Page 12 of Beaten

Chapter 6

Emily

After lunch I told them it wasn’t always like this. In the beginning, Craig was sweet and kind. But then he slowly changed, getting more jealous and controlling and eventually progressing to verbal, then physical abuse.

I wasn’t surprised when Jamie told us this wasn’t the first time Craig had been arrested on domestic violence charges. He said Craig had been arrested twice before but both women dropped the charges.I wish I’d known that before we started dating, or at least before I moved in with him.

I thought coming to Weatherford and getting a restraining order would be enough, but Jamie shattered my sense of safety when he said the restraining order couldn’t prevent Craig from driving to Weatherford and seeking retribution.

“A restraining order is just a piece of paper, and unless someone sees him violating it, there’s nothing that can be done.” He explained a man like Craig wouldn’t see himselfas the guilty party, and he’d probably blame me for his arrest. Then he asked me where I was staying.

“With my parents.” I quickly added, “for now.” I didn’t know why I was embarrassed about staying with my parents. It was the least embarrassing thing in my life right now.

He nodded. “Does Craig have their address?”

My heart skipped a beat.Of course he knows where my parents live.We hadn’t visited them often, Craig always made up some excuse why, but really he just didn’t want to. But we had visited a few times over the last few years, so he’d have their address in his phone.

I asked Jamie if my family was in danger. His pause before saying he didn’t think so wasn’t comforting. Or convincing. Chris felt the same way, and called Jamie out on it.

“Guys like Craig tend to focus their anger on one person.” Jamie looked at me. “He may get nasty and be verbally abusive but he’s not likely to physically attack them, unless they get in his way.” I must not have looked convinced because he added. “Most bullies are cowards. Based on his history, he won’t risk coming for you while you’re with other people unless he goes completely off the deep end.”

I sat there trying to take it all in. How had my life come to this?I feel so stupid. It wasn’t bad enough that I’d stayed with Craig and let him hit me, but now he might hurt my parents. I didn’t believe Jamie when he said Craig wasn’t likely to hurt them, I knew he would if they got in his way. I snapped back to the conversation when I heard Jamie say he’d assign someone to shadow me.

“What? I don’t need a bodyguard.” Nor could I afford one right now. I could work from anywhere so I still had my job, but I had to save money for a new apartment and furniture.

But Jamie and Chris were adamant that I have protection. Jamie explained that I wouldn’t have a bodyguard, but someone who would follow me around, discretely, and keep an eye on me.That sounds a lot like a bodyguard. I argued that Craig was only violent when he was drunk, and that I had a restraining order against him, so it would be overkill for someone to follow me around all day.

“Besides, I work from home so it’s really not necessary.”

Chris argued, repeating what Jamie had said earlier, “A restraining order is just a piece of paper, it can’t stop him from hurting you. And you said yourself that he’s been drinking a lot more lately.”

I tried to convince them I didn’t need protection, but they were united and refused to budge.

Jamie said, “No tracker,” when he gave me my phone back. Then he had me add his cell number, and the SSI office number, to my contacts and asked for mine. He said he’d be shadowing me tonight, because it was short notice, but he’d email us a list of who’d be on duty for the next few days. “Let your parents know there may be someone sitting outside the house whenever you’re there. That way they don’t think it’s Craig.”

“Thank you, Jamie.” Chris said as they shook hands. “Bill everything to me.”

“Chris you-”

He cut me off, “I’m doing this Emily. Please just accept it.”

“I can’t let-”

“You can. We’ll talk about it later. Jamie doesn’t need to hear us argue.” I almost laughed, Jamie had heard us argue a million times when we were younger.

Jamie raised on eyebrow and grinned as shook his head. “I’ve heard it before.” He nodded towards the door. “Hell, Jack and Meg have a similar argument on a regular basis.”

Meg met us in the lobby as Jamie walked us out. She had some paperwork for us to fill out, so we sat in the spacious lobby while Chris filled it out.

Meg asked, “Was lunch okay? I wasn’t sure what you’d like so I ordered a little of everything.”

“It was, thank you. Though you didn’t have to order so much, I would have eaten anything. I’d hate for all that food to go to waste.”

Meg laughed. “You haven’t seen these guys eat. Trust me, food never goes to waste here.”

Her laugh was infectious, so I laughed with her.It feels good to laugh. Chris stopped writing, glanced up at me, and smiled. The only other time I’d laughed, or sounded relaxed, since coming home was when I was playing with Zoe.

I took the opportunity to really look at Meg. She was about my age and pretty, with long strawberry blond hair. The roots were darker, like she was growing out a color she’d gotten tired of. And she had the most amazing emerald green eyes I’d ever seen.

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