Seven

Eve couldn’t help but keep her gaze fixated on Arlin’s ass as he walked away, his back straight, shoulders thick and square. If she was honest with herself, she really didn’t want him to leave, but her friends deserved to hear the story first, just for putting up with her. Besides, she didn’t know Arlin, where he was from, what he did, what he was really doing in Bull Creek. For all she knew, he could be in cahoots with Kyle to drive her crazy, keep her distracted, make her drop her guard enough so that Kyle could slip in and finish what he started months ago.

The memory sent a shiver down her spine.

Eve hit the floor, her back smacking against the coffee table before she landed on the carpet. Her face stung from where Kyle backhanded her. The only plus to it was seeing him shaking his hand from where it hurt him as well. Her joy was short-lived, however, as he reached down, yanking her partway off the ground only to slap her again, her head snapping back, only to spring forward again for him to repeat it, over and over. She tried to fight him, but he just laughed at her, daring her to hit him again. For every one of her blows that struck him on the shoulders or arms, he’d land two on her face. He squeezed her so hard at one point, she had bruises on her arms for weeks. Bruises covered the rest of her, as well, from where he knocked her around the house, slamming her into the furniture and walls.

“I told you,” he snarled, “I don’t like other people sniffing around my woman. Yet, you just had to flirt with that waiter tonight, didn’t you? Didn’t you?”

She tried backing away, doing a backward crabwalk until her back hit the couch, halting her escape. He reached down, gripping her shirt front and yanking her to her feet. “I wasn’t flirting,” she cried out. “I just smiled at him. That’s all. I never flirt with anyone, Kyle. I swear.”

“I was there,” he shouted, his spittle spraying her face. “Are you calling me a liar? Are you telling me I didn’t see what I saw?”

“No, Kyle, I would never say that. I promise. I’m only saying what I did. Or rather didn’t do. I wasn’t flirting. Stop hitting me. Please.” Tears streamed down her face, her pleas echoing off the walls. At one time, she hoped her neighbors would call the cops, but after the third time of no one hearing anything, she gave up. This was her life from now on, and everyone around her must have thought she deserved it, because no one ever came to her rescue.

“You lie! You always lie. You’re always flirting with men we meet. If you do that in front of me, what the hell do you do behind my back? I always treat you so well, give you everything you want, and this is how you treat me?” He hit her again. And again. And again.

And all she could do was take it, crying, begging for it to end, but she knew it wouldn’t until he spent all of his anger on her. When it finally ended, him throwing her down on the ground and kicking her for good measure, he spit on her and walked toward the front door. “I don’t know why I keep putting up with you,” he snarled. “You’re just lucky I do.”

She straightened against the couch, doing her best to appear brave, strong. “I don’t need you. I can escape this life. I will escape it.” It was her mistake, mouthing off to him, trying to put up a front, posturing. She should have just kept her mouth shut and snuck out once he left. Then there would be no more beatings, no bruises and cuts, no more pain.

He spun on his heels, stomping his way back to her. She sat there, her chin held up, her back straight. He backhanded her, her head snapping to the side, and she took it. He did it again, grabbing her hair and holding her head still. He leaned down, snarling, his lips twisted in a nasty pinch. “There is no escape. Never. You and I will always be together.” He shoved her back on the couch. “I’m going for a beer. Clean this mess up. Consider it your punishment for embarrassing me in public.”

Eve watched as he walked away, barely closing the front door behind him. She didn’t know how long she sat there, huddled on the floor, crying her eyes out. It seemed like hours, but in reality, only a few moments passed.

When the sobs finally subsided, she wiped her eyes as well as her nose, with the back of her hands, her sniffles loud in the quiet that swallowed the tiny home after the storm that was Kyle Wagner. She stared at the mess, the broken coffee table, the knocked over lamps and knickknacks. She needed to clean the disaster of his anger up before he came back, or she knew there would be more beatings. It was her life. She deserved it, she knew, for whatever she did wrong in her life. This was her punishment. Kyle was her penance.

She wiped her face again. That is, he was as long as she allowed his abuse to continue, and she was tired of allowing it. Pushing herself off the floor, she decided Kyle was wrong. She could escape. She would escape.

She went to her room and stuffed her clothes and anything else she could grab into a green garbage bag and tossed it into the trunk of her car. She didn’t even turn around to take a final look at what was her home for the past three years. All she wanted was to escape.

And she did.

“Oh, baby,” Alanna reached out and squeezed Eve’s hand when the story was finished. Pity and sympathy were the last things Eve wanted from her friends.

“How in the hell did he find you?” Adira asked, her arms folded, one on top of the other on the table as she stared at her friend. “It’s not like Bull Creek has a massive spot on a map. I wouldn’t have known it even existed except for Agatha Rochester sending me to help Dimitri with the coyotes.”

“Oh my god, my mother!” Eve snatched her cell phone out of her purse and punched her mother’s name. If Kyle’s hurt her…

Eve let out the breath she held until her mom finally answered the phone, cheerful and perfectly fine. And talkative. Eve almost regretted calling to check on her. The others stood there, sipping their drinks as they waited for Eve to get off the phone with her mother.

Once she was finally able to hang up, she grabbed her beer and took a long swig. Setting the bottle back on the table, she blew out a deep breath, letting the stress roll off her shoulders. “Well, needless to say, Mom’s fine.”

The others just laughed as some of the tension relaxed from around the table.

“Let’s get one more round and then head home,” Adira suggested.

Eve stared at her beer bottle. Home. How can I go back to that place?

“Why don’t you crash at my place tonight?” Alanna suggested. “Then tomorrow, we can get your windows repaired and clean up the rest.”

Eve nodded. While she didn’t want to sleep anywhere else besides her cabin, she knew it would be miserable in the condition it was in right then. A night to gather her strength would be best, even if not ideal.

“Now that we’re pretty sure Mr. Scumbag did it, I can steer my investigation his way and see what I can dig up,” Lainie said. “We’re not going to allow him to get away with it.”

Adira nodded her agreement. “I can also make wards specific to him to keep him from getting onto your property. He won’t reach you so easily next time.”

Eve sighed, her lips pressed into a thin line. She didn’t want there to be a next time, but she knew if he traveled this far to get her, Kyle would not give up. She appreciated her friends’ help, but she wanted to take care of herself. She needed to take care of herself. They may not understand it, but being self-reliant was important to her. She would not allow herself to be the helpless victim ever again. She had allowed it too long as it was.