Road to Freedom

Renee was excited, all they had to do was get everything packed and loaded, which only took three hours. She spent a good twenty minutes looking at the apartment thinking to herself, "I cannot believe we almost made life work here, as much as I hate it, thank you Leo." Renee then turned, grabbed the last box, "boys, make sure you have everything, I mean everything. I do not think the landlord would mail anything to us so do not forget anything, meet me at the RV" she walked outside where Jake and the guys he hired were waiting. "You ready babe?" he asked, grabbing the box from her, and giving it to the guys, "Put this in the RV," knowing it was the last box for a reason. Renee watched the boys run out, nearly falling, "woah guys, slow down, you got everything?" she asked one last time as she walked up to lock the door. They, of course, ignored her and ran to the RV to excited about this trip. Renee could not help but laugh knowing that this was the first trip in 6 years, they could not go anywhere when Leo was sick, and when he passed, she could not afford it. Interrupted by Jake, "boys are on, truck is closed, and locked. The guys will follow us, they only asked one thing of us, when we stop, we get burgers. They are easy to please" he laughed opening the door for Renee to climb in the front with him. "How do you know them? The tall one looks familiar, like maybe I seen him with Leo." Renee was curious, hoping they were trustworthy. Jake turned to her and got serious, " you can trust them, believe it or not they worked for him, but not long at all. They saw how he treated you, and, well they spoke up and came to me and I had a conversation with Leo about the, what I thought at first, allegations, and I did tell him he could not retaliate because his own lawyer is a witness against him and for that I would not protect him. I do have respect for an honest soul." Renee was shocked to hear this, when did they witness the fights? How could they know that it was happening all the time, she had more questions but chose to leave it alone, he could not haunt her now.



Once on the road they planned out the first half of the trip, starting with gas. Renee pointed out a gas station that was still open, being a little after ten, they stopped. RV on one side of the pump, truck on the other, Renee grabbed her wallet and went to get out the car when she felt a hand on her arm stopping her, "what the hell are you doing? put that down." Jake said pointing to her wallet. She was not about to argue with him, she just wanted a drink but if he wanted to buy that is okay, she would next time they stopped. As they were stepping out Jake poked his head in the back, "If y'all want to go in and get road stuff come on, my treat. Anything you want, just make sure your mom says it's okay" the kids got out and ran into the store. Renee smiled enjoying this day, "Thank you Jake, I owe you for all of this." smiling and turning to go inside herself, Jake walks up beside her and smacks her ass, hard. "Remember our deal, you did not listen to the conditions of it, start looking for a room in a few hours" he grinned, pulling her close as they walked into the store. The kids were distracted by the cool toys, magazines, and Virginia collector stuff, "y'all see anything y'all like?" she asked while Jake paid for gas. They started talking at the same time, "we found all of this cool stuff mom, science magazine, animal magazine, almanalmanac, look at this cool magnet mom!" LJ was the most excited he said almanac wrong, making his mother laugh. It is called an almanac, which people on farms swear by sometimes. you should check it out sometimes, but not this one, this is for Virginia, you want one for Oklahoma area." She agreed to the stuff as long as Jake agreed. Still laughing with each other looking at the magnets Jake walks up, "hope you kids found some cool stuff, Renee did you get your stuff?" he asked, noticing her hands were empty, she forgot to get something to drink. "Oh, I forgot I'll be right back", she headed to the waters and grabbed one, then she found the coffee pot and got her a large coffee, about to leave she decided on two. After pouring the second cup of coffee she found Jake and the kids, "I am ready when you boys are" she laughed. Watching the three of them made her heart smile, they headed to check out and back to the vehicles, "saddle up y'all, next stop is in a few hours or when we need gas" Renee shut the door behind the kids and climbed in herself.



They were on the road, first hour out of a 19-hour drive, the kids had fallen asleep, and Renee and Jake were enjoying conversation. Another hour had passed when Renee finally asked, " so when are you wanting to stop? I can start looking for a hotel along the way and have the address ready." She was getting tired but refused to sleep until they could all sleep, Jake was driving and then his friend in the truck. She did not find it fair to sleep yet. Jake was looking at the sign coming up that showed they were entering Tennessee, " you can find one when we stop for gas, we are in Tennessee now so we can take a break, get some food and rest." Renee looked down at her phone, pulling up the browser, typed in hotels near me and found a nice one close by and it was beside a gas station, she pulled the address up on the GPS and started it. Jake called the men in the truck and let them know the plan and of course reminded them about the food which made Renee laugh, "We are getting food as soon as we are done pumping gas fellas, don't worry!" she said still laughing. By then the kids were woken by the laughs and talks of food, and slowing of the RV, "Mom, are we stopping for a bit?" Nate asked waking LJ up and getting their shoes. Renee had told them the plans, and they all met outside. Jake gave Renee his card and told him to go book three rooms and meet him back at the store. "Thankfully it's walking distance and I need to walk" she thought, her legs were sore from sitting still for almost 3 hours. She and the kids headed over there and got all three rooms booked, they only had one on the first floor and two on the second, but the ones on the second were a few doors apart. Renee did not mind because at least Jake would be on the same floor or the men would be, she felt a little safer. They got the keys and went back to the store. When they walked in, they were surprised to see a small food court inside, which had three booths, a "cafeteria line", and fresh food, "this is amazing" Nate said aloud. She nodded in agreement, found the guys at the booths, and joined them, "This is nice, here are the keys for the rooms, they are a bit scattered apart, but we got them" she said setting the keys down. Before she could say anything else a young lady walked up and set down 6 sweet teas and 6 burgers, two of which were plain. "Oh, thank you Mr. Jake" The kids said grabbing the plain ones, they hated the veggies on burgers. "Yes, thank you Mr. Jake" Renee said with a smile, looking to the two men that were helping them, "You know I don't think I got your names, I'm sorry to hear about your previous boss being a dick to you." The gentlemen laughed loudly, "I'm Oscar, this is my brother Benny. Renee do not apologize about that, we all meet an asshole in our lives" They all laughed and ate, once done everyone headed to their rooms, Oscar, and Benny on the first floor, and Jake, Renee, and the kids on the second. Renee matched the keys with each room, and handed everyone their keys, "goodnight, everyone, see you in a few hours" she said heading to her room. Once everyone was asleep Renee had joined them, just to wake to a knock at the door, it was Jake. "Come with me real fast, do not worry, Benny is on look out tonight he said pointing to the hall where benny was, "Hey Renee, have fun" Benny whispered loud enough for her to hear. Renee waved back, "where are we going Jake?" she asked following him, Jake ignored her until they reached the pool outside. "Late swims help clear the mind so let's swim." he said.