Dear Dollie | Part eighteen
Filler chapter guys to pull everything together, I couldn’t pull Roy in & then just ignore it. So this part just fills in the gaps and sets the tone going forward so I won’t be offended if you don’t read or don’t find it great. Also, it’s quite long& this is the toned down version. Love u X
Violence, mention of blood, bad language, Gator really does leave, poor miss.
“Gator?” If you thought you felt sick then, it was nothing compared to what you felt right now.
You looked behind him, Dollie fast asleep in the back of the car as the tears started to fall down your cheeks.
Gator watched as you tried to piece together in your mind what the fuck was going on.
“Why? Why are you leaving?”
“Of course it matters! Fuck, it matters” you angrily wipe the tears away from your eyes “why are you taking her?”
“Gotta keep her safe” gator exhales as he looks at you, the anger building in your body.
“Safe from what? What about me? I thought we were a family!”
Gator shakes his head as he looks at you, you scoff as you step back.
Gator nods, stepping to the side so you can pass him.
Your legs feel heavy as you walk towards the car, breath caught in your throat as you see her through the window.
Oh god what had you done to deserve this, you felt numb but also felt everything at the same time.
You fumble with the handle to open it, nothing feels like it’s working anymore.
Or maybe your body was just trying to slow you down, slow them down.
This can’t be real, can’t be happening.
“Oh Dollie girl” you whisper as the tears fall down your cheeks, you wrap the blanket around her gently. Getting one last look at the little girl you loved, not knowing if you’d ever see her again. “I love you” you placed a kiss to the top of her head careful not to wake her before closing the door again carefully.
“Why are you doing this?” You cry as you turn towards gator, heart breaking as everything you love is ripped away from you.
“Trust you?” You push into his chest “you said you loved me! You let me love your daughter!”
“Our daughter” that cut like a knife.
You couldn’t believe what you were hearing, our daughter? Then why was he taking her away from you. Why were you being left here alone? What was he running from?
“You can’t do this!” sobs falling freely from you as you look at his blank expression “please don’t take her…gator please” your hand rests against his cheek softly as your eyes plead with him.
Gator didn’t answer, he turned walking towards his car door trying his best to block out the sounds of your sobs.
He wanted to take you, god he didn’t want to break the family up but he was scared you’d slip up. He couldn’t risk that, couldn’t risk anything going wrong. He needed to protect Dollie.
“Please, don’t go” you grabbed at gators arm using all of your strength, trying to pull him away from the door.
Gator pulled his arm away, pulling open the car door as he climbed inside.
“No, no, no” you held onto the car door “please we can talk this through, whatever it is I can fix it I promise”
You lean into the seat where he’s sitting hands on his face to make him look at you.
“Please don’t go, I love you” you sob “both of you”
You look behind Dollie, her eyes wild as she looked at you. You’d clearly woke her up, guilt flooded you as you looked back at her.
Your stomach turned, you pulled away from gator to walk towards her door.
Gators car door slammed making you jump as you reached Dollie’s, locking the doors before he started the engine.
Six weeks since they’d left, the worst part of it all being that they’d left for what?
Nothing had happened at the house, no one visited, no more cards, no sign of gators dad.
You couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t do anything.
You waited, hoped they’d come home. That it was all some sick joke.
Gators phone was disconnected, you’d tried it every day since he’d left in hopes just once he’d pick up.
Let you know Dollie was okay, she was safe.
What you’d do to hear that little voice one last time.
You kept everything going at the house, you changed the beds twice a week still so they’d be fresh if they ever came home, you washed the clothes that were already fresh so they still smelt clean.
You packed Dollie a lunchbox every week day on the off chance she came home, so she was ready for school the next morning.
You cleaned star out, brushed her, fed her, kept her topped up with treats just like Dollie did.
You did everything, just like you always did but the house stayed silent and you stayed sick.
It never got better, the sickness was clearly caused by stress. Of course it was, that’s all you’d known since meeting gator.
But god you’d do it all again to have him back.
Even putting your shoes on hurt your body at this point, too sad to eat and too sick to keep it down when you did.
You’d never known heartbreak like it.
“Can we go home yet daddy?” Dollie asked as her big eyes looked up at him.
“Soon Dollie girl” he kissed the top of her head gently “promise”
Gator exhaled as he looked away from her, the shitty hotel they were in was driving her crazy. Only so many times she could play with the same four horse figures.
“Daddy can we call mama?” Dollie started jumping on the spot infront of gator “pleasepleaseplease”
“Doll!” Gator snapped, stress of the whole situation being too much for him “shit, fuck, M’sorry baby” he pulled her into his chest wrapping his arms around her tightly “jus give daddy a bit more time, m’fixin it”
He was trying but truthfully gator didn’t know how it would end. He couldn’t tell Dollie they’d be home soon because honestly he didn’t know they would.
He just hoped you were okay, that his dad hadn’t gotten to you before the police got to him.
Thoughts raced through his mind constantly, were you safe? He should have never left you. He promised you’d be safe.
What if the police didn’t take him seriously? What if they weren’t going to do anything about it?
Roy had everyone wrapped around his fingers, maybe they’d tell him where him and Dollie were and he’d come and get them.
But he had to try, for Dollie.
He just hoped you’d forgive him.
You walked out of the store, bags full of things you’d leave to sit in the fridge to rot.
But seeing Dollie’s favourite snacks and gators beers in the fridge brought some sort of comfort to you.
Your heart stopped, you’d had no contact with anyone for weeks now. But you knew it wasn’t him.
“Blake, hey” you smiled softly, skin crawling under his gaze.
“Let me help you” Blake grabbed the bags from your hands, you smiled as you continued to walk.
You didn’t want the help, you wanted to be left alone.
“No problem! So how’s the kid? What was her name again? Dotty?”
Your breath caught in your throat, chill running through you.
“Dollie! That’s it! How’s she doing?”
“No idea” you scoff as you look down at the floor, getting closer to the house. You can escape.
“Something like that” you exhale as you stand still looking at him. He was attractive, you were single and wanted to feel something, anything “wanna come inside?”
Blake smiles as he looks at you.
“Thought you’d never ask”
You walk into the house, Blake grinning as he follows behind you.
“Oh that dick from the cafe with the strange ass name” Blake scoffs behind you as you start emptying the bags into the fridge “what is it with that family and weird ass names”
You turn towards him, eyes wild.
“Ya still hung up on him or something?”
“No” lie, biggest fucking lie ever told “I’m fine”
“Good” Blake steps towards you, hand grazing your cheek.
You want to pull away, tell him he repulsed you. But everyone who wasn’t gator did.
But you needed to feel something, to know you weren’t truly broken. So you let his hand linger on your face for a moment.
“You’re so beautiful, you know” he spoke softly, hand moving lower on your face until his fingers brushed against your lips.
You closed your eyes, oh god this felt so wrong.
His fingers moved from your lip, down your jaw to your neck.
Your body shuddered under his touch, repulsed completely.
“W-what?” Blake looked genuinely shocked, he really thought you liked having his finger pressed into your skin.
“I’m sorry, you need to leave” the lump appears in your throat again as guilt washes over you. Was this cheating? Were you cheating on him?
Were you still together? Was you even together to begin with?
You walked towards the door swinging it open, watching as Blake walked through it.
He turned towards you once outside, smile on his face.
“Call me when you’re over him”
You slam the door in his face.
“And that’s how mama became your..mama” gator furrowed his brows at his own words, it was hard to explain what a step mama was to a six year old but he was trying his best.
“Can we call her yet daddy?”
Dollie’s bottom lip started to tremble as he looked at her, fuck he wanted to call you too. He hated himself for how he left things, leaving you like a bag of rubbish on his driveway.
He didn’t even tell you he loved you back, the first time you’d ever said it to him was when he was leaving you.
He still heard your sobs when he tried to sleep at night, the way you held onto him and begged him not to go. Fuck, what if you never forgave him? He wouldn’t blame you.
Gators head was buzzing, he knew it wasn’t her fault but all he’d heard for the last six weeks was everything she missed. She’d understand one day that he did it for her, but right now she just had to trust he was going the right thing.
Gators burner phone started to ring, making him jump off the bed knocking Dollie’s horses off onto the floor.
“Silly daddy” she sighed as she picked them back up, gator grabbed the phone quickly answering.
Gator listened as they reeled off information, trying his best to take it all in.
“We will be making contact tonight, we’ll update you when we know the next steps. Stay where you are and don’t make contact with anyone”
Gator sighed as he hung up the phone, he wanted to be happy. Tell Dollie the nightmare was almost over, but he knew he couldn’t. Not yet.
You raced to the door heart hammering in your chest as it knocked for a second time.
No one had been to the house since they’d left, it had to be them.
You swung the door open, fear setting in your chest instead.
The sheriff stood in front of you, hands on his hips.
“A-are they okay? Is this about Gator? Dollie?” Thoughts raced through your mind. Were they dead? Had the police just found them?
You stared at him, waiting for an answer as your hands start to shake.
You quickly open the door wider, stepping aside as he walked into the house. You’d thought you’d ran out of tears but here they were once again running down your cheeks, your body riddled with fear as you followed him towards the sofa waiting for the explanation.
“Was hopin ya could help me with that, where are they?” You stared at him, confusion washing over your features “where’s my son?”
Your stomach turned as you looked at him, nothing like gator. No big dark eyes, no soft features, no warm smile.
Just a cold man sitting in front of you.
“Don’t wanna have to hurt ya” he laughed, startling you a little “but I need to know where they are”
You couldn’t find the words, no matter how much you searched for them you just couldn’t find them.
You pushed the palms of your hand into the sofa to stand up, eyes moving around the room for something you could grab to protect yourself if you needed to.
All you knew about him was rumours that had spread around town, never anything good.
God you wished gator had gave you a heads up on what you could be dealing with.
“Sit” his voice was cold as he walked towards you, big hand gripping your chin so you looked up at him “that son of mine” he tutted “ran away with my money, I gave him time to come back and make it right but he chose this way instead”
Roy’s grip tightened on your face as you sobbed.
“I’m just the nanny” you whispered through sobs.
Roy laughed as he looked down at you.
“You hold some value then”
Oh god, you were about to die.
Here, alone and no one would know about it.
Your face turned to the side with the impact, your mind buzzed with thoughts about Dollie, about Gator, how you’d rather it was you in this situation than either of them.
Roy’s hand settled in your hair at the back of your head, holding you in place tightly.
“Didn’t enjoy that little lady” he smirked down at you “so I’ll ask you again, where’s gator?”
You tried to shake your head but his grip was too firm, you closed your eyes waiting for the next one to land.
It felt harder this time, maybe it was because he held you in place or maybe it was because it wasn’t a slap this time.
You felt the warmth trickling down your face, blood. Your body tensed up as you opened your eyes to look at him.
“Yer a tough lil thing” Roy scoffed “spose ya have to be to be with a Tillman”
Fuck, right now you hated that name. Your life was so easy before you let him into your life, but why did you still want him to come home?
Why was your heart hoping he’d come through the door right now and fix this? He’d never fixed anything.
It was always you doing the fixing, trying to keep everyone happy and healthy.
“He’s been keepin ya in line, ya don’t even bite back”
Oh if only he knew the real gator, the soft gator that you knew.
The gator that would never dream of laying a finger on you, but somehow leaving you in this situation felt worse than if he would have hit you.
Roy held onto your hair as he dragged you towards the front door, you tried your best to grab onto anything you could as you passed it.
But it was no use, your vision was slowly going in and out of focus. Probably from all over the hits you’d taken, hits you’d taken for Gator.
You didn’t even fight him as he bundled you into the back of his truck, just laying back closing your eyes accepting everything that was coming your way.
You weren’t making it out of this, you weren’t sure if you even wanted to anymore.
Your eyes flicked open at the sound of the door shutting behind you, you watched as he walked around to the drivers side.
Please gator, there’s still time.
You watched as he climbed into the seat, head turning back towards you to make sure you were still there.
Gator paced around the hotel room, Dollie played with her horses once again.
A routine they’d quickly fell into.
How would he ever make this right with you? Was it easier to just cut you off completely when he got back?
You’d have even more questions now, you’d never trust him.
Gator felt sick as everything filled his mind all at once, the thought of you alone.
What if you weren’t alone? You could have moved on by now.
You could have forgotten about him and Dollie.
The thought made his skin crawl, he rubbed his hand over his face trying to shake the uneasy feeling.
“Daddy?” Gator looked down at Dollie, knowing exactly what she was about to ask.
Dollie nodded as she turned back towards the horses on the floor, gators heart breaking a little at the sight.
Why did he run? He could have just stayed and protected the both of you.
You lay back against the seats, falling in and out of consciousness as Roy talked on the phone. You still hadn’t left yet, from what you could see from the window you were still in the exact same place.
You didn’t feel scared anymore, it was almost peaceful as you lay down. The light of the sun that was so rare this time of year warming your skin as it peeked through the window.
Maybe you felt peaceful because it couldn’t get any worse than it already was, you knew what your outcome was.
Roy’s hands slapped down against the wheel making you jump, fear back in your chest as you look in his direction.
Your heart started to race in your chest as you watched him climb out of the car, eyes following him as he approached your door.
“Roll over” he spoke with urgency this time, you shook your head as he looked at you.
“Roll onto your front now! Hands behind your back!” He shouted as you started to sob again, your body ached as you rolled onto your front.
Fear washing over you as you waited for him to do whatever he had planned for you.
You felt the rope tightening against the skin of your wrists, painful but better than what you were expecting him to do.
“I gotta sort somethin at the ranch” he spoke quietly as he pulled you out of the car by your feet, letting you drop onto the cold ground “yer gonna wait where I leave ya an I’ll be back”
You couldn’t help the smile that spread across your face in your daze, these Tillman men and running away.
You look down as Roy starts tying rope around your ankles, you consider kicking him.
What’s the point? It would only end in another beating you wouldn’t be able to take.
Roy dragged you by the rope around your feet across the floor before kicking open the door to stars stable, pulling you inside before closing the door.
“Yer gonna stay here” Roy grabbed at your face as his eyes burned into your skin “few hours, I’ll be back. Don’t try anythin stupid”
You watch as he leaves before turning your head towards star who was looking down at you, waiting for her feed.
“I’m sorry, girl” you whispered before closing your eyes.
Hours had passed and gator was growing impatient, almost seven weeks the whole process had taken.
Endless interviews, confessions he never thought he’d make, trying to remember where evidence was hidden at the ranch to point them in the right direction.
Knowing that after all of this he could also end up in prison right with his dad, but it was a risk he was willing to take to keep Dollie safe from this man.
But if everything was pulled off correctly and they got what they wanted he’d be free of his dad forever, Dollie would always be safe.
He’d get to come back home, back to you.
His phone was already in his hands when it started to ring, where it spent most of its time as he waited to know his outcome.
Gator pressed the phone to his ear, listening to all of the information they were spilling at him. Taking in the bits that mattered once again.
Gator scooped Dollie up in his arms, pressing kisses all across her face “we can call mama”
The cold air coming through the gaps in the wood made your body tense up, you’d been lay in the same spot for hours now.
Awaiting Roy’s arrival to finish the job off he started, but it didn’t seem to be coming.
You wriggled yourself across the floor towards the wall where the hook that held the dustpan was, no one was coming to save you. So you had to save yourself.
You gasped as you pulled your legs into the air, stomach muscles feeling extra tender as you lifted them towards the hook.
You looped the rope around your ankles onto the hook as you start moving your legs to try and free them, the friction of the rope burning at your skin.
“Fuck, cmon” you cried as you bent your knees to add pressure to the rope, tears running down your cheeks as you watch the rope start to fray.
Cheap ass rope, of course.
The rope snapped, your legs landing on the floor with a crash.
“Yes” you whisper moving into a sitting up position before moving onto your knees, you look up above you at star who was still patiently waiting. “We’ve got this girl” you smile up at her as you try to stand on your wobbly legs.
Once on your legs you turn your back to the wall, hooking the rope on your wrists to the hook before starting the whole process again.
You looked down at your now free wrists, the rope burn covering them only made you feel angry that you’d sat back and let this happen to you.
“Fuck these men” you say with a breathy laugh as you reach your hand out to star scratching just above her nose “don’t ever get a boyfriend, girl” you sigh as you walk over to her bag of feed.
You feed star before walking out of the stables, locking the door behind you.
No cars in the drive, no cars anywhere near that you can hear.
Silence, just the moonlight shining down on you as you make your way back towards the house.
Perfectly clean as you left it, like nothing had ever happened.
Like the horrors of today didn’t exist. Just how you liked it.
You walked up the stairs stopping in the mirror at the top to take in your reflection, something you hadn’t done in a long time.
You look at the rope burns on your skin, the bruise under your eye, the dry blood around your mouth,nose and chin. The way your bones show more than they used to, the dark purple bags that were now only visable under one eye thanks to your new bruise.
He’d ruined you, loving Gator had completely stripped you of yourself.
But you still ached for him.
You crouched down in front of the toilet ready to start what had become a regular routine for you now, throwing up everything you’d ate throughout the day before your body finally let you rest.
You didn’t make your way to his bed tonight, you walked to your room. Climbing into the single bed before closing your eyes ready to let go of today.
Im sorry guys, I know this was probably boring & not fun to read but I couldn’t just skip over this part once introducing it. I hope you understand & hope you’ll continue to read. (Gator & Dollie are coming home)
@louisbelongstome28 @sainzzbrina @midnightmartini @simsimstay2017 @imdjoverit @xceafh @kristywidget97 @keerygirlie98 @storietilman
@amy-brooklyn99 @tenderlyuniquepatrol
@deeplightblue @exooojongdaeee @laliceee
@fawnharrt @dizzyrizzy444 @thoroughlymimi @emmasreaderacc @oohgeminii @sunflowergir62
@projections-mortal @michaelssassygirrrl
@camsbooksworld @laliceee @queenofconeyislandd @disiscami @eller41
@ophelialilly @soggycerealtbh @rubywillkins
@batmanssssss @skkeletonns @amirafloral
@mojosodoppe @pinkiepieshepardspie @cuddlyeren @kurtsw7rld96 @needylittlebabyintherain @st4rg1rl88 @luminousdoomsellsword @allthelove-a @bellaxwoods @delphinemix @dopeysunflowers @mr-mountebank4444
@gxorgxa0000 @crescentwillow @foreverdjofan