Gazing blankly at Frank as he stood, dominating my kitchen, I clenched my hands into fists. Every cell in my body screamed at me to back the fuck down in the face of his overwhelming, generally satanic feel. Now, for the first time, I was beginning to realize why everyone told me to stay away from him.

He could kill people with a look, and sweat slicked the nape of my neck as I held his dark, dangerous eyes.

“Frank, she needs a hospital or she’s gunna die.” My voice was rough, drowned out by the pained moaning coming from the back bedroom. For just a fraction of a second, I took my eyes off Frank, and he took that moment to advance. In a flash he was directly in front of me, massive and imposing, and I automatically took a step back. Jumping into my throat, my heart thundered hard to fuel muscles that would only be used to run away.

I was a little bitch when it came to Frank, and it took these past four months to realize that.

“I don’t care if she fucking dies. As long as the baby is okay. I spent too much fucking effort on my daughter to worry about that dumb bitch.” The woman only a wall away cried out in pain, and Frank’s face twisted in disgust before he whirled around to slam his fist on the table. “Fuck! Shut her up already!”

The booming call didn’t do anything to stop the muffled sounds squeezing through the cracks in the door, and I ground my teeth together. Frank’s bare muscles bulged and spasmed, the veins in his arms and neck becoming increasingly noticeable, and I made no attempt to open my mouth. Whirling around to face me, he took a threatening step forward before some invisible wall seemed to stop him- although I doubted anything could stop him right now.

“James, are you sure this doctor isn’t a fucking crackpot? Fuck- fuck… I’m going in there.” For the first time since we met I touched Frank, wrapping my clammy hand around his wrist to keep him from storming into the bedroom. His body jerked as if he wanted nothing more than to flip me on my back and beat my skull into my brain, and I tensed to lick my lips.

“Frank, man… you can’t go in. Trust me- Jessie is going to keep your baby alive. That’s her job, but just because she’s old doesn’t mean she’s bad. I’m telling you- let the doctor do her job. She knows to bring the baby to you.” My words of assurance brought bile up into my throat, and I carefully released my grip on Frank. He lost some of his threat at my reasoning, and I watched through narrowed eyes as he took a deep breath.

“I need her to be okay…” I knew Frank wasn’t talking about the woman he’d impregnated, and I nodded silently. His desperation rippled across my skin, and his eyes burned into the door to combat the sounds drifting through. “If she dies, you die- the doctor dies.”

Jerking up, I took a sharp breath as my dream rang in my ears, and my hand automatically went to my neck. Sweat caked my skin, tugging at me as I swiped my palm up my face and over my head. Even my hair was slick with sweat, and I glanced around the darkness of my bedroom as I struggled to catch my breath.

“Fuck… fuck…” Every time I blinked, I could see Frank’s face contorting with some fucked up version of adoration. The time between crashing waves of blood against my ear drums was filled with the sound of a newborn wailing. Blood and afterbirth wafted into my nostrils with each harsh inhale that filled my lungs, and I shook my head wildly to get rid of it all.

Throwing my legs over the side of my bed, I pushed myself up with a grunt to stumble towards the kitchen. Out of the corner of my eye a ghost clung to the back bedroom door, and I squeezed my eyelids shut before yanking open the refrigerator. The cold air was soothing, and my body swayed towards it to cool my heated blood. Resting my forehead on the freezer door, I braced my forearm above my head to get my hand to stop tingling.

“Jesus Christ…” Of all the nightmares I’d had since that day a month ago, that scene had never been among the line-up. There were much more horrible things I’d seen than Frank freaking out over the birth of his daughter.

Like that woman detoxing for a whole week.

Like the several times Frank stood guard over her unconscious body after he knocked her out for threatening his baby.

Like Frank killing her with his own two hands after she started screaming for her baby.

“Good fucking riddance to that fucked up piece of shit.” Muttering to myself, I reared back my head to bang it against the freezer door in the hopes of ridding my brain of these horrific scenes. “Fuck- fuck- fuck…”

“Are you okay, James?” The tired, feminine voice drew my attention to the couch, and I glanced beyond my bicep through wide eyes. Caroline and her dog stared at me, concern etched onto her face and weariness on Kiki’s. For a long moment I only stared, my eyelid twitching from the horror that sat just behind my eye sockets.

Pushing myself from the freezer, I took a deep, calming breath that popped my rib joints down the center of my chest. My hands shook as I grabbed a beer from the refrigerator before closing the door, and my legs were stiff on my way to the living room. A low warning growl sounded the closer I came, and I sent that damn dog a nasty grimace.

So much for liking me.

“Is it about your leg?” Caroline’s gentle prodding drew a grunt from me in a foolish attempt to avoid talking about my nightmare. Sitting in my recliner, I heaved a sigh and popped open my bottle to neck my beer. “I’ll just be quiet, then.”

“Yeah- please.” Gruff and short, my affirmation sent the room into an intense silence as Caroline stared at me shamelessly. My mind refused to stray from my dream, and I shook my head hard before opening my mouth again. “Talk. Something- anything. Tell me about your friends.”

“Uh- uh… well… I have a couple of them…” Staring into space, I didn’t need to look at Caroline’s face to know the sudden request caught her off guard. Her stuttering reverberated against my skull, and I took another swig of my beer before she steadied herself. “I met my closest friend at some faire when my dad came home when I was 8. She and I aren’t best friends, but I’m okay with that. Her name is Sally, and she’s the most bookworm-i-est bookworm you can ever know. She’s trying to become a writer, and she’s really good at it. Her boyfriend is an amateur movie producer...”

Listening to Caroline describe her friends, I let her voice lull me into a state of complacency. Her voice was nice to listen to- a little rough but still sweet sounding. Only loosely did I follow what she said, and I pulled my beer to my lips with tense muscles. It couldn’t have been later than 4a.m., but I didn’t really care.

Beer was good for any time, day or night, since I wasn’t going to get drunk. I couldn’t even remember the last time I got sloshed.

“-m mean, honestly, I don’t really like him. I have a thing about dating people I work with, even though we only bump into each other if he knows in advance that I’m coming to the office. He’s not creepy… just not my type, you know? He’s kind of shrimpy, and he wears these old man glasses.” Caroline was rambling when I tuned back into her, and I blinked hard to clear my blurry vision. “If I put him in front of my dad he’d probably shit his pants.”

“You haven’t dated anyone since your fiancé?” My drawling question cut Caroline off, and I glanced over to watch her shrug absently.

“Not particularly. I’ve gone on a few dates, but never made it to the third. Besides, Kiki and my photography take up a lot of time. Sometimes, I have to leave with little warning, and most guys don’t like that. Being a photographer isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. There’s a lot of bugs, and tents aren’t the most comfortable. There was one guy that wanted to go with me, but when I told him there was no bathrooms, he got skeeved.” Giggling, Caroline’s little story brought a smirk to my face. Letting my head rest back, I chugged the rest of my beer and closed my eyes. “I don’t even really like camping, but I have to do it for my job.”

“… How’s your ankles?” Just listening to Caroline talk was soothing, and I took a deep breath that mirrored hers. She didn’t respond, and I didn’t push her for an answer.