Pleasure's Spear

by Shannon Cook

  When they arrived, Mandy went through a lot of tests. When the results came back, the doctor came into the exam room. "It's just morning sickness, you're two months pregnant."

  This news made Mandy both happy, and upset. She was happy that she was pregnant, but she wasn't happy it was Ian's child.

  They didn't say a word to each other on the car ride home, but Mandy could sense Ian was angry. When they got back home, Ian began shouting at Mandy. "How did you get pregnant?"

  Mandy rolled her eyes. Could her husband seriously be that stupid? `"How do you think?" she asked sarcastically.

  "Who got you pregnant?"

  "You got me pregnant!"

  Ian smacked Mandy across the face. "I did no such thing!"

  "Yes, you did!"

  Ian got really angry. He tackled Mandy to the ground. He began to beat her up! He attacked her so badly, she ended up bleeding all over the floor. It was obvious, she had lost the baby. Ian, of course, put the blame on Mandy.

  "I can't believe you killed our child!" Ian shouted at his wife.

  Mandy just cried hysterically. She wanted to argue with him, but he now scared her as much as her father scared her. She knew deep in her heart that Ian just killed their child.

  Ian carried Mandy downstairs and tossed her into the room where he'd always put her when he goes to work. "I need to go to work! I'm late!" he snapped. He slammed the door shut and locked it.

  She sat there for hours trying to find a way out of this horrific marriage. She knew a divorce was the way out, but she kept remembering what her father said. What did he mean by making sure she'd never have sex again? She wondered. At this point, she was willing to sacrifice anything.

  She stood up and kept slamming herself against the door. Hoping to break it down. After the fourteenth attempt, the door got knocked off its hinges. She ran as fast as she could upstairs. Only to find, Ian was not at work. Mandy stopped dead in her tracks.

  "Well, what do we have here? Couldn't wait for me could you?" Ian approached Mandy and shoved her to the ground. "You weren't trying to escape now?" he asked.

  Mandy laid on the floor hyperventilating. Ian picked his foot up and was about to stomp on Mandy's face. She quickly rolled away, and Ian ended up only stomping on the floor with enough force to shake the entire room.

  "You got lucky that time." Ian told Mandy.

  "Why are you doing this to me?" Mandy pleaded. "Why?"

  "Are you still a lesbian?"

  Mandy hesitated.

  "Well, are you?"

  Mandy didn't know how to respond. She figured if she just tells him what he wants to hear, the abuse would stop. "No. Not anymore."

  Ian reached down, and pulled Mandy up from the floor, and hugged her. "That's nice." Then he punched her hard in the gut. "Liar!"

  Mandy hunched over in pain, grabbing herself as she fell back to the floor.

  "Tell me, are you still a lesbian."

  "Yes." she grunted.

  Ian walked away leaving Mandy on the floor. She looked over and noticed Ian's car keys laying nearby. She got up, grabbed the keys and ran out to his car. Ian chased her down the driveway with a baseball bat and smashed a taillight out on his own car in anger! Screaming at her the entire time.

  Mandy sped down the road. Going well above the posted speed limit. When she got far enough away, she slowed down.

  She sighed in relief. She was safe for now. Now, she just had to worry about her father. So she thought.

  Mandy noticed flashing lights behind her. She pulled over, and a female officer came up to the window. Mandy rolled her window down.

  The officer noticed Mandy had been crying for a long time. "I was going to ask you how your day is going, but I can tell not so good." the female officer said.

  "No, not good at all."

  "You're taillight is busted. Did you know that?"

  "Yes, I knew that. Just give me the ticket."

  The officer could tell something wasn't right. "What happened? You can talk to me."

  Mandy could barely talk, she was crying too hard. "My husband did this. He attacked me, then he smashed out the taillight as I was trying to get away."

  The officer put down her ticket book. "Follow me to the station. I'm not going to give you a ticket, you've got enough on your plate."

  "Okay."Mandy said. "Thank you."

  When the two arrived at the station, the officer took Mandy into her office. "Have a seat."

  Mandy sat down and noticed a tiny rainbow flag on the officer's desk. At that moment, she felt comfortable for the first time in years.

  The officer sat down, reached her hand out and shook Mandy's hand. "My name is Kate. What's yours?"

  "Mandy."

  "So tell me, Mandy, what has your husband done to you?"

  Mandy went into great detail of everything Ian did to her. Kate typed away filling out an extensive report. The process took over an hour. Mandy had to take many breaks from all the crying, and flashbacks she had.

  "Done." Kate said. "You cannot go back to that house right now. In fact, I'm requesting an arrest warrant for your husband right now."

  "When will he be arrested?" Mandy asked.

  "Very soon. I would also recommend that you get divorced from that monster!"

  Mandy shook her head no. "I can't."

  Surprised Kate asked, "Why not?"

  "My father said if I ever divorced Ian he'd make sure I'd never have sex again!"

  Kate's jaw hit the desk. "Wait, what? Why on earth would he say that? What kind of father do you have?"

  Mandy looked at the rainbow flag and then into Kate's eyes. "I'm a lesbian. My dad forced me to marry Ian. He hates gays!"

  "Oh, one of those people!" Kate said in disgust as she rolled her eyes. "Listen, I will protect you. But you need to divorce that monster. Do you promise?"

  "I Promise."

  Back at Ian and Mandy's house, Ian was sitting in his home office working. He heard pounding on the front door and went to open it. He noticed four police officers standing on the front steps. He panicked and ran to the back door only to find another two officers there as well. He checked all the exits, and there were officers at every door. He was surrounded.

  He went to the front door and opened it. "May I help you, officer?"

  "Are you Ian Reid?" one of the officer's asked.

  Ian looked around in fear. "I don't believe I need to answer that question."

  "Obviously you have something to hide." An officer held up, an arrest warrant, and put Ian in handcuffs.

  "This is ridiculous!" Ian shouted. "Why am I getting arrested?"

  "Maybe next time you decide to beat up your wife you'll think twice." one of the officers scolded.

  Ian was placed in the back of a police car. He was taken right to the local holding center and was locked up.

  Chapter 10

  Back at the police station, Mandy was still sitting in Kate's office. She sat there quietly as Kate worked on putting the finishing touches on the police report trying to make it perfect.

  A knock came from the outside of Kate's office door. "Come in!" Kate yelled.

  A male officer came in with a folder containing all the information on Ian's arrest, and where he was taken. "Mission accomplished." He told Kate as he handed her the folder. "The suspect is locked up at the local holding center."

  Kate opened the folder and glanced over the paperwork. "Very good." She looked up at Mandy and smiled. "You should be safe now." she assured her. "Your horrible husband can't hurt you anymore."

  Mandy felt like a big weight was lifted from her shoulders, she didn't have to worry about being locked in that terrible room all day anymore. However, now she had something else bothering her, and Kate could tell.

  "Why do you look so sad still? You should be happy!" Kate asked Mandy.

  "I just don't know how my father will handle this news. He is very strict." Mandy put her head down, then slowly lifted her head and looked into Kate's eyes. "What he said
to me on our wedding day that has made me fearful of a divorce my entire marriage."

  Kate got up from her desk and sat down next to Mandy putting her arm around her. "Do you really believe he would do such a thing to his own child?" she said softly.

  "I wouldn't put it past him." Mandy sighed. "I don't want to talk about it." She began to cry into her hands.

  "You don't have to talk about it right now if you don't want to." Kate rubbed Mandy's back comforting her. "If you are fearful of him, I will protect you."

  "Thank you." Mandy tried hard to force a tiny smile onto her face. "May I ask how you'll protect me?"

  "I'll come by every day. Just to check up on you." Kate told Mandy. "That is if you'd like me to do that."

  Mandy smiled. "I would love that."

  Kate went back behind her desk and sat down. "Now, let's find you a good divorce lawyer." She made a few clicks and made a few phone calls.

  After the sixth call, Kate finally found a lawyer that was able to handle the case right away. She hung up the phone and smiled. "I'm going to clock out for the day. Come with me." she told Mandy.

  "Where are we going?"

  Kate grabbed her personal belongings from her desk drawer. "I'm taking you to meet your divorce lawyer. She's also going to help you during Ian's criminal trial as well."

  Mandy stood up and left with Kate. They got into Kate's pickup truck and drove a few miles to the lawyer's office. When they got inside, Mandy looked around the waiting room. The place seemed peaceful and welcoming. They took a seat and waited.

  The lawyer came out of her office and welcomed them in. The lawyer held out her hand to shake Mandy's hand. "Pleased to meet you, Mandy, my name is Jasmine."

  "Nice to meet you too." Mandy proclaimed as she looked into the tall Native American woman's eyes.

  "Please come in and have a seat." jasmine told Mandy and Kate.

  Mandy and Kate went in and sat down. Jasmine grabbed some paperwork and placed it in front of Mandy. "If you could, I need you to read, and fill out these papers."

  Mandy, and Kate both went over the papers with a fine-toothed comb. After all the papers were signed, Jasmine began asking Mandy a few questions.

  "When did your marriage start to take a turn for the worse?"

  "It was never a good marriage." Mandy went into great detail about how Ian would lock her away when he went to work. How he would physically, sexually and emotionally attack her every day. How he beat her up so badly when he found out she was pregnant, which caused her to lose her baby.

  Jasmine sat there staring at Mandy in shock. "Why did you marry such a monster?" she asked.

  Mandy began crying. "I didn't want to! My father forced me to marry Ian because he didn't want me dating women."

  Jasmine sat back into her chair. "Oh, why not?"

  "He's strongly against homosexuality." Mandy put her head down. "I'm a lesbian." she said somberly.

  "You should never be ashamed of who you are." Jasmine told Mandy. She reached across her desk and held Mandy's hand. "Don't waste your life making others happy. Do what makes you happy. It's your life and you're the only one that has to live it."

  Mandy sat quietly thinking. She looked over to a framed picture of a man and two kids on Jasmine's desk. "Is that your husband and kids?"

  "No darling, that is me and my kids."

  Mandy looked closer to the picture, then back up to Jasmine. "So you're -"

  "A transgender woman. Yes." Jasmine smiled. "Now that you know that about me, do you feel more comfortable talking to me?"

  "Yes, I do" Mandy responded.

  "Do you have any physical bruises on your body?" Jasmine asked.

  "Yes, yes I do."

  Kate began staring at the little kids that were sitting on Jasmine's lap back when she was in a man's body. She had a look of concern on her face. "Why don't you have a picture of you with your kids after you transitioned?" she asked.

  Jasmine smiled. "I just finished my transition last year." she told Kate. "My kids are all grown up now. Both are currently serving in the military. They both know, and everyone has accepted who I am. Even my beautiful wife."

  "That's wonderful!" Mandy proclaimed with a smile!

  "Thank you." Jasmine smiled.

  Jasmine opened a desk drawer and pulled out a camera. "If you don't mind, I would like to get some pictures of your bruises to use as evidence because there is no guarantee they will still be there when we finally get a court date."

  Mandy looked around nervously. "Okay." She took off some of her clothes, and Jasmine began snapping pictures.

  "That should do." Jasmine said after she got about twenty pictures.

  Mandy put her clothes back on and sat back down.

  The meeting took two hours, and they were able to get a court date set for the next month.

  "Thank you so much." Mandy told Jasmine.

  "You are welcome, glad I could help."

  Mandy and Kate left, and Kate drove Mandy back home. "Thank's again for everything, but I do have one question."

  "What is that?" Kate asked.

  "Where's my car? Well, my husband's car actually"

  "Don't worry about his car." Kate assured Mandy. "We still have it at the station, and I think it will be best to transfer it into your name." Kate told Mandy. "I don't think he will need it any time soon. I am going to get your taillight fixed for you before it gets returned to you."

  Mandy was overwhelmed with how kind Kate was being to her. "Oh no, I couldn't have you do that."

  Kate put her hand on Mandy's shoulder. "You have a lot on your plate. I want to do this for you."

  "Thank you." Mandy opened the door to Kate's truck and got out.

  "I will check up on you tomorrow after work." Kate told Mandy.

  "I'll be here."

  "I know." Kate laughed. "I have your car!"

  Mandy closed the passenger door, and Kate backed out of her driveway. Mandy went inside her house, and for the first time, she felt safe in her own home.

  Chapter 11

  For the next month, Kate would come over to Mandy's house every day for a couple of hours at a time. They would spend their time sitting close to each other on the couch talking or enjoying meals together.

  Mandy was beginning to become very attracted to Kate. With every smile, every laugh her crush grew stronger.

  Kate was feeling the same way about Mandy, but neither one was willing to ask the other one out quite yet.

  A month past and it was finally time for Mandy and Ian's divorce trial and Ian's criminal trial.

  In the courtroom, Mandy sat quietly, never giving eye contact to her soon to be ex-husband that was sitting at a table nearby.

  The two lawyers gave their clients side of the story. However, Jasmine, Mandy's lawyer was the only one with photo evidence of the abuse Ian did to her client. It didn't take long for the jury to come to a verdict.

  Mandy sat nervously as the jurors came back into the courtroom. The head juror stood up, and told the judge "We have unanimously found the defendant guilty of assault."

  Mandy looked over at Ian, his head was down. The judge called Ian to the stand and gave him his sentence. "You are an evil man." He told him. "I want to make sure that you learn your lesson, and you learn it good! You will have twenty years to think about what you've done! Also, I am granting a restraining order to Mandy protecting her from you!"

  The judge looked down at some papers on his stand. "As far as the divorce goes, I don't believe you'll be needing anything while you're incarcerated." He said to Ian. "I am granting Mandy the house, all the money in your joint bank account plus I am going to make a call to your company. I am also going to make an executive decision to make Mandy the new CEO of your company."

  Ian couldn't believe this! "Why does she get to be the new CEO of my company? She knows nothing about business!"

  "What kind of business do you have?" the judge asked Ian.

  "I run a tractor-trailer company."

>   The judge looked at Mandy. "Do you think you can handle Ian's business?"

  Mandy held her head up high with confidence. "Of course I can, and I bet I can run it better than he ever could!"

  "That settles it. Court dismissed." The judge slammed his mallet down.

  Ian glared at Mandy as the officers took him out of the courtroom.

  Mandy was thrilled! She turned around and noticed Kate was sitting in the back of the courtroom. She ran over to her and hugged her. "Thank you so much for helping me."

  "You are welcome." Kate said. She became somber. "Now that he's going to be locked up for the next twenty years, I guess you don't need me to check up on you now."

  "You can still check up on me." Mandy smiled. "I wouldn't mind." Mandy gave Kate a wink.

  Later that evening, over at the holding center, Ian was sitting in his cell writing a letter to his father. He was furious at his now ex-wife! Ian felt that Mandy got him into this mess and she was going to have to pay the price.

  His cellmate came over and glanced over his shoulder. "Love letter?" he asked. Ian slammed his pen down. "No! It's a letter to my father!" he snapped.

  The other man laughed. "Oh, daddy's boy?" He crossed his arms. "So tell me, pretty boy, why are you in here?"

  Ian glared at this other man. "My wife had me arrested!"

  "You didn't put your hands on a woman did you?"

  "She's not a woman, she's an animal!" Ian told the man. "Gays are not human!"

  The man was in disbelief! "I'm in here for robbing a store! I would never put my hands on a woman no matter what!" He smacked Ian across the face. "Learn some respect man! Gays are people too!"

  Ian didn't know how to respond. For the first time in his life, he was now living in fear. He knew that there was a good chance other people in the holding center will find out why he was there.

  Later that night, when his cellmate was sound asleep, Ian finished writing the letter to his father.

  The next morning, Ian was able to get the letter sent out before heading to the dining hall for breakfast.

  Ian sat down at a table all alone. A group of four men approached him and sat down at his table. "So, I hear you can't keep your hands off women!" one of the men stated.