“Sweetheart.” He held my hands in his, squeezing gently. “I understand.”
Those two words meant so much more than he would ever know. His eyes shone with the truth and showed me that he really did understand.
“You do?” I whispered.
“Yeah.” He came forward, planting a soft kiss on my lips. “So what happened then?”
I cleared my throat and looked down at my lap, trying to get up the courage to tell him what had happened that day.
“I set my vest and belt out on the bed before I left to take Eli. I’d put them there so I wouldn’t forget them, but I did. I didn’t realize until I’d dropped Eli off. That’s when-”
“You called me,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Yeah. By the time I got back to the apartment, he was there…sat in the kitchen with…with…” I sobbed, not being able to say anymore.
Squeezing my eyes tight, I tried to get rid of the images that were flashing in my mind. I didn’t want to go back there and I didn’t think I could tell Ty what had happened. Not after this part. It was too painful.
I could almost feel every single punch and kick that he gave me that day. Wincing, my hand went to my leg and rubbed over the spot where my scar was.
“Sweetheart? It’s okay, you don’t need to say anymore.”
Nodding, I opened my eyes. Glad that I could see his beautiful brown eyes, instead of evil green ones.
I blew out a deep breath, and let my head drop to his chest. I was so grateful that I had Ty now, that both me and Eli were safe.
I couldn’t believe that he had stopped her from working. What kind of man did that? Every little thing she told me about her life with him, made me that much angrier.
I pushed it down, knowing that if she saw it, it would make her clam up like she had earlier on the stairs. I hadn’t been able to shield it from her then. I was sat there thinking all kinds of things, but what I was hearing was so much worse than I could have imagined and I knew that the worst was still to come.
She pulled her head off my chest, her eyes filled with so much pain, I could almost physically feel it.
“H…h…he strangled me.” Her hand fluttered across her neck and her eyes drifted off. “It all happened so fast but I fought back,” she said, looking me back in the eyes and making sure that I knew she had.
“You don’t have to-”
“But he was so strong, and then he had me on the floor.” A lone tear slipped from the corner of her eye, trailing a path down her cheek. She was in her own head and I desperately tried to tell her that she didn’t have to tell me anymore but it was no use. “He just kept hurting me and I realized that the more pain I was in, the more he was enjoying it.”
I gripped onto her legs and clenched my jaw. What I would do to that sick fuck if I got my hands on him. I wouldn’t be able to control myself, that was for sure.
“I managed to reach for the belt,” she continued. “I got the baton and was about to swing it when he stabbed me in the leg.”
I covered her hand with mine, she was unconsciously rubbing at the spot where her scar was. She had so many physical scars but I couldn’t even imagine the mental ones that she carried around with her.
“Then I knocked him out.” She met my eyes, a smirk growing on her face.
“You did?” I asked, shocked.
“Yeah.” She giggled. “He fell down like a sack of potatoes.” She grimaced and continued. “Only he fell onto me.”
“Shit,” I murmured. The images that were flicking through my head were making me crazy, imagining her laying there helpless and covered in blood and bruises. Shaking my head to try and rid the thoughts, I shifted on the bed.
“When I finally got him off me, I barely made it in the car and then I came straight here,” she said, finally looking back at me.
She smiled, her whole face lighting up with the movement. Although her eyes still held a tinge of sadness, it was almost all gone now. I could tell, without even asking, that this had been good for her.
Me? I was even more determined to find him and show him what someone his own size could do to him. Men like him only ever prayed on women smaller than them. I’d never hated anyone the way that I hated him. From the first time I saw him, that night that me and Kay had in the closet, I knew that there was something about him.
The way that he had her against the wall when I walked out into that hallway, there was something not right about it. I should have known by the way that she acted as they walked past me. I should have stepped in but when she shook her head at me, I didn’t.