I shake my head, mumbling behind his hand that I didn’t mean it. My breath sounds harsh and forced against his skin.
“I read the texts, Nora. You told him that you wanted help getting out. You’re trying to leave me.”
I slide my hands against the wall behind me, searching for something, anything that I can use to defend myself.
I keep shaking my head, staring into his wild eyes, so full of anger and rage that they are completely foreign to me. Out of all the times that I’ve been on the receiving end of his outbursts, I’ve never seen him like this.
He slowly removes his hand from my mouth and plants them both on the wall by my head. He’s trapping me in. I can smell the alcohol on his breath and it makes my stomach churn.
“Evan, we can talk about this.” I lick my lips that are suddenly so dry that they feel like they will split open and bleed. “Let’s just talk it out.”
“You want to talk it out?” He smiles and brings his hand down to cup my chin.
“Yes, please. It doesn’t have to be this way. I love you,” my voice cracks as my desperation crawls up my throat. “Please.”
“You love me.” he repeats, almost to himself. “No… you don’t.”
His grip on my face tightens and he pulls my head off the wall only to push it back into it with all of his force, cracking my skull into the drywall.
It’s odd that the first thing I process after my head hits the wall is that I’m cold. He’s stepped away from me and now I’m fucking freezing, crumpled here on the floor, holding my skull in my hands.
“You think you can just leave me?” He’s shouting manically from a few feet away from me, then he throws something across the room and it collides with my stomach, sending more pain through me. “Do you know who I am?”
“Evan, I’m hurt,”
“I heal people with my fucking hands. I am a GOD! Even when those people die, it’s because they were meant to.”
“You’re a monster,” I say, pushing myself up to sit, but I can only slump against the wall.
He opens his mouth to speak, but his cell phone rings from his pocket, and of course he answers it with a tone like it’s any other day. Like nothing is happening here at all.
“Actually, Nora’s come down with a cold, so she won’t be joining me. I’ll be there soon.” He looks at me once more before stepping into the next room to take the call.
Now is my chance. I have to go. If I can get into the hallway, I can scream loud enough to alert a neighbor, any neighbor that I need help.
I slowly push to my feet, ignoring the throbbing pain in my head, and use the wall for balance. One foot in front of the other is all I can do, as quietly as I can.
Freedom is two steps away. The doorknob is within my reach, but my fingertips graze the brass for a single moment before he wraps his arms around me from behind and throws me hard to the floor.
I try so hard to get onto my feet but a sharp kick to my ribs from his leather loafer takes my breath away and I collapse onto my stomach.
Another kick lands swiftly and I feel the bones crack in my side. The pain is indescribable. I can’t breathe. I can’t think.
“You’re not going anywhere. Do you hear me?”
Kick.
My body collapses flat with my cheek on the cool floor. I can taste the metallic hint of blood in my mouth, but I’m not even sure where the blood is coming from. I can’t even fight him as he rolls me onto my back and grips my face in one hand, squeezing so tightly that my lips are pushed together in a pucker.
“I knew you were going to be trouble the minute I laid eyes on you with your perky fucking tits and fuckable lips.” He shoves my head back down against the floor and it connects with a sharp, loud bang and everything goes black.
I don’t know how long I’m gone. It can’t have been more than a few seconds, but when I finally open my eyes again, the light from above sends shockwaves of pain into my temples.
I groan and roll to my side in some pathetic attempt to gain control, to get back on my feet. It’s all in vain when I feel him fisting my hair from behind and dragging me back up and slamming me into the wall.
“Evan!” I scream now, uncaring that someone could hear. I’m past that. I’m scared. I’m terrified. I need help. “Evan, please don’t!” I lift my hands to fight him but they feel like they weigh one hundred pounds each. My fists only barely connect with his body. It’s nearly comical. The type of self-defense that gets you killed.
Punch.
I can hear the crunch of my eye socket when it shatters.
Slap.
My cheek is already swelling into the size of a softball.
Another punch and my bottom lip splits in two.
I don’t have any strength left. I can only stand here, limp… like a ragdoll. Between the pain and darkness, I can hear him telling me he’ll never let me go. He’ll always find me. If I leave him, he’ll kill me and everyone that I love.
And when the blackness finally consumes me, the last thing I remember is knowing that without a doubt, he’s telling the truth.
Now
I stand in front of the full-length mirror in the corner of Tristan’s room, placing the earrings in my ears. My hand shakes as I bring the last one to my right.
My conversation with Lucas earlier today brought back too many unwanted memories and I’m doing my best to shake them. I decided pretty quickly that I wasn’t going to tell Tristan what Lucas told me today. I don’t need or want him focusing on that, and he would. He’d take it on himself, and he doesn’t deserve that.
I’m staring into the reflection, but not really registering that I’m doing it or even what I’m doing. Fingers begin to trace a line down the side of my neck. I shiver and even take an unknowing step forward away from the connection.
“Did I frighten you?” Tristan asks softly from behind, and that in and of itself settles me. Just his voice. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
“A little. I suppose I was just off in my own world. I didn’t even hear you come into the room.” I glance into the mirror and see his reflection staring back at me. He’s dressed in all black and is alluring as ever. “Wow.”
“Is that a compliment, love?”
“It absolutely is. Maybe I should change. I don’t feel like I’m even in your league yet.”
“Darling, I’m the one who’s trying to keep up with the Joneses. You’re absolutely ravishing. I wouldn’t change a thing, even if it were up to me.”
“It just felt like a blood-red night.”
“It’s a stunning color on you. Inspiring for me, even. I’ll have to keep this in mind next time I’m working in the studio.”
He brings his lips slowly to the curve of my neck, all the while keeping eye contact in the mirror. I can’t help but lean back into him.
“Thank you for taking me out tonight, even if we have to stay platonic to prying eyes.”
I insisted we stay in, but he insisted otherwise, even going as far as to say he simply wants to watch me dance again because it’s as good as foreplay for him. Who am I to resist that?
We pull up to the valet together this time. I attempt to get out at the curb until Tristan lays a steadying hand on my knee. He wants me to wait until his hand guides me to my feet. The hand with that beautiful ring, lays open for my palm. I feel an instant electricity as our skin connects. It feels like the whole world is watching us walk on the rich purple carpet through the open doors to sin city. Our sin.