Christmas on the Run Read online

  Christmas On The Run

  Shannon Nemechek

  To the one man that keeps me going. SC SC SC

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  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  About the Author

  Other Books By Shannon

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  Chapter One

  “Damn it! I forgot my keys.” Skye Howard cursed as she kicked the tire of her Jeep Grand Cherokee. Turning around, she ran back into the White Stone Gallery to retrieve her keys from her desk. As Skye entered the gallery, she could hear Parker and Camden arguing in a back room. Curious, she made her way back toward the offices to investigate the commotion. Once Skye had reached Parker’s office, she peered around the door frame just in time to see Parker shoot Camden. Skye screamed in horror as she watched Camden’s body fall and blood pour onto the carpeted floor. “What did you do, Parker? We need to call 911,” Skye screamed as Parker turned and pointed the gun toward Skye.

  “Parker, what are you doing?” She screamed as Parker pulled the trigger again, this time toward Skye. Terrified, Skye grabbed her keys from the top of her desk and ran out the door with Parker close behind. Running as fast as she could, she clicked the unlock button on her Jeep, jumped into the driver’s seat, and raced toward home. Dialing 911, Skye called the police to report what she had seen.

  “911, may have your name and the nature of your call?” the dispatcher said.

  “My name is Skye Howard, and I would like to report a shooting. I think my fiancé just killed his partner.” Her voice was anxious and scared, and she began to beg the dispatcher. “Please, ma’am, you gotta send someone to White Stone Gallery on Thirteenth Street. Parker Johnson—he’s my fiancé—he shot at me, but I got away. He and I live together in his house with my ten-year-old son. I have my Jeep. I’m getting my son and getting away.”

  “Ma’am, can you tell me who Mr. Johnson shot?” “Yes, his partner, Camden Nelson. Oh my God, I’m scared. Please send someone. Please, I don’t know what Parker will do if he finds me.”

  “Ma’am, go home, get your son, and stay on the line. All right?” the dispatcher asked.

  “Yes. Yes, I can do that,” Skye replied.

  “Ma’am, how far are you from your house? Can you tell me your address? I’ll have a cruiser there ASAP.” The dispatcher was kind and tried to calm Skye down as she was starting to have a complete panic attack. “Ma’am, ma’am, I know you’re scared, but right now the most important thing is to get to your house, retrieve your son, and get to safety. Now, Skye, can you tell me your address so I can have a police officer meet you at your house?”

  Skye rattled off her address. “There’s a security gate, so the officer will have to buzz the gate.”

  “Okay, ma’am, hold on. I’m going to call out a cruiser to your house. Stay on the line. All right?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Skye responded as she turned the corner toward her house. So far, so good. Parker isn’t around yet, she thought as she pulled up to the gate and entered the code into the keypad. As the gates opened, Skye went over a list in her head of what she needed to grab and tried to compose herself so she didn’t scare Tyler, her son. How am I going to break this to him? Sure, he’s just a kid, but his friends are here, and he would have to leave them behind. Skye felt bad, but Parker had given her no choice but to run. She didn’t know what he would do; he had already tried to kill her. If she hadn’t have run when she did, she would be dead and Tyler would be without his mother and would have no idea who his dad was. Then it hit her—Crawford, Montana. I will go home to Crawford. Parker had no idea how to find her there; she had never told him where she was from, that she could remember anyway. Parking in front of the house and popping open the trunk, Skye ran into the house and up to Tyler’s room. He was playing with the Lego set he had gotten just a few days before.

  “Tyler, baby. We’re going to go on a trip. We’re gonna go see your grandpa up in Crawford. Would you like to go to the ranch?” “But Momma, we got school tomorrow,” the boy replied.

  “I know, baby, but this is just something we gotta do. So grab a few toys, and Momma will grab you some clothes, and we’ll get on the road,” she said as she grabbed his small bag from underneath his bed and began to fill it with clothing.

  “But Momma, I’m hungry,” he said, grabbing as many Legos as possible and his superhero action figure.

  “Baby, Mommy will pick you up something on the road. Okay? Let’s take your toys and go get into the car, okay?” she said as she zipped up the boy’s bag and helped him with his toys. Tyler stood up, and Skye took his hand as they made their way down the stairs and outside to the Jeep. Still no Parker. Good. I guess it was a good thing they drove together in to work today. I got the Jeep, and we have to be at least twenty minutes ahead of him. It’s only a matter of time, she thought as she loaded Tyler into the back and jumped into the driver’s seat and drove out the gate.

  When she got down the road some, the dispatcher spoke, and Skye jumped. She had forgotten that the dispatcher had stayed on the line. “Ma’am, are you there?” the dispatcher’s voice came over the speakers in the Jeep.

  “Yes, ma’am. I’m here. I have my son, and we’re getting onto the interstate now,” Skye told the dispatcher.

  “Ma’am, I want you to find the nearest police station and go there. I will have an officer meet you outside,” the dispatcher told Skye.

  “Ma’am, I can’t do that. Parker has friends in the department, and I don’t know who to trust. I am going to go to my family home. I will be in contact, I promise,” Skye said as she hung up the phone.

  The taxi carrying Parker stopped at the gate of his house, and Parker paid the driver a one hundred-dollar bill and told the driver to forget he saw him. The driver was more than happy to oblige him and sped off. Parker entered the code to the gate and made his way up the driveway to his house. When he walked in, he yelled for Skye, but there was no answer. Just as he was getting ready to call out for Skye again, the maid, Jasmine, appeared, and without a word, she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him. They kissed.

  “Jasmine, baby, did you see Skye come back here?” “Yeah, but I don’t wanna talk about her. We got the house to ourselves for a while. I overheard her tell the brat that they were going on a trip,” Jasmine said as she continued to kiss Parker and grab at his clothes. “Come on, Parker, we can fuck right here in the middle of the house and that bitch you’re gonna marry won’t have a clue.”

  “Did she say where?” Parker screamed.

  “I don’t know…I heard her say Crawford. That was it. Geesh, Parker. She’s gone. Let’s have some fun.”

  “Jasmine, you don’t understand. She saw me shoot Camden. We gotta get to her before she goes to the police, if she hasn’t already. Grab some of your shit. I’ll get the Jag. It’s gotta be Crawford, Montana. She told me she was from Montana. We gotta get outta town now. Can’t be that fucking hard to find the Howard Ranch. Seems like she said it was called the Triple H Ranch.” Jasmine was still standing next to Parker. She listened as he rambled. Then Parker, realizing that she had yet to move her ass, yelled, “Get your fucking clothes, Jasmine, and let’s get the fuck outta here.”

  Parker grabbed his phone from his pocket and dialed his pilot. “Yeah, this is Mr. Johnson. Can you fuel up the jet and have it ready for me and my companion in forty-five minutes? I don’t care if you have to file a flight plan. Get it filed now,” he screamed. “Crawford, Montana.” He li
stened for a moment. “I don’t know when we’re coming back. I’ll get you a hotel.” He turned back to his phone. “Okay, see you in a few minutes.” Parker hung up his phone and backed out of the garage as he pulled in front of the double doors of his house. He then blasted the horn of the Jag to signal Jasmine to get moving. Jasmine came running out the front door with two bags and her dog.

  “Come on, Jas. We gotta go before the cops get here,” he said as he revved the engine. Tossing the bags in the back, Jasmine buckled herself in the passenger seat and cradled her dog in her lap as Parker sped off through the gate and out onto the street.

  Skye was finally starting to breathe a sigh of relief once she took the exit onto I-80W all the way to Montana. It was going to be a long drive, but she had to get away as quickly as she could. It was now getting close to seven o’clock, and they still had not eaten. Tyler was laying in the backseat asleep, but she knew that she needed to stop soon to get fuel and food, so Skye decided once she got to Tannersville, Pennsylvania, they would stop, find a place to lay low, fill up, and eat for the night. In the morning, she would find the nearest car rental shop and ditch the Jeep. She would come back for it later.

  Chapter Two

  When Skye finally got Tyler back down to sleep in the small, dingy motel, it was eleven o’clock, and she was completely exhausted. Grabbing the phonebook from the nightstand, she thumbed through it looking for a rental car agency and what time they opened. They needed to get back on the road early. They still had at least two days of driving before they got back home to Crawford.

  Crawford. She hadn’t been there since graduation night, the night that changed her life forever. She had vowed she would never return after she had caught the love of her life—Tyler’s daddy—with her nemesis, Dee Dee Freeman.

  Cody Wilson was captain of the football team, class president, and overall hotness in cowboy boots. Skye and Cody had been inseparable nearly their entire lives. Their family ranches were right next to each other, and the families often had huge barbecues where the whole town of Crawford gathered at the Triple H Ranch to celebrate. Most of the time Skye’s daddy needed no reason to have a gathering; he would just say, “Jessie”—that was Skye’s momma—“Jessie, I am in dire need of a shin-dig.” Then Skye’s momma would make all the arrangements, and the following weekend they would have the huge shin-dig that included the entire town.

  It wasn’t until her sophomore year in high school that the parties stopped. That was the year Skye’s momma Jessie passed away from uterine cancer. One day she was there, the next she wasn’t. It was then that Skye’s daddy withdrew from the world—the day he lost Jessie. Turns out Skye’s momma had known for quite some time that she was dying but chose not to tell her husband and her only daughter. Jessie had left a note and instructions with Crawford’s only lawyer, Jake Sinclair, that he was to give a letter to Ross Howard, Skye’s daddy, upon her death and ensure that all of her final wishes were adhered to the letter. It was her goodbye letter to Ross and Skye. That’s also around the same time that Cody and Skye began dating. Cody would take Skye on long walks by the lake and down the hiking trails up into the mountains that surrounded their ranches. Cody did all he could to make Skye happy, and she was. They had their entire life together planned out from the day they graduated to the day they died.

  But those were all childish dreams she had had with a young, and as it turned out, cheating boyfriend. Skye would never forget that day after the graduation party at the Wilsons’ ranch, The Bent Arrow. They were going to meet in the bunkhouse at her daddy’s ranch and then get in the truck and drive to Vegas and elope. So as the party was starting to wind down, Skye had decided she would go look for Cody. She hadn’t seen him in awhile, and most of the people were leaving. When she turned the corner toward the horse barn, standing near the corral were Cody and Dee Dee. She had her arms wrapped around his neck, and they were kissing. Skye’s heart sank as she witnessed the embrace, and she ran to her truck and sped off toward her house. Once she got there, she grabbed some clothes, then she scribbled on a pad of paper a note that read:

  Cody,

  You low down, knuckle draggin’ son of a bitch! You can go to hell! I never want to see you again!

  Skye

  Running to the bunkhouse, she pinned the note to the fireplace and then grabbed her bag, threw it into the truck, and ran back into the house to say her goodbyes to her daddy.

  “Get off me, you crazy bitch!” Cody screamed at Dee Dee Freeman, who stood in front of Cody smiling as if she were the cat that ate the canary.

  “What, Cody? I thought you wanted to go to the barn and fuck,” she said.

  “Hell no, you fuckin’ skank. You asked to see the horse barn; I’m being a good host. What the fuck? Dee Dee, you need to go home. You’re drunk, and I’ll make sure you get home. All right?”

  “All right, Cody baby. You can take me home. We’ll fuck there,” she said as she wrapped her arms around him, planting a kiss on his lips.

  Cody pushed her away, then took her arm and walked her to his truck. “I am just taking you home. I am not gonna sleep with you. You know I love Skye. Hell, I’m supposed to be meeting her in twenty minutes at the Triple H. We’re getting married in Vegas. But instead, I’m stuck driving your drunk ass home. You best hope I don’t miss her, Dee Dee,” he said, helping her into his truck and then driving her into town. As he pulled into Dee Dee’s driveway, her dad was already standing in the yard. Cody parked the truck and helped her from the passenger seat.

  “Mr. Freeman, I’m sorry. I don’t know where she got the alcohol, but she needs to sleep it off,” Cody said as Mr. Freeman grabbed Dee Dee under her arm and walked her toward the door.

  “Thank you, Cody. You’re a good boy. Sure wish Dee Dee would find somebody like you. She’s stuck on that damned ol’ Frank ‘the tank’ Morrison, and that kid is trouble with a capital T.”

  “Aw, Mr. Freeman, Tank really ain’t that bad. He just needs a good role model. He got a college scholarship to the University of Alabama, and they’re the national champions. Sure, Tank is a little crazy, but I think with your guidance he could be a great man just like you, Mr. Freeman. You don’t got no boys, so Tank could fill that for ya. I’m just saying,” Cody said as Mr. Freeman sat Dee Dee on the couch. “Ya know, Cody, you’re right. Thank you. Your daddy raised a pretty smart boy—I mean man. Thanks for bringin’ her home. She gonna face the consequences in the morning,” he said as he walked Cody to the door. “Now you get home safe. And thanks again.”

  Looking down at his watch, he was already ten minutes late. Skye is gonna be upset for a little while, he thought, but we got the rest of our lives, and I’ll make every one of them count. He sped back to the ranch and parked his truck in front of the bunkhouse. Weird, lights ain’t on. She must think she’s gonna jump out and scare me. He opened the bunkhouse door and let it swing open as quickly as he could.

  “Got ya, baby!” he said, but silence met his ears. “Skye, where are you, baby? Are we playing hide and seek now?” He flipped on the lamp that sat next to the chair. When the light came on, a paper pinned to the mantel flapped in the evening air. Cody walked over and pulled it down. He turned it around. His heart sank, and his eyes filled with tears as he ran out the door of the bunkhouse and up to the main house.

  He didn’t see Skye’s truck, but maybe Ross Howard, Skye’s daddy, knew where she was. Cody banged on the door, and soon Mr. Howard answered. “Hey, Cody.” His face was worn, and Cody could tell he was upset. “Skye’s not here. She left. I don’t know where she was going, but she was pretty upset and wouldn’t tell me nothing. She just cried and packed, then got into her truck and left.”

  “Gone? I don’t understand, Mr. Howard. Why would she leave?” Cody asked, his eyes welling up more as the tears began to flow.

  “I sure am sorry, Cody. I don’t know what got into her. Maybe she’ll be back after she cools off. But the way she bolted out of here, I don’t expect her back anytime soon.”<
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  Cody couldn’t believe it. She just up and ran off without a word, no goodbye or nothing, he thought as he stretched out his hand to shake Mr. Howard’s hand. “Thank you, sir. I appreciate everything you done for me. I’ll go see if I can find her.” Cody started down the stairs toward his truck.

  “All right, Cody, but I doubt you’re gonna find her when she don’t wanna be found. Best let her cool off a bit. If I hear from her, I’ll let ya know,” Mr. Howard said as he held up his hand and waved goodbye. “Bye now. Be careful.”

  As she drove off, Skye had no idea where she was headed; she just kept driving, and before she knew it, she was in New York City. She drove around the city that first night and then Sunday night parked and locked her doors and fell asleep. As the days passed into weeks, she found a job as an executive assistant to an art dealer named Parker Johnson. It wasn’t long after that she found out she was pregnant. She had been attending college while working and had gotten herself a cheap little place above the gallery where she worked. When the day came that she went into labor, Parker was there. He got her to the hospital and helped her through the entire delivery. As her son grew older, she graduated from college with a degree in Art History, and her relationship with Parker developed into something more than boss and assistant. They soon moved in together, and well, it was like her fairy tale until yesterday when he shot Camden and pointed the gun at her.

  It had been weeks, and still, Cody had no idea where Skye was or even why she left. He tried to fill in his time by working at the ranch and getting drunk at the Bent Nickel, but when he was alone, lying in his bed staring at the ceiling, all he could think about was Skye. She was his everything, and she ripped his heart to shreds and left them lying on the bunkhouse floor at the Triple H. Cody made sure he stopped over a few times a week to check on Ross Howard and to also see if he had heard from Skye, but it was always the same answer. “Cody, ain’t heard a thang. She’ll call when she’s ready. She’s a stubborn one, always has been.”