Page 2 of Finally Mine
It was a thin veneer of protection, and Gloria clung to it.
He laughed, a slow, dangerous wheeze. “You’re going to be very, very sorry.”
A chill ran through her body, lodging itself like an iceberg in her heart. She’d made a miscalculation. Her eyes flicked to Sophie behind the bar. The woman was watching her. She nodded toward the phone. A subtle signal.
Gloria gave a small shake of her head.
No. She needed to do this on her own. Make the break.
“Glenn. I’m serious. We’re done. You’re done hurting me. It’s never happening again. If you try it, I’ll take out a restraining order against you.”
He’d been a king on the basketball court in high school. Big, mean, aggressive. He’d fought his way to win after win. She’d thought winning fueled him, that hero’s adoration. But instead, it was the attention, the recognition that he was someone not to be messed with. A man. Respect through fear. Just like his father. His father drank and beat his wife…until his untimely death of a heart attack at forty-five. So Glenn drank and beat his girlfriend. Because that’s what men did.
He reached across the table quick as a snake, his meaty hand settling on her arm in a painful grip. “Let’s go have ourselves a little talk,” he said pleasantly. But there was menace behind the words, laced like poison ivy around the trunk of a tree.
Gloria fought against his hold. It always started the same, that hand wrapping its way around her upper arm and choking the blood out of it. The last three months had been so bad she’d never healed. Just bruises on top of bruises.
“Stop it,” she gritted out, desperate to yank her arm free. But it was a comedy, her small frame trying to deny his hulking strength.
He towed her toward the door like a man with a dog.
“Gonna settle up?” Titus called nervously after them.
Glenn didn’t deign to answer, just shoved the front door open so hard it bounced off the wooden, shingled exterior.
She fought in earnest now as he dragged her toward his pickup at the back of the lot. Her sneakers slipped and stumbled over the gravel.
“Let go of me!”
He tossed her against the side of his truck. Her spine jarred at the impact. “You belong to me, Gloria Parker. You don’t get to leave. Ever.”
“You don’t even love me,” she shouted the truth in his face. He didn’t know what love was. She wasn’t sure if she did either.
“I don’t have to love you. I own you,” he hissed.
Every warning bell she’d developed to alert her to his changes in moods, to danger, clanged to life in her head.
“You don’t,” she told him. “You don’t own me. You have to let me go.”
“I don’t have to do shit,” he slurred.
The backhand caught her by surprise, stunning her. She shook it off as she had so many others and pushed him back. She had to fight now like never before. Her life was at stake.
“You stupid fucking bitch. Ungrateful slut,” he breathed, shoving a hand into her hair and pulling it until she yelped. He liked when she cried. Liked when she was terrified. He wanted her to know that he had the power to end her life.
“I’m leaving you,” she said, through chattering teeth. He’d never hurt her in public before. But, then again, she’d never tried leaving him before.
“I warned you!” It was a shout of rage that carried across the parking lot.
Benevolence was a town of good people who worked hard and cared about their neighbors. He was a stain on them all and proud of it. But there was no one here to help her. It was her against him. Until the police that Sophie probably—dear God, please—called. She just needed to hang in there for a few minutes.
Gloria shoved against his chest with all her strength, but his meaty fists closed around her arms, shaking her until the back of her head hit the truck window. With a bleak realization, she knew she didn’t have minutes.
“Hey!” She heard a voice snap through the air. A woman. Blonde hair.
But Glenn was obstructing her view. “Mind your own business, nosy whore.”
“Glenn—” Gloria gasped.
