Each time I showed up, she would feed me. She knew something was going on and that I was in trouble, but she never really asked. I showed up one time with fresh bruises. She didn’t ask about them, she just placed a pocketknife in front of me while I was eating. “You take this and keep it on you at all times,” she told me. I tried to say no, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. “It’s going to come in handy one day,” she said.
It was that very night when I got back that I got the scars. Grant was higher than I’d ever seen him and angrier than I’d seen him. He was yelling at me for something he had broken a few days before. I knew better than to talk back to him, but I couldn’t help myself. I said something smart to him and he snapped.
I’ll never forget the look in his eyes when I talked back to him that night. It’s like his eyes went completely black and the person standing in front of me was no longer human.
He grabbed me by my hair and dragged me down the stairs to the basement. I hated the basement. It was creepy, there was hardly any light down there, and it smelled of mildew. There was no reason for me to go down there, so I stayed away.
He dropped me in the middle of the floor and kicked me hard in the stomach, knowing I wouldn’t be able to get up after. I curled up into a ball, knowing that more was coming. I heard him, walk to the table and pick something up. When he came back toward me, I was not prepared. He had a whip. He hit me so hard the first time that my shirt tore open and so did my skin. He just kept hitting me over and over. So many times in a row that he was out of breath.
Sometimes when he would beat me, he would get out of breath, and it would give me a chance to get away from him. I was waiting for that moment in the basement. My back was on fire. I was bl*ody. I knew I had to get out of there that night or he was going to kill me. I tried to move and felt something hard in my pocket. The knife that Ms. Jackson had given me. As discreetly as possible, I maneuvered the knife out of my pocket into my hand. I knew I had one chance and only one chance to get away from him.
He walked back toward me and drew his leg back like he was going to kick me. Just when his foot should’ve made contact with my stomach, I grabbed his foot and sliced his Achilles’ tendon with every bit of strength I had left. I needed to make sure he couldn’t run after me. He crumpled to the floor, screaming in pain. I used every bit of strength I had left and ran up the stairs. I ran to my room to grab my bag with the last little bit of my stuff in it. I caught my reflection in the mirror and realized I was covered in blood and my back was basically ground chuck. I didn’t have time to change, so I grabbed a jacket and threw it on. I screamed when the material touched my back.
Running toward the front door, I saw his car keys. I grabbed them and ran outside. I jumped in his car and d*ove away as fast as possible.
When I drove up to my apartment building, I saw Ms. Jackson’s lights were still on. I knocked on her door. I didn’t know who else to go to, but I needed help. She could at least call an ambulance for me. I didn’t even have a phone at the time.
Instead, she took me inside, cleaned me up and stitched me up. She didn’t ask me anything other than “did you use the knife?” When I nodded, she said “see, I told you it was going to come in handy one day.” I smiled at the memory of how she helped me that night. How she nursed all my wounds without asking me to relive it. She let me sleep on her couch, as I didn’t even have a bed. I slept for a full 24 hours. That was the first time in years that I could actually relax. She kept an eye on me the whole time. She also made a few calls and had a bed delivered to my apartment while I was asleep.
I laughed, telling him she also sold my uncle’s car and had the cash for me when I woke up. She said she knew I stole it and it would be the only way he could find me, should he try, so she got rid of it.
Adrik was standing quietly beside me this whole time, listening to my story. I had been avoiding looking at him. It was just easier to get through the story that way. He stood in front of me, taking my hands in his and wrapping my arms around his waist. He then pulled me to him and held me tightly. I rested my head against his chest, inhaling his scent to help me stay calm.
After several minutes in silence, he cupped my face in his large hands, forcing me to look at him. “You are remarkable,” he said, hugging me to him once again.
Sephie
As we walked back toward the house, his fingers laced in mine, he was quiet. I didn’t mind the silence, but I was waiting on the usual change in behavior to happen. I was waiting for the way he looked at me to change.
He looked at me out of the corner of his eye, with that s*xy smirk that I loved. “Bingo is definitely happening,” was all he said as he grinned at me.
It was exactly the thing I needed to hear. I started laughing and wrapped his arm around my shoulders so I could slide my arm around his waist. We walked in silence the rest of the way to the house, but he would periodically peek at me and kiss the top of my head.
Maybe he was going to be different too.
As we came out of the woods, the cl*uds were growing darker above us. Thunder rumbled in the distance and within a few seconds, a flash of lightning lit up the sky. I inhaled deeply, loving the smell of rain. Adrik stopped and pulled me to him. He kissed me deeply, holding me against him tightly. My knees threatened to give way beneath me. I clung to him to keep from falling as I was caught completely off guard by the passion behind this kiss. My breaths came heavier as he was unrelenting. I felt like he was trying to convince me of his passion in just one kiss. Just when I thought I couldn’t take any more, he kissed my lips softly. He looked deeply into my eyes. I was searching his eyes for the change I was expecting, but I saw nothing different. He looked at me with the same intensity he always had, maybe even a little more.
He kissed the tip of my nose and with an impish grin said, “race you!” as he took off running toward the house.
“Oh, it’s on,” I said taking off after him. He was fast, but so was I and he didn’t have couches to jump this time. On a straightaway, I was pretty fast. I easily caught up to him in a short distance. We still had around 200 yards to the house. He glanced to the side and saw me right at his heels, a wide smile on his face. He tried to speed up, but I was prepared and increased my speed as well, so I stayed right by him. I was expecting him to tire before we reached the house and then I could pass him.
We had maybe 20 yards to go and he started to give out. I easily passed him. Looking back, he had slowed to a walk, trying to catch his breath. I kept jogging the rest of the way to the back patio. I stood waiting for him, looking at my pretend watch the whole time. He was still panting when he finally caught up to me.
“How,” he said, breathlessly. “How are you so fast.”
“Many of those nights I spent away from my uncle’s house were spent running.” I winked at him.
“You’re like a gazelle.”
I laughed at him, still trying to catch his breath. “You okay? Do I need to send for someone to carry you in the house? I don’t think I can do it by myself,” I said as raindrops started to fall.
He was still partially bent over, trying to catch his breath, but he slung one arm around my shoulders and lifted one leg like I was going to pick him up. “Come on, I think you can do it. You almost killed me. it’s the least you can do.”
The rain started to fall harder. I grabbed his hand, pulling him along behind me. “You’re very dramatic for a Lord King Boss.”
As we got under one of the balconies and out of the rain, he suddenly stopped. “Lord King Boss?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.