Page 43 of First Time

I gulped audibly.

“Don’t even think about going anywhere. You better be waiting for me exactly as I told you, or I swear to God, Becky…” His voice trailed off, but I got the message loud and clear.

He hung up, and I stared at the phone in the sudden silence.

If I didn’t do something, he would eventually kill me. I’d heard that truth in his words, the same thing Chantelle had told me time and again.

And I wasn’t ready to die.

My heart a deadened weight in my chest, I dumped all of the alcohol I could find down the drain. Sitting down at the kitchen table, I clenched my hands in my lap to keep them from shaking. For the first time, I had outright defied his orders, but with his income gone, we would need to figure out a plan for our future. Trying to work out his aggression on me and drinking until he dropped wouldn’t accomplish a single thing.

The click of the lock jolted me in my chair, and I bit my tongue to keep from whimpering.

Stephen’s footsteps squeaked on loose floorboards in the entryway.

“I’m in the kitchen,” I called out, my voice betraying my fear.

He stalked through the archway a few seconds later, a thunderous scowl denting his forehead. Eyes red-rimmed let me know he’d already been at the bottle.

“The fuck you doing up here? Thought I told you to go down to the playroom?”

“We n-need to talk.” My voice shook along with my insides.

“Talk, talk, talk.” He rolled his eyes and stomped across the kitchen. “That’s all you fucking do is talk!” he lied and grabbed hold of my hair to jerk my head back.

Tears sprang to life in my eyes, and I bit my tongue to keep from crying out, which would only turn him on.

“You were to wait for me downstairs like a good little fucking whore, but no. You had to disobey and piss me off.” Stephen yanked me from the chair and onto the floor. I landed hard on my knees and bit my lip until I tasted blood “Now, you’re going to pay.”

I grasped his wrist to stop him from yanking my hair out, and he glanced at the counter where three empty liquor bottles sat.

“The fuck!” he shrieked, pushing my face into the side of the table.

The impact jarred my head, and stars dotted my vision. Tears streamed unbidden, and I slumped onto the floor, my cheek throbbing with my heartbeat as he walked to the counter.

He upended each bottle, cursing when nothing more than a drip splattered on the countertop. “You fucking bitch!”

I curled into a ball as he pulled back his leg. His boot thumped against my lower back, and I cried out again at the pain knifing through me.

“That’s every bottle I had in this damn house!” He kicked again, landing a blow to my left shoulder blade. Another harsh pull on my hair uncurled my body and tipped my head back. My heart tried to beat through my chest bone as I struggled to keep quiet. “I’m going to the liquor store, and when I’m back, you sure as hell had better be presenting for me like I told you to do!”

I swallowed a whimper, grabbing at his wrist again. My eyes clenched shut, every inch of my body shaking.

“If you fucking disobey me again, I swear to fucking God you’ll be sorry.” He pushed me to the floor, and I bit back my sobs as he stomped down the hallway.

The front door slammed shut, the roar of Stephen’s engine blaring to life then fading as he drove off.

Silence rang in my ears. I clenched my jaw against the wails deep inside me rising to break loose.

Enough, a voice whispered in my head. A lone sob escaped, and I pressed my knuckles to my mouth. Enough.

It didn’t matter that I had no money of my own. It didn’t matter that I would have to head into the unknown to start over. And those twelve years I’d hung my hat on for so damn long sure as hell didn’t matter either.

I. Was. Done.

I rolled onto my hands and knees and used the chair I’d been sitting in to pull myself upright. Zings of pain ran down my legs from where Stephen had kicked me, and I could barely move my left arm.

Another cry ripped from my clenched lips as I staggered toward the entryway.

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