Page 17 of Finish Line
I kiss the top of her head. “Athena makes me happy.”
“I’ll give her a chance. I’m not above kickin’ her ass if she hurts you, though.”
“Don’t I know it,” I laugh. “Come on, let’s get back out there.”
As we walk into the main room, Athena, Sienna, and Tink are walkin’ out of the kitchen with plates in their hands. I head straight for Athena.
“Wanna take that back to my room and we can talk?” I ask her.
“Sure,” she says with a small smile. Together, we walk back to my room.
“You can eat at the desk,” I tell her once we’re in the room. I close and lock the door, so we won’t be interrupted. She sits and I come up behind her, stealing a piece of bacon.
“Hey!” she shouts with a smile playing on her lips.
“You have half a plate of bacon,” I tease. “You can spare one piece.”
“Okay, Mr. President.” She pokes fun at me.
“Are you mockin’ me?” I hold my chest, feigning hurt.
“I just might be.” She tries to hide her smile behind the bacon as she takes a bite, but fails. This playful side of her is so goddamn adorable. I don’t want to fuck it up, but we gotta get this over with.
“I hate to cut the fun short, but we need to discuss last night,” I tell her.
Her smile fades and her face pales. “I know.”
I sit on the edge of the bed and she turns the chair around so she’s facing me. Her food no longer a priority.
“I should start at the beginning,” she mutters. “This could take a while.”
“Take your time, Goddess,” I encourage her. I don’t want her thinkin’ she needs to leave anything out.
“I’m originally from Chicago. I had a great life there. I worked at Second City General Hospital as an emergency room nurse practitioner. It was my dream job. I loved everything about my life. Then I met my ex, Kevin,” she starts. My anger is already surfacing, knowin’ this all has somethin’ to do with another man. “Things with Kevin started off amazing. We met through mutual friends. He was a perfect gentleman. Almost too perfect. So much so, I missed some major red flags.”
The disappointment on her face tells me she’s been beating herself up over this for some time.
“One of those red flags should have been how quickly he wanted us to move in together. We had only been dating for a month, but we were so happy. Once he moved in, it didn’t take long for things to start changing. He started making suggestions about what I should eat and what clothes I should wear. My friends tried to warn me he was trying to control me, but I brushed it off as them being jealous of not having boyfriends. He somehow managed to talk me out of going out with my friends to the point where all I did was work and come home to him. Then he tried to talk me into quitting my job. He said he could and wanted to support me. He even mentioned wanting me to have his baby. We got into a fight one night about me working and he ended up back handing me across the face,” she pauses, tears filling her eyes.
My knuckles are white from how hard I’m clenching my fists. As soon as that first tear hits her cheek, I’m by her side, pulling her into my arms. I sit back on the couch with her in my lap.
“You don’t have to keep goin’,” I assure her.
“No, I need to get it all out,” she says.
Using the pad of my thumb, I swipe away her tears.
“He left for a few hours and when he came home, I was in bed, pretending to be asleep. He reeked of alcohol and another woman, but that didn’t stop him.”
She chokes back a sob and I push down my fury. There’s a time and place for the anger, here and now, isn’t it.
“I got you, Goddess,” I whisper against her head. I wrap my arms around her and try to give her some of my strength.
“He didn’t care if I was asleep or not. He didn’t care if I told him no or tried to push him away. He forced himself inside me. It became a nightly occurrence. For the first week, I would fight him, and he would smack me around until I complied.” Tears are pouring down her face at this point.
I want to tell her to stop, beg her to quit goin’, because I can tell how much it’s hurting her. At the same time, her reaction tells me I’m the first person she’s opened up to about this.
“I missed my period the next month. I instantly called the women’s clinic and told them I needed a pregnancy test. Then told them if it’s positive, I needed an abortion as soon as possible. Turns out, I was. Kevin found out about the abortion and beat me black and blue. The day after he beat me, he left for the weekend on a boy’s trip. I took the opportunity to leave. I grabbed as much cash as I could, and I ran. I didn’t stop running until I got to Rusty’s.” She hangs her head, tears still streaming down her face. “I . . . I got home from work last night and there were flowers on my kitchen counter—blue roses. The same flowers Kevin bought for me every week we were together. Not only did he find me, but he wasinsidemy apartment.”
