CHAPTER 19
THERESA

As I lay there in my bed thinking about the weekend, I grew more and more excited. Grant was coming back Saturday, and I couldn't wait to see him. We’d been talking every night after getting home from work and I lived for those calls. I looked forward to his morning texts and enjoyed our conversations before I fell asleep. And I wasn’t willing to think about the fact that I knew he couldn’t stay. That he had a life in Boston he couldn't give up. All I wanted was to look forward to his presence and being wrapped up in his arms again.

All I wanted was his hands on my body again.

I lay there with my eyes closed as I giggled at his memory. The time he caught me sunbathing by the creek was my favorite one. Looking back on it, I could see the struggle in his eyes. The animal he was trying to keep caged. What I originally took as rejection was merely him trying to wrangle himself. Trying not to throw me down onto the ground and fuck me into oblivion. I felt my chest heat up as my hand began to migrate to my breast, and I allowed my body to ride the wave.

Until I heard a growl emanate from my doorway.

“You bitch.”

I whipped my head up at the voice, but a hand was already around my throat. Ike’s face came into view as I latched onto his wrist, trying to pry his grasp from me. His eyes were bulging with anger. His nostrils were flaring. He was in a blind rage with his dilated pupils and his hands closing around my neck.

It was hard to breathe, and I kicked my legs to try and get him off me.

“Ike? What are you—?”

“Did you really think you could walk away from me?” he asked.

He dragged me from the bed as I tried to get my voice beyond the palm of his hand.

“Did you think I’d let eight years of my life slip through my fingertips and watch you paint yourself like a whore and parade around bars looking for your next fuck?”

He dragged me up to my feet, holding me by my neck. Tears were streaming down my cheeks as my heart slammed against my chest. My eyes darted over to my bedside table. I had to get to my phone.

But before I could reach for it, Ike slammed me against the wall.

“Ike! You’re hurting me!” I choked out.

“Did you think I wouldn't find out? Huh? Did you think I wouldn’t know you were spreading your legs for him again? How many times, Theresa? How many times have you disgraced yourself with him?”

He tossed me into the other wall as my arm grazed the side of the table. My phone teetered to the edge and fell into my lap as Ike’s voice grew.

“Did you think it wouldn’t get back to me? Your little stunt at the bar that night, dressed like a common hooker? Did you think I wouldn’t find out you brought him home with you again? To the home I help you pay for?”

I fumbled with my phone in my hands, but he fisted my hair and yanked me to my feet.

“Stop it! Please!”

“I bet you like it rough, don’t you?” Ike asked as he shoved me against the wall again, this time my back to him. “I bet you enjoy it when a man takes what he wants from you and discards you like trash.”

His hand was on the back of my neck as his knee dug into my lower back.

“Please stop,” I said breathlessly.

His hand was too tight around my throat and I my vision began wavering. I looked around for anything that could help me, anything I could use to fight my way out of this situation. I reached my hand out and grabbed my bedside lamp, then whipped it behind me.

It crashed into Ike’s head, and he stumbled backward with his pants down around his ankles.

The image made me sick, and I grabbed my phone before I headed for the door.

“You stupid little bitch. Get the fuck back here, Theresa! I’m not done with you yet!”

I scrambled out of my bedroom and down my hallway toward the door to my apartment. I opened my phone and dialed Hollis’ number, crouching down in the space between my couch and the wall as I heard Ike coming down the hallway after me. I was trying to stifle my sobs as the phone kept ringing and ringing, and for a second, I thought he wasn’t going to pick up.

“What’s up?”

“Hollis! Help me!”

“Theresa, what’s wrong? Where are you!?”

“Where the fuck did you go, bitch?”

“Is that Ike?”

“Hollis he’s here. He’s here, and he’s— Ike, stop!”

“Hold on, Theresa, I’m coming!”

My phone fell to the floor as Ike shoved the couch off into the corner. He grabbed me by the throat again, and I started coughing. He barreled me into the wall knocking the breath out of me, but when he pressed his lips against mine it filled me with a rage I’d never felt before.

I bit down on his bottom lip so hard I drew blood and he wrenched his head back. I clamped my hand down around his wrist. I shoved him as hard as I could and made my way into the kitchen, but he reached for my hair and pulled me back. I stumbled to the ground as he fell on top of me, his knees pressing into my thighs so hard it made me cry out.

“Hollis! Help!”

“No one can help you now,” Ike said. “Only I can. I did for eight years, and this is how you repay me? If you liked it rough, you should’ve told me. You could’ve been my little whore instead of his.”

I put my arms in between my body and his, but no matter what I did, I couldn't free my legs. Tears were streaming down my face as sirens blared in the distance, and I was scared Hollis wouldn’t get to me in time.

Then, suddenly, the door to my apartment burst open, with a thunderous crash. A shriek left my lips as Ike clamped his hand over my mouth. But before he could get any farther, I heard footsteps rounding the corner to where we were.

“You son of a bitch,” Hollis said.

I watched my brother crash into Ike as his partner helped me off the floor. I was sobbing. My legs were aching, and my back was throbbing, and it was hard to swallow. Hollis’ partner was trying to get me to look her in the eyes, but all I wanted to do was get to my phone which was ringing.

I pushed her away and ran back to the couch before I picked up the device.

Grant was calling, but I knew I couldn’t take the call. So instead, I pulled up a text message. Tears were dripping onto the phone. I had no idea what to say.

Honesty.

It was always the best way with Grant.

I need you.

I sent the text message off before a pair of hands descended onto mine. I jumped and cried out, then whipped around and saw my brother. His eyes were wide with anger as his gaze fell to my neck. He reached his fingertips up to feel the bruising I knew was already marking my skin.

“Did he—?”

I shook my head as my face crumpled.

“Come here,” he said breathlessly. “I’ve got you.”

I fell into my brother’s embrace, and he gathered me up in his arms. He carried me out of my apartment and down the stairs, then set me on the edge of the back of an ambulance. People were looking me over and shining lights in my eyes as I recounted what happened. I saw his partner going into my apartment with people who held cameras and plastic bags and all sorts of other things.

“They’re collecting evidence,” Hollis said when he noticed me looking. “Just start from the beginning.”

I rattled off what happened, and Hollis almost couldn't contain himself. His head whipped over to where Ike was sitting in the back of a cop car with his hands cuffed behind his back. He was staring at me with that angry look in his eyes, and Hollis yelled to get him out of here.

Though he didn’t use such kind words for it.

“You need to go to the hospital,” Hollis said. “I’ll be over as soon as I can.”

“I don’t have to go. He didn’t finish what he was trying to do to me,” I said.

“It doesn’t matter. If you’re hurt, the doctors have to chart where you’re hurt and match it up with your testimony. It keeps you from having to go to court and provides further evidence as to what happened.”

“I don’t want to go, Hollis.”

“I know,” he said as his forehead fell to mine. “I know you don’t. But you have to. I know it sucks, but you have to. And I swear, the moment I can break away, I’ll be there.”

I looked over and watched the cruiser drive away with Ike. He craned his head back to keep me in view, and I watched as he disappeared. I knew he was going to jail. I knew he wouldn’t be able to get to me again. But I still didn’t feel safe.

I still wanted Grant.

“Go with the paramedics, Theresa. Trust me on this. It doesn’t make you weak, and this isn’t me controlling you.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll go.”