Page 4 of Abigail
Fear like she has never known hits her when he begins to drag her toward the middle of the room. She tries franticly to get out of his grasp, but he is too strong for her. He throws her down onto the floor. He continues his assault with his feet. She curls into a ball in an attempt to protect her head and abdomen as much as possible. Abi is truly afraid. Todd has really lost it this time. He has been getting increasingly more abusive, but this was over the top. Abi begins to wonder if he is going to kill her. If he does, what will happen to Ellie? He hasn’t held back the fact he is disappointed she is a girl or that he doubts her being his child. Will he kill her too? She can’t let him hurt Ellie. She has to stop him from killing her. Alive is the only way she can protect her daughter. The beating seems to go on forever when suddenly he stops. If he is tired or preparing to do something worse, Abi doesn’t know, but either way, it can’t be good. With her arms still covering her head for protection, she lays perfectly still. Hardly breathing for fear she will set him off again. Silently she prays he will think she is unconscious and leave her alone.
Todd looms over her, yelling obscenities, brandishing the knife again. He grabs her hair and jerks her head back exposing her neck. She feels the sting of pain as he slowly drags the knife across her throat. A warm wet sensation begins to leak down her neck. Abi suddenly realizes he isn’t going to stop this time. He is going to kill her.
Finding her inner strength, Abigail kicks him as hard as she can in the crotch. Her goal is to stun him long enough to get away. He wails out in pain, doubling over and dropping the knife. Abigail grabs the knife pointing it in his direction. Todd recovers faster than she expects. She has only managed to inch back a little, not enough to get up and be clear of him before he lunges for her again. Without thinking, she brings the knife up and buries it deep in his chest.
Shock washes over Todd’s face. He pales almost instantly as he looks down at the knife sticking from his chest. He jerks back suddenly, which pulls the knife free as Abi is still holding the knife firmly. Blood instantly soaks his camouflage t-shirt. Todd stumbles backward.
In shock herself, Abi drops the knife as her hands tremble. She can’t believe she has done that, but she’d had no choice. To her dismay and fear, Todd manages to grab the knife from the floor. He stumbles toward her again as he draws the knife backward. In fear, Abigail kicks him in the chest as hard as she can. Todd stumbles backward into the broken entertainment center. A loud resounding crack fills the room as Todd’s head strikes the wooden frame.
The sound is sickening, and Abi feels the bile in the back of her throat. Todd’s limp body drops to the floor and doesn’t move a muscle. Abi gets to her feet to peer over at him. The site of Todd lying motionless on the floor as blood pools around his head and from his chest is overwhelming. Oh God! He’s dead! I’ve killed him!
Abi jerks awake, bile rising rapidly in her throat. Running to the toilet, she empties the contents of her stomach. Images of the lifeless body flashing through her mind. She heaves several times until there is nothing left. Abi can’t believe she’s killed him. She didn’t mean to do it. She never wanted this to happen. She was only trying to save herself. Ellie’s cry brings her out of her daze. She needs to get it together. Ellie needs her. Picking herself up from the floor of the bathroom, she rinses out her mouth before heading out to begin moving on with her life. She will go on for Ellie, at least until the cops catch up with her.
CHAPTERFOUR
Four years later…
The Special forces team that Straw is on has gathered at Hawk and Charlotte’s for a cook-out and an afternoon of fun and games. The couple likes to have the team guys over every month or two, especially before they are deployed if there’s enough of a warning they’re being sent out. Most of the guys who aren’t already attached have brought a date with them. Straw is no exception. He has a girl he met last night at the local bar with him. The day is going like most of their gatherings. The kids are running wild while the adults play cornhole or basketball.
Hawk is tending to the meat grilling on the huge backyard grill, which he’d bought just for these occasions, when he suspiciously insists that Straw head inside to help Charlotte in the kitchen. She is needing someone to carry a cooler full of drinks and ice out to where they will be eating later. Straw should have known that something is up.
As he heads to the kitchen, he wonders why they have filled the cooler up inside. It makes more sense to him to place it out by the table first, then put the drinks and ice in it. He is also thinking that normally Hawk would have done that last night, or at least early this morning, so the drinks would be cold in time for the meal. Upon entering the house, the delicious smells coming from the kitchen push all those thoughts from his mind.
Charlotte is an excellent cook. She is always cooking for guys and sending ‘care’ packages with Hawk. Some of the guys half-heartedly complain because they’ve had to step up their already intense training to keep from putting on extra pounds. Straw never turns down one of Charlotte’s meals and definitely not one of her desserts. Charlotte’s dishes remind him of his grandmother’s cooking. Lucille had always been baking up some treat or filling his belly with home cooked meals. They hadn’t had a lot, but she’d always made sure Straw had the food he needed.
Lucky for Straw, he has a high metabolism. He can out eat every man on the team and never gain an ounce. He’s always been skinny. Even when he joined up and began lifting weights to bulk up, he remained pretty lean, only getting bigger arm and leg muscles. Wallace has always been ‘thicker’ and complains that he has to run extra miles to keep from gaining weight after eating at Charlotte’s table. Straw enjoys teasing him about it, but when Wallace got with Emma, Straw had toned down on his teasing. Emma is a little sensitive about her weight. Straw respects his friend and his woman. He doesn’t want to make her uncomfortable.
Straw doesn’t really understand why Emma feels the way she does about herself. While Emma might be a little bigger than some of the other women in their group, she is without a doubt a beautiful woman. She has thick, wavy blonde hair and she is always happy and smiling. She’s one of the friendliest people he’s ever met. She can and will talk to anyone. She never meets a stranger. He supposes that is what makes her such a great nurse. He could easily understand why Wallace had fallen for her. Straw is thinking about all this as he crosses the sunroom and heads down the hall growing closer to the kitchen.
“There you are!” Charlotte calls to him as soon as he crosses the threshold to the room where she works her magic. Charlotte is near the stove and Emma is standing next to her stirring something. She glances over her shoulder and gives him a smile. He nods in return.
“Robert Ford reporting for duty as requested, ma’am!” Straw salutes as he snaps to mock attention. Perhaps he shouldn’t have had the three beers back-to-back in an attempt to get his mind off the annoying woman he’s brought with him. Having only just met her, he hadn’t realized she is just another bar fly, frog hogg, whatever you want to call a woman like her. She is soaking it in that she is at a picnic with a lot of team guys. There isn’t a man here she hasn’t drooled over. Married, engaged, or not she doesn’t care. And certainly doesn’t care she is supposed to be here with Straw. In her defense however, he’d laid it out when he’d invited her to come with him that this is a one-time thing. He doesn’t do relationships and he won’t be asking her to future events. He just hadn’t wanted to come alone. She happily agreed. Now he knows why. She thinks she can bag one of his teammates.
“Robert!” Charlotte exclaims with a laugh. “I am NOT your superior officer. Now cut that out and get over here and help me.” He just can’t resist giving her another sharp salute before complying with her orders. All the guys know that while she is in no way a member of the military, the woman has missed her calling. She’d have made an excellent drill sergeant. When Charlotte gives you orders, you know to follow them to the letter or there’ll be hell to pay. He is more scared of Charlotte than he is of Hawk or Deadeye and that is saying something. Those men are downright scary when they are pissed.
“So, you’re needing me to take a cooler out?” Straw enquires as he crosses the large kitchen. Charlotte nods distractedly as she turns back to the dish she is putting together. Straw just has to see what delicious concoction she is making. He squeezes in between the two women to take a peek. Her famous Mexican dip or maybe it is infamous, depending on whether or not you like spicy dip. He reaches over her shoulder and swipes his finger along the edge of the bowl to get a taste. She promptly swats his hand and scolds him.
“I swear you are as bad as Hawk,” Charlotte complains. “Getting into my dishes before they’re done. Besides that’s hot! You could’ve burned yourself. You’re gonna have to wait like everyone else.” He just gives her a sheepish grin as he sticks his dip coated finger into his mouth. Delicious as always. Emma elbows him and shakes her head.
“Hope your hands are clean.” Charlotte swats at him again as he pretends to try to get another bite. He jumps back and laughs when she misses. He sobers quickly when she gives him the stink-eye.
“I’m sorry, Charlotte.” Straw tries to sound contrite, but falls short. “I’ll behave myself.” If looks could kill, he’d be on the floor.
“Umm, hmm,” is her reply. Apparently she doesn’t seem to believe him. Not that he can blame her, he is always getting into her dishes, sneaking a bite when she isn’t looking. He knows that she secretly loves it, but has to keep up the pretense that it annoys her. Otherwise, she’d never get anything finished, because they’d all be in here sneaking a sample.
“So, where’s this cooler?” he asks in an attempt to get her mind off his bad behavior.
“Oh, keep your shirt on,” Charlotte snaps. “I’m in the middle of something, just give me a minute.” Straw nods but begins looking around to see if he can find said cooler but isn’t having any luck. He glances up just in time to see silent communication between the two women. Something is up, but he can’t figure out what. The women in their tight group have formed their own form of silent communication, much like the men on his team share when out in the field. The men can have full conversations without one word being spoken. It is no different with the women. It is exasperating for the men because they can’t deduce what the women are planning when they began their silent conversations. They’ve been caught off guard more than once when the women begin conspiring something.
“Straw.” Emma glances back at him, then looks to Charlotte before continuing. He notices the almost imperceptible nod Charlotte gives, as if encouraging her to continue. “Who’s the girl you brought? I haven’t seen you with her before. Give us the low down.” Both women turn on him then with expectant looks.
“She’s just a girl I met at a bar,” Straw answers surly. “It’s no big deal, so don’t y’all start trying to make it a big deal.”
“Straw,” Emma begins in a calm soothing voice. “We are not trying to make anything into a big deal, but we care about you. I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but really? Do you even like this girl?”
“Honestly…” Straw begins, trying his best not to let his aggravation come through in his voice. “I wish I hadn’t brought her, but it’s like I said. Not. A. Big. Deal.” He enunciates every word to ensure they understand his meaning that it isn’t something he is willing to discuss with them. However, it falls on deaf ears.
“It just breaks our hearts to see you with a different girl every week,” Emma continues in her sweet soft voice. “Especially when we know that’s not what you really want.” Charlotte is nodding her agreement. “Curtis told me about the talk you guys had on your last deployment. We can help you, if you will give us a chance. I know a really nice girl at work. She’d be perfect for you.” The women are smiling expectantly. Eager to become his matchmakers.
