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By the time I get home it’s around two AM. I’ve had way too much to drink, and my body is aching with the pent-up need that built inside me after what happened with Kendric tonight. I want nothing more than to have someone fuck me until I can’t think anymore, but alas, I’m home alone with nobody to do that. My entire body is aching, my pussy is still throbbing, and I’m a little too drunk to make sense out of what just happened.
I reach my front door and when I see the light on inside, my heart flops into my belly. There is only one person who has a key to my place, and it’s the one person I really don’t want to see right now. Reece is in there, I just know it. I should have gotten my keys back sooner, I know that in this very moment, but instead I danced around it. Tonight, I made a big call, I should have known he wouldn’t take it well.
What the hell was I thinking?
I take a deep breath, wondering how in the hell I’m going to diffuse this situation.
I don’t want to fight; I certainly don’t want to have to explain myself. I’m not comfortable being alone with Reece and I’m not sure that me being drunk, coming in at two AM, and finding him sitting there is a good combination for anything. Still, I have to go inside because I really need to lie down and the only way I’m going to be able to do that is to get him out as fast as I can.
I’ll say whatever I have to, to get that done.
I open the front door and step inside, and, as suspected, Reece is sitting in my kitchen on a stool, staring at the front door. He’s been waiting for me. He has a beer in his hand and his eyes are red, he looks tired. God only knows how long he’s been waiting. That’s not my first thought, though. My first thought is wondering where my son is. I hope he’s okay, and the instinct in me comes out before Reece even says a word.
“Where’s Jayden?”
“I dropped him off to my sister’s house, he’s safe and asleep. He had a great time with his cousins.”
I don’t know if I like that. If tonight doesn’t go well, I need to be able to get to my son.
I take a deep breath. I’m just going to have to make sure it does go well. If that means I have to diffuse this situation then I’ll do that.
Anything to get my baby boy back safely with it.
“Why are you here, Reece?” I ask, trying to keep my voice calm.
“You didn’t think I wouldn’t come after you told me it was over and hung up on me?”
Right.
“I said we’d talk about it tomorrow, which is now today. I’m not sure why you couldn’t wait.”
He stands and walks around the kitchen counter toward me. I take a step back, shaky on my legs. I’ve had a little too much to drink and that makes me nervous when it comes to Reece. I don’t like not having my wits about me. “Please, can we do this tomorrow?” I ask. “Or later today. I need to sleep.”
“Who were you with, Zariah?”
“Nobody.”
“You’re lying to me. I can smell the musky scent of your fuckin’ pussy. I know the smell of sex. Who the fuck were you with?”
This is bad.
God, this is so bad.
“Reece, please. I was with nobody. I swear.”
“You fucking liar. You break up with me over the phone, and now you’re lying to me.”
“I didn’t break up with you over the phone, we were already over!” I cry.
I raise my voice very little to Reece, I know better, but right now I’m drunk and that is taking away a whole lot of my control. This is exactly why I don’t drink. I lose my wits. I am not as stable as I’d like to be and right now, I’m scared, and I just want this man out of my damned house. Once and for all.
Reece steps forward, taking my arm roughly. “Who is he?”
“Reece, let me go. You’re supposed to be keeping your hands to yourself, remember?”
“Who. The. Fuck. Is. He?”
God.
“I said nobody,” I say, trying to jerk my arm out of his grips.
“Fuckin’ man been inside you, five minutes after you ended it with me.”
I can smell the alcohol on his breath, and I know now that he hasn’t had just one or two. He’s drunk. I’m drunk. This is a very, very dangerous situation.
“Let me go, please.”
“Did he put his cock in you?” he barks into my face.
He shoves his hand toward my jeans, and a fight erupts. I try to push him away but it’s no use, he’s so damned strong and I’m way too drunk. He shoves his hand down the front of my jeans and into my panties, roughly handling me with his other hand. “Let me go!” I scream, trying to jerk backward.
He pulls his hands from my panties and brings his fingers up to his face. “I can smell it, you fucking slut! Not even five minutes.”
Sick.
Sick and deranged.
This man is never going to change.
He’s always going to be dangerous.
Always going to be a monster.
I need to get my son and myself out of his life.
“You let me go, now,” I bellow, jerking my arm free. “We’re done. You’re sick and you need help. I’m finished with you, Reece, and if you so much as lay another hand on me, I’ll take Jayden too.”
I don’t know it when I say those words, but I know it the moment they’ve left my lips that I made a very, very big mistake.
Reece’s fist flies out and connects with my chest, sending me spiralling backward until I slam into a coffee table. I stumble a few times, heart racing, and try to scurry backward as he stalks toward me. He leans down, taking a fistful of my hair and he jerks me upward. My mind spins and my body recoils as pain shoots through my chest, agony I haven’t felt for such a long time. “Reece, please,” I scream. “Stop.”
“You fuckin’ bitch. You won’t threaten me. You will not take my son.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. I was just angry.”
He punches me again, this time right into my rib cage. Hand in my hair, other hand slamming into my body over and over until I’m screaming, begging him to stop, begging him to just make it stop. My ribs feel like they’re broken, I can’t breathe, the pain in my body is so intense I feel like I might very well die here tonight.
“Reece,” I whisper when he lets me go and throws me onto the floor. “Please. Stop. Please, I’m begging you. Think of Jayden.”
He pauses midway down as he’s reaching for me again, his eyes flash and then widen. He straightens, stares at me, and I can see the moment the demon goes back into its cage and the man I once loved comes back out. He stares at me in shock and horror, like he’s just seen me for the first time, like he has no idea who just did that to me.
I shuffle backward, agony ripping through my body. I feel like I’m going to die.
I want to die.
God, I just can’t take this anymore.
“Zariah ...”
“Get out of my house,” I stammer, staring at him with fear in my gaze.
I’m afraid of him.
He knows I’m afraid of him.
He also knows I’m weak when it comes to him.
Why don’t I fight?
Why am I so damned pathetic?
I’m not sure I’ll ever have that answer.
I do know that I need to escape. I need to find a way to free myself from this man.
Because next time, he will kill me.
I can’t let that happen.
“Why don’t you fight back?” he asks, his voice low and pained. “Why don’t you stop me, Zariah? You know you can. Why don’t you? Why do you let me keep hurting you? Why can’t you just do as you’re told?”
“I don’t fight back because I’m not a god damned monster like you,” I rasp, chest crackling in a way that’s a little concerning.
My answer doesn’t shock me, but it feels like finally something makes sense. All the times he’s hurt me, and I’ve cowered and allowed it, I’ve often wondered to myself why. Why do I let a man hurt me, when I’m fully capable of making him stop? Why do I not fight him, when I can take full men down on the streets? I’m afraid, sure, there’s no doubt about that. I’ve always been afraid that if I fought back, it would escalate the situation, but that never seemed to be a good enough reason.
But knowing that I don’t fight back because he’s a monster and I refuse to be a monster too suddenly makes horrible sense inside my body. I don’t want to be like him. I don’t want my son to see me like that, ever, not even the smallest chance. I am protecting my boy, but I’m not doing a good enough job at it. I need to escape this man, and I need to do everything in my power to make sure my baby is safe.
I have no other choice.
“Baby,” Reece says, kneeling down and reaching for me.
I jerk back, eyes wide. “Don’t, don’t touch me.”
“You’re hurt, let me make it better.”
“Get out of my house, or I will call the police. If I call the police, you’ll not see your son again. I don’t want to do that, because he loves you. So, if you love him like you say you do, you need to get the hell out of my house and never come back.”
His eyes tear up and I want to scream and hit him and hug him all at the same time. Why am I so broken that I feel anything toward this monster? What is wrong with me? I hold my ground, though. I’m not letting him touch me. Not now. Not again.
I’m done.
It’s my time to fight back.
“Please, let me help you. You could be injured.”
“You going to take me to the hospital and tell them what you’ve done?”
He looks pained at my response.
“I didn’t think so. Now leave.”
“Zariah ...”
“God dammit, leave!” I scream.
He backs up, his face shocked, his hands trembling. My whole body feels like it’s going to just give up on me and my bottom lip trembles with the tears I’ve been holding back for the last few minutes. I can barely breathe, barely think. I just need him to leave. I need him gone.
Now.
He turns and walks to the door, looking back when he reaches it.
“Get out,” I rasp, clutching my ribs.
The pain is like a searing hot knife rolling through my body.
I’m scared.
I’m in agony.
I need him gone.
He walks out and shuts the front door. I wait a few moments, part of me terrified he’s going to walk back in and finish what he’s always come so close to finishing. I push to my hands and knees, letting the tears leak free as I sob my way to the door. When I’m there, I flick the deadbolt. He might have a key, but when I’m inside this house, he can’t get in. I fall against the door.
I need help.
I know I need help.
The problem now is, who the hell do I call?