Free Surviving the Pain (A Baby Saved Me Series Book 1) by P. J. Belden Page A

registered the sound of her son’s voice in her half-asleep, half-awake state her mind was in. “Mommy!” Hudson said louder.
    Jerking up on the bed, she looked at her laughing son. “What time is it?”
    He shrugged his shoulders. “I no not know dat, Mommy.”
    She quickly corrected her son on how to say ‘I don’t know that’ properly. She stretched for a moment. Blinking her eyes rapidly, she looked at the alarm clock next to her bed. “Oh! Booga, it’s only five in the morning.”
    He shrugged. “My door open.”
    A chill ran down her spine. “Get up in Mommy’s bed, sweetie.”
    Her son looked at her quizzically but still scurried up into her bed. Giggling softly, he cuddled under the blankets. But just as quickly as he climbed up in her bed, he jumped down screaming ‘Potty!’ and ran to the bathroom before she could stop him. A loud scream filled the apartment, and her son hurried back into the room at the same time that she heard a loud crash in the other room.
    “Mommy!” Hudson cried in her arms as she shut the door and locked it. It wouldn’t save them. These were flimsy ass doors and could not stand up to anything, but hopefully, it bought her some time.
    “Come on,” Ember whispered as she walked him over to the stand next to her bed, grabbed her phone and then took both of them in the closet. “You have to be really quiet, okay? Can you be a big boy and keep quiet for me?”
    All he did was nod his head and curled around his knees in the far back of Ember’s closet. Turning her phone on, she dialed her father’s number. The phone went immediately to voicemail, and she cursed under her breath. After trying her mom and Grey, she finally got a hold of Holden.
    “I’m a bit busy at the moment.” He answered instead of saying hello.
    “Please help us, Holden.” Her voice was barely above a whisper, but she knew he heard the fear in her voice.
    “What’s wrong?” The moaning in the background stopped, and a whine filled the silence.
    Ember cringed at what she just interrupted. “S-s-someone’s in the apartment.” She could hear whoever’s steps thud down the hall. “Hurry please!” Then she disconnected the call. Turning to Hudson, she lifted his chin so he could see her face. “Listen to me. If they find us, I want you to stay hidden. Then when I say ‘get out’ I want you to run for the door and make sure that Uncle Den gets here okay?”
    Tears streamed down his little face as he nodded his head yes. Ember pressed a long kiss to his forehead. Resting her head on his, she told him one more thing.
    “No matter what you hear as you’re running… You keep running, okay?”
    “Mommy,” he croaked.
    “Everything will be okay. Just promise me you’ll do that, all right?”
    Her son’s little head bobbed up and down as he took a halted breath. Ember scooted them further back in the closet and covered her precious little boy with blankets. That’s when she bumped the box that had once been under her bed, until a few days ago. She never did finish looking at it. It was trading pain for fear, but it was a trade Ember wanted to exchange at that moment. Opening the letter, she was shocked when money fell from inside the folded piece of paper, a lot of money. Stuffing that back in the envelope, she hid it in her closet and turned her attention back to the letter.
    Ems my love,
    I’ve sat here and stared at those three words for what feels like hours. I’ve already boxed up your gifts and your card. If I know you, and I’d like to think I still do, you opened the card first and this letter second. You never were a material kind of person. You’d much prefer the person’s thoughts, feelings, or actions over that of a monetary gift. Only I can’t do any of those things because I’ve let you down. I left and never looked back, or at least that’s what you thought. The thing is, I did look back and have since the day you found me. The time I had with you, it was my only