, sleep evaded Brandon after the situation he was involved in. He rolled to his side and looked at the glowing red numbers on the alarm clock. 2:17 glared back at him.

  He got out of bed and dressed quickly. Grabbing his keys, he backed out of his driveway and headed south. It was a cold night in early December. The sky was clear but patches of snow still remained along the sides of houses and in the shadows of tree trunks. He turned off the radio willing the silence that surrounded him to calm his mind.

  Before he realized it, he was heading down Allie’s street. He parked the car across from her house and cracked the window. The neighborhood was quiet. He could hear a dog barking some distance away. A light appeared in a window. It could be Gail, but it also could be Allie. He wanted to talk to her. She had been so upset after Dylan had appeared; Brandon thought it best that he leave without prying or interfering.

  He got the gist of the situation however. It didn’t take a brain surgeon to figure it out.

  What Allie didn’t know, was that Dylan didn’t leave right away. When Brandon stepped outside, he saw him leaning against his car smoking a cigarette.

  He checked both ways before crossing the street. Not so much for cars, but for witnesses. His blood was boiling. Before he could even get over to him, Dylan had scoffed.

  “So what? Are you Allie’s new thing?” He blew out a long stream of smoke and didn’t wait for an answer.

  “Let me save you some trouble. That girl, she’s nothing but a two bit tramp with kid that’s a…”

  Brandon didn’t wait for him to finish. He doubled up his fist and made contact with Dylan’s nose. He even surprised himself with that action. He watched Dylan’s head snap back and then fall forward. He hoped that would be all it took to get him to leave, but instead he dropped his cigarette and came at Brandon. Brandon braced himself as Dylan threw his weight into Brandon’s shoulder and wrapped his arms around his waist.

  The momentum was too much and they fell to the street. Rocks and gravel dug into Brandon’s back as he squirmed trying to throw Dylan off of him. But Dylan overpowered him and began landing blows to Brandon’s face.

  He placed his arms in front of his face to block and winced at every blow that snuck past and landed on his face and head. He felt blood running down the side of his face and into his ear. And yet they just kept coming.

  A shooting pain went through his eye and he cried out for the first time but it was drowned by the grunts and curse words of Dylan.

  In the fraction of a second it took to wonder if he was going to be beaten to death, he saw Allie’s face. She was there just for an instant. But in that instant, it became clear, the reason he was lying on the ground taking a beating in the first place surfaced. It was for her. And it was for Samuel. He would fight for them. He would do whatever it took.

  At that moment, something inside of him snapped. He gritted his teeth and with a power and force that he hadn’t known he possessed, he used his arms and his hips to throw Dylan off of him. Dylan landed on his back and began to scramble to his feet, but Brandon was faster. He quickly swiped the blood out of his eyes and ran towards Dylan, who was in a half-crouch, hunched over position attempting to stand. Brandon drew his leg back just like he practiced when he was the ki
cker on the football team. With a running impact, He lifted his leg and aimed it right toward Dylan’s head. He felt the impact immediately and knew he landed a good blow.

  Dylan fell backwards at once and lay quiet on the ground groaning.

  “You broke my nose,” he said in a nasally tone. “I think you broke my nose.”

  Brandon walked over to him and squatted down beside him. He clenched Dylan by the throat and squeezed.

  “Tell me that you’re going to leave Allie and Samuel alone.”

  “I am,” he wheezed.

  “You’re not going to get a lawyer, are you?”

  “No.”

  “You’re not going to bother her ever again, right?”

  “Never again.”

  Brandon released Dylan and he immediately rolled to his side and began coughing and gasping for breath.

  Brandon pulled a blue bandanna from his hip pocket and tossed it on the ground before Dylan. He picked it up and held it to his nose, continuing to cough.

  “Go home,” Brandon said. He walked to his car and drove off.

  At the stop sign, he looked at his reflection in his rear view mirror. His eyes were already beginning to swell shut. His lips were busted, blood was smeared across his face, and his hair was matted with blood and sweat. He touched the back of his head. Warm wetness met his fingers and when he removed them, his fingertips were coated in blood from his head hitting the pavement repeatedly with each blow.

  He made it to his house and in the bathroom. He turned the hot faucet on at the sink and waited while the water slowly warmed to a temperature he could stand. He placed a washrag under and began cleaning his face and washing his cuts.

  He’d never fought anyone before. It was apparent he didn’t know how, and he hoped he never had to fight again. The pain in his head and face was excruciating, but he couldn’t help but feel another feeling. What was it? Honor perhaps. A sense of pride. Accomplishment. He felt like a warrior. Not a mean, vindictive man who was out to hurt people for no reason, like Dylan. But a hero. Someone who stood up for the underdog. Someone willing to fight for the rights of those who couldn’t fight for themselves. That someone was Allie. And Samuel.

  Now sitting across from her house with his cuts bandaged and two doses of pain reliever in his system, he watched the porch light come on and Allie appear. She was rolling a suitcase and had a bag hanging off each shoulder. She hadn’t mentioned she was planning a trip to Brandon. Where would she be going with Samuel just released? Had she forgotten their gig was in just a few days?

  She popped her trunk and began hoisting the luggage into the back.

  He didn’t think about how she would react when she saw his battered face, what she would say when she realized he was sitting across from her house at three in the morning, or how she would react to his boldness.

  “Allie.” He called crossing the street. She turned from the car and looked his direction.

  He jogged across and stood before her.

  “What are you doing, Allie? Where are you going?”

  “Brandon,” her voice held a tone of surprise. “What are you doing here? It’s like three in the morning.”

  She leaned closer to him under the light emulating from the porch.

  “What happened to you? Oh my gosh, have you been in a wreck?”

  “No. I’m fine. Allie, tell me. What are you doing?”

  She turned from him and shut the trunk.

  “You should go, Brandon. It’ll be best if you do.”

  “I’m not leaving. And I’m not letting you leave without telling me where I can find you. I don’t want this to end, Allie. I don’t want to look back and wish I would’ve made you stay.” He stepped closer and took her hand. “Allie, you are important to me. Please understand that.”

  She looked at the ground and when she lifted her eyes to him, tears were streaming down her cheeks. His heart could barely stand to see her cry. He reached up and wiped her tears, wishing he could fix every burden she was bearing.

  “You wanna talk about it?” he asked softly.

  She nodded.

  “Let’s get out of the cold.”

  He pulled her around to the side of the car and opened the back door. She slid into the back seat and he sat next to her. He half stood and leaned over the front seat, turning the keys in the ignition.

  “Let’s warm up the car and get the heater going,” he suggested.

  The roar of the engine came on along with the factory stereo sat to an FM soft rock station.

  He leaned back and put his right arm around her pulling her close. She nestled down and placed her head against his chest. The feel of her against his body warmed him up immediately, but he could tell she was still cold.

  They sat there for several minutes in silence. Nothing but the sounds of their breathing, the blast from the heater, and the voice of Phil Collins singing Groovy Kind of Love filled the space. Brandon closed his eyes and leaned his head back resting it on the top of the seat. He wouldn’t pressure her to talk; he just wanted to convince her to stay. He would give her all the time she needed to open up to him.

  He felt sleep finally pushing its way in, crowding out all the anxiety, worry, and concern that was keeping it away. His body gave in to the exhaustion. The shroud of sleep was covering him, taking him away, when Allie’s voice broke in and brought him back.

  “I’m scared, Brandon.”

  He lifted his head from the back of the seat and waited for her to go on.

  “I don’t know what else to do. Leaving is my only option. Dylan’s family has plenty of money. And if he wants to take me to court, he could afford the best lawyer out there. I don’t have any money for a lawyer.”

  She took a deep breath.

  “Besides all that, I don’t even want him in Samuel’s life. I know kids need their dads, but not him. Not when their dad is Dylan.”

  Brandon waited to make sure she was finished. He cleared the sleep from his throat.

  “If I told you not to worry, could you trust me?”

  There was a long pause.

  “I don’t know. I mean, trust is pretty hard for me to dish out these days.”

  “Allie?”

  She sat up and looked at him.

  “I had a talk with Dylan when he left here. Well, I had more than a talk with Dylan.” He pointed to his face. “I’m pretty sure, he won’t be bothering you.”

  “Oh my gosh.” She sat up straighter “He did that to you? We should call the cops and press charges.”

  “No. It’s over. What’s done is done. And besides, I kind of started it.”

  “What? Why?”

  “For you. For Samuel. I love that kid.”

  Allie smiled at him and he saw tears filling her eyes again. He was pretty sure this time they weren’t tears of sadness.

  “So, you’re confident that he won’t try to get Sammie?”

  “I’m pretty sure. And if he does do something, I will be right here. I will help you any way you need. I mean anything, Allie. I’ll pay for a lawyer. I actually know a pretty good one who deals with these kinds of cases.”

  She moved over and kissed him on the cheek.

  “Thank you. But I have one question.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Won’t Simone object to all this help?”

  “Simone’s out of the picture.” He tried to keep his voice free from any emotion, but Allie noticed.

  “How are you doing with that?”

  “At first, I tried to be upset. But truthfully, Simone and I had our differences. I believe all things happen for a reason, and she overreacted.”

  He smiled at Allie. “But I’m glad she overreacted.”

  She smiled back.

  “Me too.”

  “Now let’s get these suitcases unpacked, then we’ll go grab some breakfast.”

  “That sounds great,” Allie said.

  Brandon killed the motor, and climbed out of the car reaching for Allie and giving her a hand.<
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  It had been a long night, but it was all worth it.

  Chapter Ten

  The next few days leading up to the gig, Allie spent as much time with Brandon as possible. They spent time getting to know each other, practicing for the gig, and hanging out with Samuel.

  Samuel was healing very well. The casts were going to be removed after Christmas. He and Brandon’s relationship grew stronger. There were several times that Brandon offered to keep him during Allie’s evening shifts to give Gail a break as well. He absolutely adored Brandon, and Allie was pretty sure Brandon felt the same way.

  For once in her life, Allie felt like everything was as it should be. Even though things were moving slowly romantically, she and Brandon were building a friendship. A lasting friendship. If it were to become something more, Allie would be thrilled, but as it stood, she was happy just having a friend, someone who would be there for her no matter what.

  * * * *

  The night of the gig arrived. Teenagers stood shoulder to shoulder against the walls of the auditorium. They filled the dance floor, bodies everywhere. Arms and legs were nothing but a frenzy of dancing. The energy from the night’s celebration was electric, filling the room with crazy excitement.

  Allie sat behind her drum set, completely lost in the night. Everything about it was good. She felt the music and was nailing the songs in all the right places. The energy from the crowd was pulsating and contagious.

  At the end of the first set, Brandon signaled a break.

  “Hey Class of 2013! How’s everybody feeling out there?” he screamed into the microphone. The room filled with cheers.

  “The band’s going to take a quick break, but keep dancing and we’ll be back in about fifteen minutes.”

  Cody put on an iPod playlist of top hits. The crowd, who had all been standing idly, ran to the center of the dance floor to take part in Gangnam Style, a popular crowd pleaser.

  A smile passed Allie’s lips but at the same time she couldn’t help feeling loss. This was what she missed out on. Her pregnancy had cost her these experiences of her own, as motherhood comes at a very high price. She decided for one night she would enjoy it, as if the night belonged to her. She closed her eyes and allowed the music to carry her back to her senior year. She had delivered Samuel in March and completed her graduation requirements in an alternative high school program where she could work at her own pace.