“How dare you hurt the woman I love?” he yelled. “You sorry son of a bitch.” His fist thudded into Riggs’s jaw. Blood poured from Riggs’s nose. Dallas wrung his hands around Riggs’s neck and forced his head into the dirt. “You son of a bitch. Son of a whore.” Thump. “Goddamned bastard!” Thump. Thump. Thump. Riggs’s eyes rolled into the back of his head.
“Dallas!”
It was Annie.
“Stay in the truck, Annie.” Dallas continued to beat the man, long after he had lost consciousness. It felt too good to stop. Too damn good.
“Dallas, listen to me.”
“I’ll take care of this.” Thump. Thump. Thump.
“But you’ll kill him!”
The words jarred him. He looked at his fingers around the man’s throat, the blood gushing from his nose, his battered face, his wounded leg. Kill him? The man deserved far worse. But Dallas wouldn’t spend the rest of his life in prison for this sorry excuse for a human being. He had very nearly lost control. Thank God for Annie.
He left Riggs’s body slumped on the ground, pulled out his cell phone, and dialed 9-1-1. After explaining the situation, he returned to Annie.
“I’m sorry you had to see that.”
“Are you kidding?” She pulled him to her. “I loved seeing that. I just didn’t want to turn you into something you’d regret.”
“Thank you.” He kissed the top of her head. “I love you.”
“Yeah. You said that. But—”
“But what?” His heart lurched. He had come for her. He had saved her. What could possibly go wrong?
“I’m not sure I can be with you. Not after everything. I… I don’t ever want to experience that kind of hurt again, Dallas.”
“I’ll never hurt you.”
“You don’t understand.” Annie blinked.
Was she having trouble seeing? She coughed a little, and he held her close and rubbed her back as she gasped. He spoke what he hoped were soothing words into her ear and silently thanked God he could hold her. The woman he loved.
After several deep breaths, she spoke again. “All of Riggs’s beatings. All of his vicious and vile words. His—” She choked out a sob. “He went to prison for beating and raping me.”
“I know, baby. I’m so sorry.”
“No. I-I’m not asking for pity. I’m trying to…that is…what I’m trying to say is that, all the times he hurt me, well, they hurt. Badly. But I’d gladly go through it all again to save myself from the cutting pain of you rejecting me.”
“I’m not rejecting you.”
“But you did. You wouldn’t let me explain.”
“I was a fool. I don’t deserve your forgiveness. But I love you, Annie. More than I ever thought I could love another person. I don’t want to live without you.”
“If…” She sighed. “Dallas. If you hadn’t rejected me, I wouldn’t have gone home and found Riggs waiting, and I wouldn’t have…”
Had someone shot him? In the heart?
“Oh God.” Dallas raked his fingers through his thick hair. She wasn’t going to forgive him. She blamed him for this current situation. A knife slashed through him, past the ache in his heart all the way into his marrow.
She was right.
“Please, Annie.”
“I can’t, Dallas. I just can’t.”