Page 17 of Blade

“Is that what he did to you?” Tinsley asked, wiggling out of Tyler’s arms and climbing in the bed with Eloise.

“Yeah, only…” She trailed off.

“Tell us, please?” Tinsely asked.

“He was the pastor at my parents' church. My parents were killed in a car accident last year. They really liked Billy, but they didn’t know his true colors. Well, I didn’t either at first. He was so nice to me after their deaths, even going so far as to help me with their funerals. A few months into our relationship, things started to really change. He found my profiles for some kink sites online. He called me before the church one day after service and had the church lay hands on me to pray the sinfulness out. I was so confused and still grieving my parents that I let them. B-billy tied me to a chair and b-beat me with his belt while they prayed for my soul. I took the punishment because I thought maybe I deserved it, but I know now that isn’t true. A few weeks later it all started to get worse. He started sharing some really twisted beliefs about women and he started to show who he really was. One night we took my car out for dinner because his was in the shop and he found one of my romance books. He berated me over it, quoting all of this scripture at me about how lust was wrong and how I was going to Hell if I didn’t repent. I tried to talk to him about it, share my own beliefs, but he wouldn’t listen. I was so frustrated and I didn’t want to be disciplined again. He wanted me to drive to the church so he could pray for me—and probably beat me again, but I wouldn’t. It was my life to live how I wanted and I didn’t think I’d done anything wrong this time. I decided I didn’t care how much my parents had liked him. I couldn't tolerate him anymore. I turned the car around and tried to drop him back off at his house, but he wouldn’t get out of the car. He was screaming and praying. I tried to get out of the car because I was so uncomfortable and didn’t feel safe, but he grabbed me by my hair, pulled me back in, and he started to beat me, with his fists this time. It felt like it went on for hours, but it couldn’t have been more than ten minutes. I was able to get away eventually, but I left my carthere. I ran all the way back to my house.” She gasped for air, pain at the memory written all over her face.

Rage consumed me and my skin crawled. I despised evil, but evil that paraded around as good was even worse.

“Did he find you, Eloise?” Tinsley asked, looking green. Her brow was pinched in worry.

“He’d called some of the members of the church and they were waiting outside my house. They sided with him, saying I was too worldly and had been for too long. They said my parents would be so disappointed. I didn’t know Billy had been keeping records of all thesinfulthings he’d thought I’d done. He’d even gone so far as to find some racy photos I’d sent to any old boyfriend. The members of the church felt like I needed a reset,” she said, shivering.

“What kind of reset?” I asked, genuinely scared to know.

“They... They put a sheet over me and dragged me into one of their cars, drove to the church and locked me in the prayer closet. They took my clothes, phone, f-food. Billy would come in several times a day. I was supposed to pray with him and reflect on the scripture he left. The first couple of days I was willful and wouldn’t agree with him, but then…”

“What did he do, honey?” Elliot asked, his eyes dark with anger.

“He b-beat me with the rod of correction.”

The rod of correction? What the actual fuck?

“After a few days I didn’t argue with him anymore, but they still wouldn’t let me go.”

Chapter Five

Eloise

Once I’d opened the floodgates of my trauma, I couldn’t stop, despite the look of horror on my new friends’ faces.

“I thought if I agreed with him and pretended to repent, they’d let me go, but they didn’t. I just got weaker and weaker and I knew if I didn’t escape, I’d die in that fucking closet.”

“Eloise, sweet girl,” Blade said, taking my hand again. He looked so upset and I wanted to comfort him, but guarded my heart. I couldn’t stay. We couldn’t rely on each other. It would only hurt us more when I left.

I continued, “One day I pretended to be unresponsive. It threw him off enough that when he went to get help, I ran. I got so lucky because my keys were just laying by the front door of the church. Maybe he’d tossed them there in anger? I hadn’t even planned on taking my car. I was even luckier because my purse was still in the car from where I’d run from him the night it all happened. The forty dollars cash I had in my wallet bought me abus ticket to Strickland. I left my car in the parking garadge and I’ve been here ever since.”

“Give me their names, Eloise,” Blade said, bringing my hands to his lips and kissing them gently.

“What?”

“I want Billy’s full name and the name of the church.”

“Um, Billy Lee and Friendship Fellowship, but please don’t tell the police,” I begged. “I can’t risk them finding me. They planned to leave me in the prayer closet for forty days. I would be dead by now, but more importantly, they will hurt you guys too, maybe not physically, but socially for sure.”

“Why forty days?” Tinsley asked, ignoring my warning and laying down on the other side of me. I twirled her blond curls around my finger.

“That’s how many days Jesus fasted in the wilderness,” Blade filled in.

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“Eloise, you are the strongest person I kn0w,” Tyler said, rubbing my foot. His dog tags rattled with his movements. “And I know some strong fucking people.”

“If he finds you, he will exploit any bad choices you’ve made. He will put all of your private lives into the public. It will hurt your careers, your families,” I warned again.

“Oh, honey,” Blade said, “that’s not something for you to worry about.”

“He’ll hurt your reputation. Strickland is a small town just like where I came from. Word will travel fast. It’s not something you want to happen. You don’t want Tinsely or Rogue to be outed as Littles either,” I tried to explain. Half my hometown thought I was in some sex club.

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