I get some things for breakfast, and then, loading them into my car, I make my way back to the apartment. I park out in front, as we don’t have parking in the complex, and I go around to the back and pull out the shopping bags. It’s then I hear an all-too-familiar voice, yet it’s a voice I haven’t heard in years, a voice that I didn’t think I’d ever have to hear again. Danny. My abusive ex who I haven’t seen or heard from since I managed to escape his grips years earlier.
“Well, well, as I live and breathe, Willow. I knew I’d find you eventually.”
Body tense with anxiety, I turn slowly to face the man who very nearly broke me. The years haven’t been kind to him. His once beautiful face is now marred with scars and bruises. A fighter. He was always a fighter. I should have known back then that I was in a dangerous situation—Danny loves to use his fists on whoever and whatever he can, and that included me. His blue eyes are duller than I remember, and his blonde hair is cropped short.
Danny is a big man, he has always been a big man. He stands just over six foot and has quite a solid build. Backing up to the front entrance slowly, I keep my eyes on him as I wonder what the hell he’s doing here. Has he come looking for me? Or was it just a coincidence that he’s seen me now? I moved, I found a place where he wouldn’t find me, so how the hell did he do just that?
He grins, taking a step closer. “What? No hello.”
“What are you doing here, Danny?” I ask, trying to keep my voice steady.
He laughs. “Come on now, you have to know the answer to that. Even you’re not that stupid. I went to prison for a year because of you, do you know that? You reported me, and I got locked up.”
I doubt that.
I did report him when he hit me, but I didn’t stick around to see what happened. But, he wouldn’t have gone to prison unless they had something else on him and that report pushed them to make an arrest. That is highly likely; he was heavy into drugs and had been arrested before, there is a good chance my report was enough to have him locked up.
“Anything that happened to you was well deserved!” I mutter. “You hit me. You put your hands on me. That’s not including the years of emotional abuse. You deserve everything you got.”
His eyes flare as he steps forward. “I hit you because you were a lying, cheating, slut. You and I are going to talk. It has been a long time coming.”
I shake my head. “No, we’re not.”
“Oh yes, we are.”
He steps forward and before I have the chance to scoot back any farther, he grips my upper arm so hard I wince. He’s strong. Flashes of just how strong he could be flitter through my memories as I remember just how abusive he was and how he ripped every last piece of who I was from my very soul when I was with him. He might have only hit me once, but he fucked with my mind for a lot longer than that.
“Let me go,” I growl, jerking my arm, but having no luck.
He’s too strong.
“You were mine. I gave you everything, and that’s how you repaid me?”
“You gave me nothing,” I yell, finally yanking my arm free.
“I took care of you and you ruined that by going up town and fucking random men! You fucking walked all over me, and then when I reacted, you had me locked up,” he snarls.
He’s scaring me.
His temper is something you don’t mess with.
“I never cheated on you,” I say, taking a step back, fingers still gripping tightly onto my bags.
“Bullshit!”
“Leave me alone. I won’t take this.”
He throws his head back and laughs. “What are you going to do? Nothing. Nothing at all. You’re weak, Willow, you always were. Pathetic and weak. You let me hit you, fuck, you didn’t even try to fight back. You’ve got nothing, you’re just like your mother. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree ...”
I turn to make a run for it, swinging my bags of groceries as I spin on my heel. I’d rather get out of here than let him stand here and abuse me again. Danny is dangerous, and I’m not about to sit around and let him have his chance once more.
“Oh no you don’t, we aren’t finished,” he barks, lunging for me.
He catches me around the waist and hauls me backward, causing the groceries to drop onto the ground. I spin around and slap him so hard he stumbles back. I know that’s a mistake as soon as I do it. His eyes flare, and he reaches out, as if in slow motion. His fist connects with my face before I even have the chance to react. I fall backward, landing on the ground with a thump, head crashing backward onto the sidewalk. Sharp pain shoots through my lip and jaw as my teeth pierce through my flesh.