Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2)

by K. F. Breene

  Sean didn’t even bother to nod. He’d repay the favor, but right now, he needed a moment to regroup.

  When they got to Krista’s house, with Kate’s worry in the back of his head, Sean said, “Why don’t I wait here?”

  Krista flashed him a smile. “When are you going to learn that the boogie man doesn’t hang around these parts?”

  His returning smile was less than sure. He didn’t want to let her go. “Want me to come with?”

  Krista gave him a level gaze, “Sean McAdams, I love you, but you gotta give me twenty minutes, okay?”

  Sean very nearly told her about Kate’s calls. Instead, he nodded. She’d just say Kate was overreacting and he was overprotective.

  “Okay. Beach in twenty?”

  “Sure.”

  Sean watched her frolic to her door. He got the girl. I’ll be damned.

  ~*~*~*~

  When Krista walked into her house, glowing from her weekend, she made a bee-line to her room to drop everything off. Then she headed out to the living room to see if Ben was home so she could talk about what Sean had said. She couldn’t understand why he wasn’t over the moon about it. She was!

  When she got out there she heard Ben talking to someone. She couldn’t see who, but didn’t want to interrupt, so she went instead to the kitchen, got a glass of water, then headed back to her bedroom. She had a date to keep.

  Passing the living room again she heard Ben call her name.

  Intrigued to meet one of Ben’s art friends, she answered immediately, hurrying in. As she came into view Ben stood up. His body was slightly hunched and his face was etched with concern boarding on fear. Krista looked at his friend.

  The world went black, then Technicolor, as she looked in disbelief at Jim.

  In her house.

  In San Francisco.

  Nearly two years after she’d left.

  It seemed like no time had gone by at all.

  He was sitting on her couch as if he owned the place. Even now, even after all he’d done to her, he still looked as dark and handsome as he ever had. Except now she noticed the sleazy smile plastered on his sardonic face. His hair was a bit longer with that same familiar wave. His eyes looked sunken, but his features still bore that dangerous attractiveness that entrapped women from the word go. Danger lurked in those black eyes as he looked Krista over. Danger and possession. Nothing had changed.

  “Jim. How did you find me?” she asked in fearful disbelief, wondering how she’d ever missed the crazy in those dark eyes.

  “I have access to the Internet and a phone book, Krista. I knew you wanted to be found. You always liked playing hard to get. That’s what I like about you. But now it’s time you came home. Your vacation is over.”

  Fear coursed through her hollow veins. She felt the shiver of it as it tumbled and pooled through her memories, lending new depth to past horrors.

  “I have a court order, Jim. You aren’t supposed to contact me,” her voice quivered. She couldn’t help it. Fear was a strong deterrent to power.

  “Trifles. Let’s chat in your room. I’m sure Ben has other things to do,” Jim’s flashing black eyes caught Ben like a hunter through a rifle scope.

  Krista followed those knives to Ben, sitting in his chair like a cornered, trembling rabbit.

  “I can hang out if you want, Kris?” Ben said. He had more courage than she did. He also didn’t know what Jim was capable of.

  Jim stood up, all six feet, four inches of him. He was a powerful man, solidly built. He was a tower of muscle when Krista was with him, but now he had even more bulk. He’d been lifting weights. He was also mean, manipulative and vindictive. He would knock Ben into next Tuesday without much effort.

  Suddenly Krista was not only afraid for herself, she was afraid for Ben, too.

  “Her name is Krista, Ben. And I thank you, but I would like some time alone with my fiancée.” Jim grabbed Krista by her upper arm. His large hand fastened her with a grip she remembered all too well. A grip she had tried so many times to break, and only succeeded in giving herself nasty bruises in the process.

  Ben moved as if to help, but Krista knew it would be fruitless. Jim saw it, too.

  “Ben,” Jim said in a voice out of a horror movie. “I’d sure hate for anything to happen to Krista. I’m sure she would appreciate it if you let her be. It’d be easier for all of us in the long run.” Jim seemed to flex from head to toe with his last words, hovering over small, mousy Ben.

  Ben gulped and his eyes got as big as his face. He wasn’t backing down. It must’ve been yet another entry in man-code: Do not try to reason—fighting is the only way. Man-code was not logic, however, and Krista didn’t want to see Ben hurt.

  “It’s okay, Ben,” she said, trying to keep the fear from her voice.

  Jim’s face split in a sarcastic smile. “You see Ben? My lady wants to be claimed.”

  Krista was dragged from the room toward her bedroom.

  She was severely fucked. Jim took what he wanted. If he wanted her, then he would rape her without question. Had in the past. In his eyes, she was his. End of story. All the grief and hassle she caused him meant nothing to that need to possess her. It just meant it would be paid back to her in pain.

  “Which one is it?” Jim snarled.

  Krista stuttered and pointed, pushed toward the open door and was thrown to the ground. The door lock engaged behind her.

  Jim paced the small room, surveying everything with a detailed eye, then settled himself on the bed.

  “You look decent, Krista. How do I look?”

  From the floor, looking up at him, Krista tried to regain her sense of self. She tried to find her personal power. She tried to remain a human being. But it was all lost. Her world was colored in fear. She could only hope Ben was calling for help.

  “If I scream people will come,” she said lamely. It wasn’t the first time she’d said those words.

  Jim laughed with a hollowness that set her teeth chattering. “That ain’t a very nice thing to say to your man, Krista. You know I spent time in the clink for you?” He looked her over, storm clouds gathering. It was the lethal Jim coming out now. The retribution Jim. The one that punished. “Calling the cops on me wasn’t very nice.”

  “You broke the law, not me. You getting locked up wasn’t my fault.”

  “Oh, but it was. If you’d been a good girl like you shoulda been, we wouldn’t be in this fix, now would we? But I had to teach you a lesson, didn’t I?” Suddenly Jim was up and grabbing her by the hair. She cried out before he had his hand over her mouth.

  “Don’t scream you stupid bitch! You are mine- don’t you understand that? I love you. I don’t want to hurt you, can’t you see that? If you’d stop being a dumb cunt we could get on friendly-like. Like we used to. It’s up to you, now isn’t it?”

  Krista was painfully lifted up by her hair. She hit out at him, connecting with his chest and uselessly battering him with her fists. She heard him laugh, then was blindly flung toward the bed.

  “As I was saying, I spent time in jail. A few months, no big deal. But I shouldn’t’a been there at all.” His voice became liquid honey as the bed compressed next to her. He reached out toward her face. She flinched and scrambled away as far as possible.

  He chuckled darkly. He moved toward her again. When she tried to scuttle off the bed Jim caught her by the hair again and flung her back. He grabbed her upper thigh, keeping her there.

  Thankfully the touch wasn’t sexual. It was still in punishment zone. It wasn’t much better.

  “I got’ta work out a lot. It was easy time. Free gym membership, basically. So I ask again, how do I look?”

  Krista’s body shook so bad all she could stammer out was a “good” to make him happy—hopefully loosen his grip.

  Her mind was whirling, trying to claw through the cage he’d put her in. She needed to get out of this situation. She needed to get outside. To run. She was fast. She could run for a long time. She’d worked on
it for just such an occasion. Jim wasn’t a runner—never had been. He had long legs, but if she could get a few paces beyond his reach, she would be gone. She’d make it to the park and hide in the trees until she could get to the police station.

  But she had to get out of here first.

  “Good? Or great?” Jim leaned over her, punishment turning into sadistic desire. It was worse news than what was already happening.

  Krista heard herself say “great” as his familiar smell and horrible memories clouded her brain. Tears slid down her face, eating away her strength. It was impossible to think she had stood up to him once. That she had ever been that strong. Especially in the light of what would come next if she acted in any way defiant.

  “Yes, great,” he went on, feeling up the inside of her thigh, the grip painful. “I’ve had bitches all over me since I got out. But I have a woman, don’t I? I can fuck anytime, but I need someone to make me babies. Carry on the legacy. Only you can fill that role. Isn’t that right? Isn’t that what we talked about?”

  “No!” she said between clenched teeth, ignoring his fingers digging into her leg. “I will die before I breed for you.”

  In that honeyed voice Jim said, “You act as though you have a choice. This decision has been made.”

  With that Jim uncoiled. He grabbed her neck and lifted her from the bed and into his face. “You are coming back to Seattle with me. Get whatever you can carry. We leave now.”

  Krista scratched at his hands as they clutched her throat. She couldn’t breathe! She tried to kick him, or hit him in the throat, but when he extended his arm she couldn’t reach anything but his tree trunk arm. Her strength was no match for his and her breath was running short. He smiled at her in a demeaning sort of way at her struggles before he, graciously, let go.

  She fell to the ground in a heap, clutching her bruised throat, gulping for air.

  “No,” she managed, panting. It hurt to speak. “You can’t make me, Jim. It’s over. We’re over!”

  Jim bent to her again and grabbed her hair, painfully pulling her halfway off the ground toward his face. “You walked out on me once, Krista. And I let you. Do you hear me? I let you.” He shook her by the hair, her head bobbing, her neck in agony. “You-are-mine! Do you hear me? Mine! Now get your shit, and let’s go.”

  So she wasn’t going to be raped just yet. She was being taken. It became crystal clear that somewhere along the way, Jim had lost his mind entirely. He’d always balanced precariously on the edge of insanity, but something, possibly jail time, or her leaving, tipped him over. If he took her, he would probably kill her. He wouldn’t mean to, but he would lose his mind in a fit of rage and probably strangle her to death. Or snap her neck. Or beat her to death.

  Sobbing, she knew that she just needed enough space to run. That’s all she needed. It’s the only defense she had. Enough space, and she could save herself.

  Where the hell are the cops? She thought desperately. What was Ben doing--hanging out and waiting to see what would happen?

  Krista coughed and struggled to get up. She had to find that power again. It was an elusive thing, power. It was like catching a trout with your hand in icy water. The fish was just so slippery.

  She felt his strong hand on her hair again before she was lifted and flung into the closet. Some men liked to push, some to slap. Jim had always been a fan of grabbing and throwing—he liked to see the effects of his strength. Disgustingly, his friends had always been impressed.

  Until it was them on the other end.

  Krista landed painfully in the closet, pulling down all her clothes on top of her. Her head hit the back wall. She stayed put for a second, dizzy, frantically searching her mind for what she could use as a weapon.

  There was a knock at the door.

  Thank God! She blindly hoped it was someone with authority.

  As she struggled to right herself, her shoulder popping painfully, she heard the door open.

  “Who are you?” Jim asked with a defensive quality she hadn’t heard him use before. It couldn’t be the police, then. The cops tended to love Jim. He had a way of talking to them that made him seem like one of the boys instead of a woman beating asshole.

  “My name is Sean. I was wondering if I might speak to Krista?”

  A pure shot of adrenaline pierced Krista’s middle. She was caught between a sense of relief and one of terror. Sean was muscular and a good size, but Jim was a giant; raw power in the flesh. The weights he had been lifting only increased that. Plus, he had been in more fights then Hercules. Probably won more than Hercules, too. Some people said only wimps picked on women. Jim was no wimp. He beat women because he was as sexually aggressive as he was physically aggressive. Jim picked on everyone.

  Sean didn’t need any part of this. He didn’t need to get mixed up with someone like Jim. Jim was dangerous, and if he felt threatened in any way, or his possessions threatened, which was Krista, he would react. She no longer had faith that reaction would be sane, or legal. She didn’t see a weapon, but it didn’t mean he didn’t have one.

  “Krista is busy.” Jim was coiling again.

  “All the same,” Sean said pleasantly.

  Krista struggled up, and then stumbled into the middle of the room. Jim had the door mostly closed, filling the opening with the girth of his body.

  “Sean! Go on, I’m okay,” she called. Her hoarse voice sounded weak, even to her. She tried to keep it level, keep the tears at bay, but she failed. Miserably. She was just so glad to hear his voice. More glad than anything she could ever remember. And more terrified.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Sean stood in the bedroom doorway in a house well-kept with muted, warm colors. He stood facing a man who did not, nor would ever, belong in such a setting. The man was a giant. He was a monster. He was taller than Sean. Brawnier. Definitely stronger. Sean could see rage boiling behind his perilous dark eyes; madness.

  “Don’t worry about me,” Krista called again from inside the room.

  Fear stabbed Sean’s heart. Her voice was strained and terrified. It sounded like it’d been damaged. And now she was trying to send him away to keep him safe.

  “You heard her,” Jim said, pushing his size into the space he’d opened in the door.

  When Krista had told Sean about her ex-boyfriend, Sean had imagined some normal-sized guy who was taking out his insecurities on a woman. He had imagined a guy who would cower from someone his own size and strength. Someone who got yelled at by the boss and went home to take it out on the wife and kids.

  He did not, in his wildest imagination, imagine a guy like the mammoth who stood in front of him. Sean had wondered why Krista hadn’t left sooner. Why she stuck it out a year. She was a strong woman—a woman Sean couldn’t see dealing very long with physical abuse. But under the thumb of a man like this, a man who could probably pick Sean up and throw him…yeah, it made more sense now. If it wasn’t for Krista, Sean would get the hell away from this guy as soon as possible. The way he hovered, the way he blocked the doorway so Sean couldn’t step in and steal what he was guarding—Krista could never just walk away. Not without this monster coming after her.

  Which he apparently had. And now Sean couldn’t walk away, either. Wouldn’t walk away. Not until Krista was safe.

  “May I come in, Krista?” Sean asked politely, keeping his eyes locked with Jim’s.

  Jim, having sized Sean up and found him wanting, stepped out of the way and opened the door. Sean got his first glimpse of what happened when a woman stood up to a man like Jim.

  She was standing on her own two feet, but painfully. Her throat was a furious shade of red, her hair wild—it looked like he had taken fistfuls of it—and her bare leg was blotchy up the inner thigh, turning bruised. Her dress was ripped and finger marks were burned into her upper arm.

  Sean’s vision went red.

  “Yes!” she shouted in return, hope lacing her words.

  A sickly smile took over Jim’s face. There was de
ath in that smile.

  He opened the door wide, watching Sean enter with a manic light in his eyes.

  ~*~*~*~

  Seeing Sean peer in at her, eyes thick with determination, Krista cringed. This could be a death sentence. Sean did not plan to leave, he planned to put himself in harm’s way for her, regardless of what he faced. Despite that, her heart surged, feeling like the stronger half of herself was kept with him for safe keeping, and he was now returning it to her.

  Sean walked through the door, all grace and ease. Though he gave Jim a wide berth, he looked unconcerned. Sean’s eyes found Krista and raked her from head to toe. He took in everything, settling on her neck for a heartbeat too long, and looking into her eyes with an intensity she hadn’t seen before.

  “Krista, I wondered what kept you. I had thought we were going to meet at my house for the night,” Sean said with implied intimacy. Did he know he was poking the bear in the nose with a stick? “But I see you have company.”

  “Krista, who is this?” Jim asked with that honeyed voice. Danger flashed in his eyes as he sized up Sean. His body was taut, the veins on his arms and neck standing out.

  Sean looked down at Krista, waiting for her to answer. If he felt any fear, he didn’t show it. He gave her small smile and a wink.

  “This is my boyfriend,” she said with renewed determination. Her hoarse voice came from a stranger, a stranger she thought she’d left behind in Seattle.

  “Is that right?” Jim took a step closer. “Funny, I thought I was the only one with that title.”

  Sean’s arm tightened fractionally, his hand sweaty. “Yes, funny. Krista, care to enlighten your fan club?”

  “Jim, you are in violation of the restraining order,” Krista declared with more force than she felt.

  Indignation bubbled from the depths of Jim’s hate-filled eyes. Hate turned to rage. Rage boiled and stewed, a cauldron with dynamite, the fuse lit. His hands balled at his sides and his eyes never wavered from Krista’s face. She could tell he wanted to inform her court orders didn’t matter, not where she was concerned. It was Sean who kept him quiet. Jim didn’t quite know how to deal with Sean just yet.