NAT felt terror slowly working its way through her veins. Gary’s face was set like marble, except his eyes, which darkened further and further as they drove home. Instead of calming down as she’d hoped, he seemed to be getting angrier. She could feel tension radiating from his body as he sat ramrod straight, muscles bunched in his white office shirt. Nat resisted the urge to press herself against the passenger-side door but in her mind she was turning to liquid and pouring into the gap between the seat and door.
The streetlights flashed past. ‘Gary, we need to talk this through,’ she said as calmly as she could, but it came out a little strained and jumpy due to the fact that her heart was in her throat. Should she reach over and hold his hand, reassure him? She was so uncertain about how he would react. Second chances were scary.
He didn’t say anything at all until he pulled into his parking spot and shut off the car.
‘Come inside and we’ll talk,’ he said gruffly.
Nat opened her door with a shaking hand and moved slower than a turtle. Her mind was going faster than a rabbit, trying to guess what was to come and figure out how to explain what Gary had seen. She was torn between hope that he had changed and fear that he hadn’t. Her belly was a jumble of twisted barbed wire as she walked behind him on the lit pebbled pathway. Inside, Gary strode to the large glass wall and looked out over the city lights. He stood there with his hands clenched by his sides.
‘Gary, you need to calm down. There was no need to insist I come home without saying goodbye to Uncle Kent. He was right there with Billy. Nothing sordid was going on.’ She stood behind a chair, using it for balance, using it to hide her shaking body, using it as a shield and wondering if it would be enough.
Gary turned and the force of his gaze hit her like a slap. ‘Nothing going on? His hands were all over you. You were draped over him,’ he said angrily. ‘What else have you been doing?’ he said, stepping towards her and locking his hands onto her arms. He dragged her from behind the chair, putting her firmly in front of him.
‘Gary, this is your second chance. You promised me you’d never lose control again. Please. I need you to be the Gary I said I would marry.’
A hand snapped up and clenched her jaw hard, dragging her face close to his. Her teeth ached from the pressure.
‘Second chance? What about your second chance? For all I know, you’re sleeping in his bed.’
Nat tried to pull back. ‘No, I’m not. Gary, let me go. You’re hurting me,’ she begged. ‘You promised me you’d never hurt me again.’
‘You wouldn’t know what real pain is,’ he said, letting her jaw go but gripping her neck instead. He pushed her back towards the bedroom while she struggled for breath. She tripped over a rug and fell to the ground, getting a brief reprieve as she slipped from his grasp. She crawled along the floor, trying to get away, when she felt a blinding pain in her ribs. Curling into a ball, she cried out as he kicked her again, his shoe hard and unforgiving. Tears sprang forth, her world going blurry.
‘Gary, no, please,’ she whimpered. ‘You promised me. You promised.’
‘When are you going to learn that I don’t share? I will not be humiliated. I promised to behave but you were all over him. It was . . . disgusting. I will not have you doing it behind my back and making me a laughing stock.’ Gary reached down and dragged her up by her neck, both hands tight.
Natalie feared her windpipe was being crushed as he pulled her to the bed. Could her lungs collapse? Each breath was a struggle.
As her world grew dark, she wondered how she could have let this happen to her. Again. Gary had blown his second chance. He was not the man she wanted to marry. Not by a long shot. The shame was so intense she wanted to die from it. She didn’t even know who Gary was, and as she finally passed out into darkness she felt a moment of relief that it was over.