Page 105 of Hitting the Goal Line
Officer King gives me a smile. “Sophia,” he says with a nod. “My colleague has informed me that you are looking to press charges in regard to a domestic violence dispute that happened earlier today?”
I swallow the lump forming in my throat. “Yes, that’s right.”
He nods and looks down at his notes. “Against Blake Jacobi? That’s who was arrested by us.”
I shake my head and when he looks up. “No, the charges would be against Elijah Swanson. The individual that was taken to the hospital with a broken jaw.”
I watch as King moves his eyes from mine to my cheek where an open hand made contact more than a few times.
The slaps weren’t hard enough to break anything but they were hard enough to leave a bruise. At least that’s what the EMTs that checked me out said. Same thing with the nurses that checked me out at the hospital.
“Has Mr. Swanson been violent with you before?” Officer King asks, concern filling his eyes.
“Yes.” I admit for the first time since I’ve gotten together with Elijah.
“When did it start?” he asks, taking out a voice recorder and turning it on, followed by opening up his notebook.
One single question and my mind goes back to when Elijah and I started and how I went from having butterflies fluttering in my stomach from being around him to being absolutely scared of him. Every single detail comes back, but the memories from this morning take center stage.
Somehow,Elijah was able to open the bathroom door. I don’t know how, but somehow he was able to do it without breaking it down. Maybe he found a secret key somewhere, maybe he’s a master at picking locks, I don’t know, but what I do know is that now I have nowhere to run.
Nowhere to hide.
“You’re such a whore, Sophia. You couldn’t just let me take care of you, could you? You had to go and piss me off every step of the way and look at you. Running away from me, like you actually think you have a choice.”
“Elijah, please,” I plead, looking up at him, trying to see if the kind side of him is still there somewhere and hope he will come out and realize what he is doing.
But the more I look at him, the more I wonder if that side of him was just a facade. Just a face he would put on so that people will fall for him and see him as nothing but a great guy. I also can’t help but to wonder if I’m the first person that he has done this to. Are there others out there that fear Elijah just as much as I do right now?
“Shut up,” Elijah says through clenched teeth, his hands forming fists as he comes closer to me.
I move my body back until it hits the shower door and I have no more room to move.
“Don’t do this, please.” I say to him, tears streaming down my face and I make no effort to stop them. “I’ll take my words back. I won’t walk away from you, just please stop.”
As much as I don’t want to say those words, right now I will do anything to make him stop acting like this. And if that means I have to lie to him, then so be it.
Elijah’s face contorts a bit as he comes closer to me, until he is eventually crouched down in front of me. His body inches from mine.
“Want to know something, my beautiful Sophia?” he asks, reaching his hand out so that his knuckles can glide against my cheek, his voice as sweet as honey. “I can tell when you’re lying to me. This pretty face of yours isn’t able to hide anything from me.”
He glides his knuckles down my cheek and down my neck, where he keeps it, moving them up and down as slowly as possible. I watch him as he does it, his own eyes staying on his hand as it moves.
I try not to react to his words. I try to keep as calm as I possibly can but I know that I’m failing. Part of me knew he could see right through every single lie that I told him. Part of me knew that he could see through my words of love and adoration. But the one thing I can’t wrap my head around is if he could see right through me, if he knew that my feelings and love for him were disappearing, why didn’t he let me go? Why did he continue the rouse that things were working between us?
Because he wanted me to be his, and he never cared about how I was feeling. All he wanted was to be in control and he was able to get that.
I open my mouth to say something, but Elijah stops me by stopping his caresses and wrapping his hand around my neck, almost blocking my air way.
“You’re mine, Sophia. And you will be mine until I say so,” he says, a smirk spreading across his face, causing my stomach to churn even more.
With his hand wrapped around my neck, he lifts me as best he can and drags me out of the bathroom. I fight him the whole time.
At one point, I’m able to dig my hands into his face, which hurts him because he jerks away and lets out a curse, loosening his hold on me. Which is enough to let me fall to the ground.
I take the deepest breath that I can as I try to crawl away from him, but I’m brought to an abrupt stop when Elijah shoves me against the floor with his foot, before pressing it against my side and holding me down.
I let out a gasp when I feel the weight on me, and then a scream when he presses down even harder. It feels like he’s going to break my ribs if he presses down on me even just a little more.
