“Honey, I’m home,” I croak out, my joke falling flat when I meet Terrence’s horrified face.
“What the actual fuck?”
Terrence
These new glasses have got to be fucked up.
I’m not seeing what I’m seeing.
It’s a fucking hallucination.
“Penny!” Charlotte shrieks from behind me, jolting me back to reality.
It’s real.
Penny is bloodied up, face bruised and swelling, holding the hand of my little girl. Why? How?
I pounce forward, needing to assess the damages of my girlfriend while trying to make sense of what the fuck is going on.
“Penny, what happened?” I growl, tenderly putting an arm around her waist to keep her standing since she looks seconds from passing out. “Cal, call Garrett!”
She’s in shock. She has to be. Penny isn’t crying. Just staring. Her hand is firmly gripping Zella’s shirt like she might escape.
I guide them to the sofa while Cal and Charlotte both start chattering on their phones to different people.
“What happened?” I say, sitting on the coffee table right in front of Penny. “Who beat you up?”
“Jack.” She winces and squeezes her eyes shut. “He, uh, was going to whip Zella with the belt. I t-tried to stop him.”
“Why were you over there?” I demand.
Charlotte sits down next to Penny, a gel ice pack in her hands. “Where does it hurt, sis?”
“Everywhere,” Penny grumbles.
“Penny, why were you—”
“Jack did this to you?” Charlotte asks, cutting me off. She holds the ice pack to Penny’s head where a goose egg has popped up.
Penny and Zella both nod. I note that they’re still clinging to each other.
“Why were you there?” I bark out.
“He said he’d bury me in the backyard like my mother. He kept calling me Lacey,” Penny whispers, terror gleaming in her blue eyes. “I think…I think he may have killed Vicki.”
Jesus.
“We’ll call the police,” I assure her, “but why were you there?”
Penny closes her eyes again as though that’ll prevent her from having to answer me.
“Zella, baby, why was Penny there? It’s okay to tell Daddy. I need to know what happened.” I reach forward and take Zella’s other hand. “It’s okay. Talk to me.”
Zella lifts her chin, giving me her sweet wide-eyed stare. “Penny is my babysitter.”
It doesn’t make sense.
“She babysat you tonight?”
Zella nods. I give her hand a squeeze. “Thank you for telling me.”
Turning my attention to Penny, I speak firmly, “Tell me everything right now.”
“Fine,” Penny blurts out in a harsh manner that quickly loses to sadness. Her bottom lip quivers wildly, but she doesn’t cry. “I’ve been babysitting Zella to keep an eye on her. I knew you wouldn’t approve.”
The bruises. The lies. The weirdness. It was all because she was with him. This whole fucking time. Unbelievable.
My blood turns to ice.
I’ll revisit this later. Right now I need to know what the fuck happened.
“What happened tonight?” I urge. “I need to know.”
As she starts replaying the night, I feel sick to my stomach. He hit her in the face with a belt. Backhanded her, which inadvertently knocked her out when she hit her head. Dragged her unconscious form into his bedroom. Pulled her pants down. Attempted to rape her, but his dick wouldn’t get hard. Beat the living fuck out of her.
They escaped.
Thank fuck they escaped.
“Cal!” I boom, glancing up at him where he’s standing behind the couch wearing an equally infuriated expression as me. “We need to go get him.”
Cal curses and shakes his head. “Can’t, man. I already called the police. We have to let them do their job.”
Anger simmers deep in my gut. Had I known Penny was trying this bullshit, I could have told her no. Protected her. Instead, she took it upon herself to willingly walk into the den of a monster. I can’t even fucking kill him because he’s so wrapped up in my trying to get full custody of Zella.
“I did it to help,” Penny explains as though she can see inside my head. “I wanted to keep an eye on her for you.”
She’s been lying to me. Putting herself in harm’s way to help me. What the fuck was she thinking?
“Don’t be mad at Penny,” Zella pleads, tugging at my hand.
I realize I’m scowling, so I quickly force it away to smile at her. “All that matters right now is you’re safe,” I assure Zella. “You want a snack?”
Penny stares at me with watery eyes. She knows I’m pissed. And upset. And worried. That motherfucker beat the hell out of her. Of course I’m about to lose my fucking mind.
“Char, are you good to sit with Penny?”
“Of course,” Charlotte says.
I pick Zella up and carry her into the kitchen. My mind buzzes as I sit her on the counter and offer her different snack options.
I’m in a daze, lingering in the kitchen, trying to make sense of this night when the front door opens. Garrett walks in with two police officers hot on his heels. He makes a beeline to Penny. I let out a heavy sigh as I pick Zella back and head over to the cops. All I can do is hope to fuck they do their job and put that motherfucker away for what he did to her.
Penny sits on one side of the couch, curled against Garrett while I hold a sleeping Zella in the recliner. Charlotte is sitting in Cal’s lap, both of them wearing matching faces of worry. It’s been hours since Penny showed up with Zella. The cops took the report and then sent more officers to arrest Jack. Penny refused to go to the hospital because she’s stubborn as fuck and let her dad check her over.
Bruised ribs and banged all to hell, but nothing is broken. It’s late and Penny was being argumentative, so she won this round, but she’s going to get checked out in the morning. Garrett assured me.
“You okay?” Garrett asks, frowning at me.
I don’t know how this guy can tell when my head is pounding, but he always knows.
“I’m fine,” I grumble.
Charlotte rises from the sofa and escapes to the kitchen. I hate waiting around for answers. Time crawls along. Eventually, Charlotte appears with a sandwich, a bottle of water, and my medication.
“Thanks,” I rumble and then inhale my sandwich. Once I’m full, I swallow down my pills and continue brooding.
Hours later, Cal opens the door to an officer. One we all know.
“Captain Fitzgerald,” Cal greets. “Did you miss us?”
Fitzgerald shakes his head. “Something like that. Mind if I come in?”
Cal guides him into the living room and motions to an armchair. Fitzgerald sits down, frowning at Penny.
“You okay?” he asks her.
She gives him a thumbs-up, which makes Cal snort.
“How’s the little one?” Fitzgerald asks me.
“She’s fine.” My clipped tone makes Penny wince.
Fitzgerald lets out a heavy sigh. “He’s gone.”
“I killed him?” Penny asks, a little bit of delight in her tone.