I let the handle go and stagger backward to get away from him. “There’s nothing for us to talk about, Philip. I don’t want you here as I’ve already stated.”
Where is my phone? My bag is not far from me. But can I get it before Philip advances on me? I doubt it.
“There’s plenty for us to talk about, baby.” He grins, steps into my space, and hooks an arm around my waist. “I’ve missed the hell out of you.”Philip leans in, inhaling. “Fuck, you smell better than I remember. You look even better than the other day when I saw you outside the school. The hot little teacher get-ups you wear are sexy as hell.”
“Let me go.” I shove against him the best I can, but his hold tightens.
“I’m not letting you go unless you agree to sit down and eat with me,”he grumbles harshly, fingers tightening in my hair.
“No,” I shout, pushing against him, fighting to get free.
Philip yanks me by the hair into the living room away from the door and tosses me onto the couch. “You’re gonna learn your place is where I say it is. You do what I tell you to do. I’m sick of you avoiding me. Of telling me we’re not together. You’re mine, baby, and I’m here to stay.”
“No,” I cry out, scrambling off the couch to get away from him. “I won’t tell you to leave again. We’re done. You shouldn’t have moved here, Philip. I don’t belong to you. I don’t belong to anyone.”
Philip moves faster than I thought possible, gripping me tightly by the throat. I fight him the best I can to get away, scratching at his wrist, kicking out where the sun doesn’t shine, but he expects my every move. “You will listen,” he barks, letting go with a shove.
I stumble backward in an effort to put enough distance between us. But I don’t get far enough before he strikes the side of my face. The smack has me losing balance and falling.
My side hits the edge of the couch before I hit the floor. I curl into a protective ball as he moves over me, straddling my side, forcing me to my back. His fists start coming down on my face and upper body, hitting brutally everywhere they connect except where he’s straddling me.
“I didn’t want to have to do this, baby, you know I don’t like hurting you. I told you the last time, I hate it. But you don’t listen. If you hadn’t moved away, I wouldn’t have to follow you. We’re supposed to be together. You need just to stop fighting me.”
A freaking handful of dates and trying to simply be friends with this man does not mean I know anything about him. I evidently didn’t in the first place.
Philip slams his fist into my face three more times before he leans down, getting in my face, his hand at my throat. “I’mgoing to leave you now to think about your actions here. I'll give you a little time, but you’re mine, Delaney. I’m not letting you go. We’re going to be together. Do you understand me?You’re mine.”
I whimper in pain, nodding. There is no way I’m going to be anything with him, but to get him out of here, I’ll say whatever I need to get him gone.
“See you in a week, Laney,” he says, pulling me up by my neck. He kisses me tenderly on the lips and lets me go. I fall back onto the floor as he walks out of the house, slamming the door behind him, leaving a foul-smelling bag of takeout on the coffee table.
I allow myself to take a breath, then another as I slowly climb off the floor to the edge of the couch. I’m not going to do what Philip wants. He’s giving me a week to do whatever it is I need to before he comes back. I’ll have to be ready for him next time he shows up. There’s no way I can allow myself to be in this situation again.
Sucking in another breath, needing all the courage I can gather, I scramble to my feet in search of my bag by the door. I need my phone. There’s only one person right now that I trust with this. He’ll know what to do.
The pain in my face and upper body is excruciating, but I refuse to think about it, or the hit I took to my side. The chances of me miscarrying are there. It’s all highly possible to happen, and it scares me, so I’m not going there. Not yet. Besides, for all I know, Philip could still be outside or down the road waiting to see what I’m going to do.
Grabbing my phone out of my bag, I brighten the screen to find a text message from Tyler. I don’t bother looking at it. I can’t think of him right now. The person I need at the moment isn’t him. God knows what he’d think if he saw me like this. I don’t need to see what I look like to know my face and throat areturning black and blue. I feel the blood trickle down my nose, and my lip stings from where it’s busted.
Touching the icons and then the name I need, I put the phone on speaker, not even having the strength to hold my phone to my ear. My legs tremble beneath me as I lean against the wall and slide to the floor.
“Laney,” Dustin answers on the third ring.
“D-Dustin,” I croak his name. My throat feels like it's on fire just to speak, tears slide down my cheeks as I try to find my words.
“What’s wrong?” The alertness in his voice causes my defenses to crumble.
“I need you.”
“I’m on the way, Laney, but you gotta tell me, are you okay?”
“I am now,” I tell him.
“Alright, I’m heading your way. Be there soon.”
“Okay.” Thankfully, Dustin hangs up since I don’t have it in me to do myself. I close my eyes, lift my legs to my chest, and lean to the side, lying on the floor while the tears leak through my closed lids.
What did I ever do to have fate laugh at me the way it does? There’s never a long period of time where it’s all sunshine and rainbows. Something always happens, and it doesn’t just rain, it pours. It’s the curse of my life. Deemed to lose everyone in my life, including the babies that I carry. I have no doubt that this beating will end with me miscarrying, losing them both.
