Page 57 of First Time

The tension in my stomach eased as a smile lifted my lips again. “Yes, please.”

“I’ll go get your clothes,” he said. “There’s a new toothbrush in the top drawer.”

“Thank you.” I peered at myself in the mirror. With no makeup on hand, the bruise on my cheek would draw all kinds of attention.

A day earlier, I would have said that I’d tripped and fallen. I lifted my chin, preparing myself for the truth.

“My ex smashed my face against the table,” I murmured what I intended to tell everyone who asked.

It served Stephen right to be exposed for what he was, what Chantelle had been trying to tell me for years. Doing so would shame me as well. I had stayed too long and wasted some of the best years of my life.

Torn on what to think about that fact, I studied my face. My eyes were shit brown and boring but sparkled like I had never seen. Pink flushed my cheeks, and my lips were reddened and puffed from kissing. Daniel’s scruff had marked up my neck, but I expected it would fade before I got to work.

I looked like a woman who had been loved on all night long, and I felt…beautiful, just as Daniel had claimed.

“Clothes are on the bed.” His bass voice rumbled through the door again, sending a needy twinge between my thighs.

My face heated. I was insatiable for him and would rather stay in bed all day long than toast bagels and pour coffee for five hours.

“Chantelle called me looking for you—said she’d returned your call last night and that you still weren’t answering this morning. I hope it’s okay that I told her you were here.”

“That’s fine—thank you. I’ll get in touch with her over my break.”

A few minutes later, I joined him in the kitchen where he handed me a travel mug of coffee.

“I’ll be home around six,” Daniel whispered into my hair while squeezing me tight. “But call me if you need me.”

“I will.”

One last brush of our lips, and I hurried out the kitchen door and into my clunker that Daniel had heated up for me.

My cell sat on the passenger seat, still turned off.

I powered it up, not surprised to find dozens of notifications. Stephen had been relentless as I expected, but I only cared that my cousin had rung me back the night before. She’d also left three messages that morning.

I quickly texted back, letting her know that I would call her over my break to fill her in on what had happened.

Daniel still stood in the driveway, shoulders hunched against the cold as I backed onto the street. I fluttered my fingers, smiling, as he waved.

I’d had a taste of what a good relationship could and should be like, and I had zero desire to go back to what had been before. Excitement for the day to end so I could return to Daniel kept my blood pumping. I’d never felt so…high before. A natural excitement that made everything about the cold April morning burst with color. Budding green leaves, cobalt blue sky, and yellow daffodils greeted my gaze every time I glanced away from the road.

I ended up being ten minutes late for work and took an additional five to quickly explain to my boss what had happened with Stephen the evening before. He promised to be on the lookout for my ex, and I went behind the counter.

My bruise drew a lot of empathetic attention, and I went with the truth as I’d decided. Yes, I had been a moron for having stayed as long as I did, but I was proud of my decision to leave him. So were my co-workers.

The morning sped by, and I smiled, making eye contact with customers rather than staying to myself and watching the floor between filling orders. Encouraging smiles and kind words compounded the peace I experienced over my new beginning. I hardly thought of Stephen.

Until break.

He came in for coffee, eyes red, but from booze or tears, I couldn’t tell. Lines and bags under his eyes made him appear older than his twenty-nine years. He looked like a pathetic, beaten dog. Not one ounce of pity or empathy flooded me like it would have done a day ago.

My stomach clenched, and my heart sped as he neared the counter, and once he moved my way, I turned toward him.

“Can we talk?” he asked, his voice breaking.

I glanced around. My boss watched from the register, and I smiled to ease his frown even though the last thing I felt was happy.

Holding my shoulders back and my head up, I gave Stephen my attention. I was done cowering under his gaze. Done submitting to the abusive authority I had given him for so long. “I go on break in a few minutes,” I said, my voice even and firm.

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