by Romi Hart
“You expect me to believe that?” he asked, snorting. How had she ever found this man attractive? His looks hadn’t changed, other than the fact that he looked disheveled, as though he’d been irritated, his hair a little crazed. But he was not the least bit attractive, and it only showed how personality changed appearance in the eye of the beholder.
“Of course, David.” She scrambled to try to get to her feet, feeling as though it would help even out the playing field. He still loomed over her threateningly, but being off the floor empowered her slightly. “Now that you’re here, though, we can just leave together.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Just like that, we can leave here together, no trouble.” He stated it hesitantly, and while she was trembling from head to toe, Regan managed a small smile and a nod for him. “Why did you come back?”
She sighed. “I came back to drop off the key I forgot to leave for the movers. What were you doing here, if you knew I had already left?”
“I didn’t know,” he told her, relaxing his pose minimally. It boded well for her efforts working to sooth him into believing her and letting down his guard. “I came to see you, and you weren’t here. I sat in the parking lot, waiting. I thought you were at work, and when I saw you pull up, I knew you had to have been with that creep. That biker, and I was so mad.”
“No! I was on my way out of town, to a new apartment that I wanted to share with you. I thought we could start over,” she told him, thinking of the situation and looking for ways to pacify his needs. “I know you need to get back into work, and there are a lot of opportunities where I was headed. I just wanted to get settled in, and then I wanted to call you and invite you to join me.”
He grunted and glanced around. “And what about all your things?”
“I told you, the movers are coming. The new place is furnished, so I’m having the furniture put in storage. All the boxes are coming to me. We’ll have a lovely place, David, a perfect place to build a new life.” She pandered, and she put as much honey in her voice as she could muster.
And he was buying it, hook, line and sinker. She kept on him, using her success as a platform to build on. “Come on, David. Let’s go, before the movers get here. I don’t want to see anyone else before I go.” She held out her hand, and David just stared at it like it was on fire, or as if she held a crocodile that was going to bite him.
Eventually, though, he stretched out his arm. Rather than taking her hand, he grabbed her wrist, wrenching her arm behind her back and pushing her forward, marching her out of the bedroom. This was all too familiar, and for a moment, Regan started to panic, PTSD rising like bile in her throat. But she breathed deeply, forcing the calm exterior to remain and mask her fear. David fed on her fear, and she wouldn’t give him the pleasure.
“I can’t trust you, Regan. I’m sorry, but until I see this place, I can’t guarantee that we’ll be able to do this.” He shoved her down the hall, causing her to trip over her own feet, and then he all but threw her onto the couch. She hurriedly righted herself, turning toward him and training her expression into an imploring one.
“I have no reason to lie to you, David. You’re stronger than me. If I wanted to escape, you could take me down in a heartbeat. There’s no point in lying to you.”
“Then, where is this place you’re headed, the place that’s going to be ours?” he demanded, crossing his arms and staring down at her. How did he manage to look so much larger than he actually was? And when had the last vestiges of respectability dissolved? Regan couldn’t even see the last dregs of the decent side of him she’d known. Or that she had perhaps imagined.
“Utah,” she told him. Honesty would be best, if she expected him to believe her. She could lie, but her acting skills only went so far. “It’s in a beautiful, small town with mountains and greenery, and it’s perfect for us. We’ll be away from the past, with the city near enough to give us opportunity but far enough to make sure we have privacy.”
He reared back, fisting his hand, and Regan instinctively flinched. “Don’t talk to me like I’m a child. I’m your husband, not some five year old you have to handle with kid gloves.” Suddenly, he relaxed, opened his fist, and brought his knuckles down to stroke her cheek. Regan shuddered before she could stop her reaction, and that was a mistake. She’d had him, and now, his lips contorted, his eyes blazing. “You’re disgusted by my touch? How many other men have you let touch you since you ran away, Regan?”
It was the first time he’d addressed the situation for what it was rather than the delusion that she’d gone ‘for treatment’. This was bad, and she counted to five before she answered. “You’re mistaken, David. I’m just nervous. You hit me, remember? I’m nervous that I’ll do something to deserve another smack.”
“Don’t play me, you little whore.” He moved too fast for her to flinch, and David’s closed hand smashed into her ear, and for a moment, she thought her eardrum had burst. Her neck popped, her head jerking sideways, and it was all she could do to keep from huddling in a ball and begging for mercy.
But she wouldn’t give in. She wasn’t a coward, and David wasn’t going to kill her spirit. Despite the pain and disorientation, she reached for the first thing she could find – the television remote – and threw it at him. He ducked, which gave her a precious few seconds to launch herself toward the door.
But he recovered too quickly and had her around the waist, throwing her to the ground like a ragdoll. She landed on her side, bouncing slightly, and she cried out as her knees knocked together and her head made contact with the floor. “I’m tired of chasing after you!” he screamed, landing his foot in her side with an agonizing kick.
“Then leave me alone!” she choked, wincing and rolling over, hoping to avoid another blow to the same spot.
But he stomped on her arm, and she felt the pressure as he held it down so tight that one wrong move on her part would crack the bone. “We made vows! You will not escape me. Stop running, and live up to your promises.” He pushed harder, and she whimpered, unable to hold back the pathetic sound. “Honor me, and cherish me.”
She shook her head. “How can I honor someone who treats me like filth? You promised to honor your wife, and this isn’t how you do it.”
“And you promised to be faithful. And to obey. You’re nothing but a defiant, filthy whore.” He lifted his foot, but before Regan could move, he grabbed her bicep, his fingers biting into her skin, and yanked her off the floor, shoving her against the wall so hard it took the wind out of her yet again. Her body ached, and she could feel the bruises throbbing and coming to the surface as he pushed his body against her. “But I can forgive all that. I can forget how many men you’ve let defile you, if you give yourself to me again. If you promise not to leave me again.”
He pressed his hips into hers painfully, and she was shocked and disgusted to feel the evidence of his arousal. The violence turned him on, and her stomach turned. Nauseated, she turned her head away, but he brought his free hand up and clamped her jaw with a painfully tight grip. “You rode this cock like a jockey in the Kentucky Derby once. And now, you’re turning away. Maybe I should go dismember your little friend. You know, the one who threatened me. It’s his cock that’s got you judging mine, isn’t it?”
Fear ripped through Regan’s chest at the thought of David hurting Corey, and she shook her head, as much as she could in his grip. “No, it’s not. But how am I supposed to be aroused by someone who takes pleasure in hurting me? I want a life with you, David, but not if you’re going to threaten me and hurt me. Please, let me go, and we can do this the right way.”
“Stop pretending, Regan. I can feel your revulsion.” His voice was deceptively low and calm, but it didn’t fool her. She knew the eye of the storm wasn’t any safer than the sustaining winds on the edges of the hurricane. “You’ve ruined everything. We can never have a real marriage now, not like we had before. We were so perfect together, you and I. Everyone envied us. I had women begging me to leave you, begging
me to choose them instead. But all I ever wanted was you, and you ran away from me for no reason.”
“You hit me!” she countered. “You hurt me, to the point I needed medical attention. Do you really consider that a perfect marriage? For a man to beat up the woman he claims to love? I was a punching bag, not a wife. And look at you now. The bruises from last time you were here just faded, and you came again and knocked me over the head, threw me around, and boxed my ears! I’m not a ragdoll, and I won’t take this abuse.”
“You will take what I give!” David shouted, and the sting of the backhand was hardly unexpected. It made her dizzy, the room spinning and his face blurring into several copies of itself. “You chose to be with me, and you will honor that promise, whether you like it or not.” His hand slid down to her breast, squeezing it painfully, and she pressed her lips together to keep from screaming, looking around instead for some sort of leverage against him. It was bad enough he wanted her broken and bruised. She wasn’t going to let him take her dignity.
“You’re pathetic,” she spat at him, deciding to take a difference stance in hopes it would kill his enthusiasm. “I’m sure you’re only so obsessed with me because no one else wants you, and I don’t blame them. You’re a terrible lover. I had to ride you that hard just to try to keep you hard. You’re flaccid, and even when you’re not, you hardly have enough of a package to keep a woman satisfied. Do you know how many times I faked an orgasm with you?”
This time, he threw a punch at her gut, and she nearly lurched all over him. The only thing that kept her from vomiting was the lack of food in her stomach. But she could sense his wounded pride and knew it would kill his hard on. As long as that wasn’t a factor, she could hold her own against the physical violence.
For a while.
But she would eventually have to find a way to get help. She’d failed to convince him to come with her to her new apartment, or to take her wherever he wanted to go. Eventually, he would decide on one or the other, since he was determined to have her in some way. But would she still be alive and conscious by then? She had to formulate a plan of action that would get her help.
Maybe, if she drug this out long enough and could take the blows, the movers would arrive and come to her rescue. David seemed to have forgotten about them, and Regan sure as hell wasn’t going to remind him now. They may be her only hope to survive this brutal attack. It had been coming for years, and she could feel the hatred and disgrace pouring out of him. David was combusting, and if she didn’t remain vigilant, he would incinerate her when he exploded.
“You want me to show you how good I can be? How easy it is to keep it up? It’s only for you, Regan,” he told her, sounding desperate, like some college kid denying his erectile dysfunction after too many drinks. That irrational concern was what she was counting on to keep his dick limp.
Pumping more hatred through her veins, she let the venom drip from her lips as she told him, “I settled for you because I felt sorry for you, David. And luckily, there was always someone to satisfy me waiting in the wings when you weren’t good enough. You think I’m a whore now? You should have seen me when we got back from our honeymoon and I realized just what kind of a mistake I had made.”
It was all a load of shit, but it worked wonders. He cried out, screaming wordlessly in emotional agony, and grabbing her by her hair, David flung her to the ground, throwing himself on top of her and smacking both cheeks. Regan tasted blood, and she felt one of the crowns in the back of her mouth dislodge.
She turned her head and spat it to the ground before she accidentally swallowed it or choked on it, willing him to hit her again. If he was occupied with that anger, he wouldn’t take things to a sexual place. He couldn’t.
So she continued to provoke him, spouting truths and lies as necessary. “You know, when you came here the first time, and Corey showed up, I planned to fuck him in every room in this apartment. And after you left, I did just that. He made me come more times that night than you have in our entire marriage.”
A knee to the ribs, and she thought one cracked. But she wasn’t going to stop there. Her head felt like it was going to pop, throbbing and swirling, but she clung to consciousness, willing herself to survive a little longer. “I’m in love with him, David, not you. I was never truly in love with you. I thought you were what my parents wanted for me. But they would have never wanted me to be with a monster like you.”
David roared. “A monster! I’ll show you a monster.” His hands closed around her throat, and Regan’s eyes went wide. She’d gone too far, and he was going to choke her. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t get a single bit of air past his grip, and panic ensued. She clutched at his wrists, clawed at his arms, and it felt as though her eyes were going to fly from the sockets as she fought and tried desperately to find even the slightest bit of oxygen.
She flailed, kicking and slapping, but her limbs grew heavy. And a lucid thought floated through the fog of terror – that if she passed out and he thought she was dead, he would stop. He wouldn’t kill her, and she would be able to take a breath.
So she went limp.
His fingers still pressed on her wind pipe, and she felt tears in her eyes, but she forced herself not to move, and suddenly his hands were gone. She fought the urge to gasp, letting the tiny breaths she could take without alerting him fill her lungs bit by bit, and she held back sobs. She had to listen, too, and hope that the movers would arrive before he figured out her ploy. She didn’t know how much more of a beating she could take.
“Worthless bitch,” he muttered. She heard the door open, the clink of bottles, and she realized he was going to drink. Long guzzles were followed by a burp. “Well, that’s good stuff. At least you still have some class,” he muttered, toeing her hand and kicking her arm with a snort and a chuckle. “I’ll drag your ass down to the car later. Not like you’re going anywhere, anytime soon. And I’ll just knock you back out if you wake up.”
Regan wasn’t a religious woman, but she prayed David decided to finish off her liquor, maybe even get alcohol poisoning. Or at least get drunk enough to pass out so she could escape.
19
Even as the motorcycle seemed to turn itself down the lane leading to the apartment complex entrance, Corey tried to talk himself out of this. It was a betrayal of trust, in some ways, but he justified it with the knowledge that Regan wouldn’t be safe without his interfering. And since she’d blown him off, going behind her back was the only way to accomplish the deed.
He felt his phone buzz in his pocket several times and knew someone, likely Rafe or Zeke, or perhaps even Dylan, was trying to get in touch with him. But he needed to see to this errand before he could focus at all on dealing with the aftermath of last night’s near disaster.
Once more, he hesitated, just before pulling into the parking lot. Maybe he should have had someone tail her all the way to the state line. He instinctively knew she’d be going at least that far. And he could have enlisted someone across the border, one of the unsteady truces he still held at the moment, help him out and follow her from there.
But he had a nice wad of cash stuffed into his wallet, and that should do the trick for a group of movers who didn’t get paid nearly enough for their thankless jobs.
With renewed vigor, he revved the engine and turned Shawna into the complex and down the driveway, winding back to Regan’s building. But he cut the engine sharply, and slid the bike to a halt, his jaw dropping at the sight in front of him. The car wasn’t familiar, but its occupants were. And just beyond, he saw Regan’s car, a few spaces from her usual spot.
He would have been heartbroken, thinking she’d betrayed him and chosen to be with that jackass ex-husband of hers, except he was in the driver’s seat, pulling away, and Regan was slumped against the window in the passenger’s seat. They were too far away to tell for sure, but she didn’t look conscious, not in that position.
Fuck.
It was too late to stop the guy now, but he certainly co
uldn’t let David get away with this. And the cops would be no use at this point. Maybe, if he could trace them to a stop somewhere, he could call in the kidnapping. But the rage and hatred boiled up, along with the promise he’d made to protect Regan, and Corey had to do something. It was time to take matters into his own hands, regardless of Regan’s request.
This was life and death, and there was only one person here that deserved the latter.
He waited until the car turned out onto the road before he surged the bike to life and followed. He needed to keep enough distance that David, who was apparently drunk based on his erratic driving, didn’t take note of him. Working to maintain one eye on the car while pulling out his phone and tucking the Bluetooth into his ear, Corey hit his speed dial to get Zeke.
“What the hell, Corey? You just ran off and—”
“Shut up, Zeke. Code red.” The words silenced Zeke instantly. “I need backup. This son of a bitch has Regan, and he’s on the road.”
“How the hell did that happen? I thought you had someone follow her out!” Zeke sounded outraged, but Corey also heard the frantic need in his voice to help. He’d been in this position, Leigh in the hands of the late great Gomez, and he understood the dire circumstances.
Corey didn’t have an explanation, unless Mike had lied, which he doubted. So, why had Regan come back? Was there something so important that she’d forgotten that she’d risk coming back to her apartment alone for it? Or had she decided to stay and met with the worst luck ever?
It didn’t matter right now. What counted was getting her out of the hands of that monster before he hurt her anymore than he already had. “I don’t know. But he’s three sheets to the wind and seems to be headed for the interstate. GPS my phone, I’m on their tail. And get the cops on it. If they pull over at all, I want him ambushed.”
