Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 83970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“Care to explain this?” Bobby asks holding up a small envelope.
I’m very familiar with the tattered container. My heart immediately begins to pound in my chest as my steps falter. I just got out of the shower, and the only protection I have from what I’m certain is going to be a horrible beating is the thin towel I have wrapped around my body.
My eyes cut to his and back to the evidence in his hands. That envelope contains every penny I’ve been able to hide from him the last two years that I’ve been working at Drifter’s. It’s not as much as one would think considering I’ve been stockpiling for what seems like forever.
“Explain!” he shouts waving the five hundred and twenty-three dollars in front of me.
“I’m saving for your birthday,” I respond quickly and cringe when I realize my mistake.
“My birthday was last month you stupid bitch!” He pockets the money, seething with anger.
His first strike is a closed fist to my mouth.
I inch myself closer to the mirror to inspect the shield I have to use more often than not. I’d been saving that money to finally leave him for good. He’s alienated me from my entire family. Well, I only have a few cousins left. My parents have been gone for years, and I’m an only child.
I have no one; he’s made sure of that. At only twenty-four years old, I’m a shell of the person I used to be. I’ve been in this situation so long I don’t remember the last time I woke up feeling safe or without worry of being hurt before the sun set again.
I met Robert Mikaelson at a party my junior year in high school. He spent the next couple of years alienating me from my friends and family. By the time I graduated high school, he’d moved me out of Utah away from my cousins and the aunt who took me in after my parents died. I haven’t spoken to them since. Six years we’ve been in Colorado; six years he’s been all that I know. It’s exactly the way he wants it.
***
Like he always does after an incident at the house, Bobby is sitting in the corner of the bar watching my every move. His mood seems better now than it does most nights, and I know that’s because he’s drinking away the five hundred dollars I’d been saving. I’ll never see a penny of it.
I guess I should count my lucky stars that he didn’t hurt me as bad as he could. It’s certainly not the worst punishment he’s doled out over the years. I don’t even want to think about the time he did actually break my ribs. That pain was beyond excruciating. I know his excitement over having a wad of cash to spend played a large part in the lesser sanction.
I keep the fake smile on my face as I make my rounds in the bar, filling drink orders and delivering them. I quickly dash away thoughts of starting my nest egg back up, but the insidious thought keeps filling my head. I know I have to leave. I know eventually he’ll kick me in just the right spot, and I’ll never be the same again, or I’ll end up dead.
I’ve been hopeless for so long that the possibility seems more like a fairy-tale than a feasible outcome. Praying he dies in a car accident hasn’t worked no matter how many times I’ve begged God to take him away. I went to the police once. Once. That was all it took for me to realize that the fat guy working the front desk had no desire to help me. That cry for help landed me in the hospital for three days under the guise of falling down the stairs at the apartment complex. The doctors didn’t believe me but were too busy to dig any deeper. Thank God they didn’t, or I’d be dead right now.
Dead. Doesn’t seem like such a bad thing as I walk around barely able to take a deep breath with the pain I feel on the right side of my body. Steel toe boots, I’ve discovered, are no match for bones.
I can’t hide the genuine smile on my face when the bikers walk through the front door and make their way to the back corner table. There are four men rather than the usual three. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping the three guys would show up tonight. Well, two of them anyways; the third guy is kind of a creep, but the other two are super sweet and easy on the eyes.
I work my tables quickly so I can make my way to them. I’m certain their order will be the same as it’s been the last couple of weeks, but I go to them to verify since they have an addition to the group this evening.