You will pay for this, bitch! 5 страница

We swam for a long time, only getting out when our skin looked like prunes. B sat in her red bikini, with her daddy’s sunglasses on, sipping a large glass of iced tea. She looked like a little grown-up, while being the cutest thing I’d ever seen. It didn’t help that Brooks told her she was beautiful every two seconds.

After burgers and my most favorite broccoli salad with bacon, we all got back in the pool. Branch and Melissa joined us, especially giving their attention to B. She laughed and giggled, somehow realizing the difference between her daddy and her uncle.

When we were children, the other kids would ask me how I could tell them apart. I could never explain it, but somehow knew it. B didn’t have to search her heart to know it though. Aside from the dog tags, Brooks’ skin was tanned, from being outside, while Branch was paler from working in an office. Besides, even though Branch clearly had fallen in love with his niece, his eyes didn’t sparkle when she walked into the room, like her daddy’s did.

Danica got up from her lounge and asked everyone if we wanted more tea. She hurried into the house to get another pitcher, while we all kept playing around and enjoying the perfect day.

She came back outside a few minutes later without the pitcher. I didn’t notice her face until she addressed me. “Katy, can you come inside for a second?”

I walked inside after putting a towel around my wet body. “What is it?”

“There’s someone in the other room that’s asking for you. He said he has something for you. I had my hands full when I answered the door, so I didn’t ask his name.”

“Is it a delivery? Maybe Brooks ordered me something.” I heard her going back outside as I made my way into the family room.

I didn’t understand who could be visiting, but figured I needed to see. I hadn’t told anyone I was home, nor did I have many friends other than Brooks and Branch growing up.

For a moment I thought Danica was playing a joke on me, like she used to do to cheer me up. She’d been so happy having us back that I wouldn’t have put it past her.

I didn’t make it out of the kitchen before he started walking in the room toward me.

Staring at me, in the only home I’d ever felt safe in, was Bobby. I could tell from one glance that he hadn’t showered in days. His hair was a mess and his facial hair was looking more like a beard. I immediately began to tremble, looking behind me to make sure that nobody was coming. “Bobby, what are you doing here? How did you find me?”

He laughed and right away I could tell he’d been drinking. I didn’t know how much or for how long, but it was obvious in the way he held himself up. “Does it matter? I’m here and I ain’t leavin’ until you’re with me.”

I shook my head and crossed my arms over my chest. “No. I’m not going anywhere. I’m here with my family.”

“Yeah, I seen you and lover boy through the window. Do you really think I’m just goin’ to let you be happy after you ruined my life?” He leaned up against the counter and I walked to the other side to put distance between us. Every few seconds I looked out the door hoping Brooks was coming after me.

My eyes focused on Bobby. “Leave!”

“You’re comin’ with me, Katy. I drove all damn night to get here. Get your shit and come on.”

I started crying. “Bobby, please don’t do this. They are my family. You know they’re all I had growing up. Please, I’m begging you to go. They don’t know about you. They can’t. I promise, I’ll sit down and talk to you when we get home tomorrow night. Please, don’t do this here.”

He began laughing loudly. “You didn’t tell them about me?” More laughs were followed by the most horrifying eyes. “I’m your fuckin’ husband, you two-timing bitch. If you’re here, I have every right to be.” He started coming toward me and I ran around the island to get away from him. He laughed at me again, picked up an apple out a bowl and threw it at me. I ducked and it smashed against a cabinet above my head. “You’ve got two seconds to get your ass in my truck, or I’m goin’ out there and fillin’ in your little family about us.”

I was sobbing, trying desperately to get up the courage to scream for help. I took a glance outside and saw my daughter being thrown up in the air and coming back down in her daddy’s arms. I knew she was safe and if something bad happened to me, she’d be loved and taken care of.

Then I turned back to Bobby, knowing I had to get him out of the house. “I’ll go get my things.”

He grabbed my arm as I walked by and I cringed at the idea of him hurting me in front of them. I kept my eyes closed as the tears poured out of them. “You really think I’d let you go get your things without me? Darlin’ you’re not goin’ anywhere, unless I’m with you.”

I jerk my arm away from him. “Fine, come on. I don’t want them seeing me, so let’s hurry.”

I ran up the stairs and heard him following me. When we walked into Brooks’ room, I realized what Bobby must have been thinking. I started putting my things in my bag, refusing to look at him.

I heard the mattress moving and knew he was sitting down on the bed. Out of the corner of my eye I watched him feeling the sheets with the palm of his hand. “So this is where you’ve been fuckin’ him?”

I turned to say something, anything to get him to shut up, and saw the knife being opened up. He traced the blade with his fingers.

At that very moment I feared for what was coming. I honestly thought he was going to stab me to death while my whole family was outside having fun. Flashes of Brooks finding me bleeding out ran through my head.

“Please don’t hurt me, Bobby. Please don’t take me away from B.”

“Like you took her from me?” he snapped.

“Please, it’s not the same.” I felt terrible that he was hurting, but also knew that this could have been avoided. He’d been the one that made me leave. I was willing to try to be friends with him. I would have done the right thing.

“You took everything from me.” He stabbed the bed, going through the sheets and mattress. My body jumped when it made contact and he continuing cutting long marks in it. When he pulled the knife away, a half-assed K was carved into the bed. I covered my face with my hands and trembled as he pointed it right at my face. “Get your shit and let’s go.” He’d obviously seen Brooks’ tattoo. I wondered how long he’d been watching us in the backyard before he’d decided to knock on the door.

I stood up with my bag and started walking, as he followed behind me. I didn’t know if the knife was close, and I wasn’t going to look back to see. All I knew was that I had to get out of the house and get Bobby as far away from Brooks and B as I could.

No matter what this crazy man did to me, I wanted them safe. If it was my last dying wish, I knew I’d get it, because Brooks would kill Bobby before he let him anywhere near our beautiful daughter.

Chapter 50

I wanted to make a scene on the front lawn, so that Brooks or anyone would come to my rescue. He was going to be so mad when he realized what was happening. More than I was afraid of Bobby, I was scared of what Brooks was going to do to him. He’d spent his entire life protecting and loving me. I could hardly imagine him taking Bobby’s new destructed plan to hurt me, lightly. Brooks was going to hurt Bobby and I feared that it would cost him his position in the military.

Bobby shoved me against the truck. I got my footing and looked right at him, not showing him how scared I was. The more I feared him, the more he’d push me. I had to be strong, even when inside I was falling apart.

“Get in.”

“Please don’t do this. I have a protective order against you. Coming here is breaking the law and making me go with you is even worse. Think about what you’re doing. They’ll never let you see her. Please don’t do this.”

He got up against me, pressing his face against my cheek. I heard my luggage get thrown into the cab while he spoke. “You think I give two shits about your protective order? I could care less about a fuckin’ piece of paper. Get in the truck, Katy, or I’ll put you in there.”

I kept watching the door, hoping to see the other half of my heart come running out to save me. Bobby caught me and put his hands around my throat. “There’s nothin’ he can do to stop me, either. This is between you and me.”

“What are you planning?” The tears streamed down my face. “Are you going to kill me, lock me away in a dungeon? You can’t keep me from them unless you plan on killing me.”

I was petrified of him, but more about what he was going to do to me. The only advantage I had was the fact that he’d been drinking and probably not sleeping. His ability to think fast would be off and I had to use it against him.

“This is the last time I’m goin’ to tell you. Get in the truck and shut the hell up.”

The truck seat was filled with the scent of spilled bourbon and as I went to climb in, a bottle fell into the street, shattering on the concrete. Bobby took off as soon as I’d shut the door. Out of the mirror, I watched the house getting smaller and further away from me. I closed my eyes and let the tears fall, imagining something terrible happening to me. I’d never been so scared of Bobby, but he’d hunted me down and pulled me away from happiness. “What are you going to do to me? Are you going to hurt me now? Are you planning on killing me?”

He laughed and took a sip from another bottle of liquor. The stench of him was horrible. He reeked and I had to cover my nose with my hand to keep from getting sick. My body was still wet from being in the pool and I didn’t have any shoes on. If I tried to jump out, he’d just come back and get me again. I didn’t have a phone, or any means of signaling anyone for help.

I kept watching the mirror, thinking I’d see Brooks running out into the middle of the street. We turned the corner and I knew it was too late. Even if he came in to check on me, I was already gone.

Soon he would have to explain to the family about who Bobby was and why my life was probably in danger. “How did you find me? I never told you their address.”

“That was easy. I listened to your messages from that girl Melissa. Once I knew where you were, I looked up the Valentine’s address. There ain’t that many Danica Valentines around, Katy. Did you think you could hide from me? I’ll find you, no matter where you go. There ain’t no way I’m lettin’ my wife shack up with some other man without her bein’ taught a lesson. When I’m done with you, he’ll never want you again.”

I cried harder and leaned my head against the window. Bobby reached over and touched my leg. I pulled away quickly, not wanting his hands on me. “Don’t touch me!”

The back of his hand made contact with my face. “Talk to me like that again and you’ll be sorry.”

I’d had enough already. “I hate you. Anything I ever felt for you is gone.”

He grabbed my shoulder and the truck started swerving around the road. “What did you say?”

I shoved him off of me and watched as he steadied the vehicle. “I said I hate you. You’re never going to see my daughter, Bobby. There’s no way Brooks will let you near her. Everything that’s happening to you is because of your actions. You did this to yourself.”

“You can’t keep her from me. I’ll take your ass to court. I’ll prove you to be unfit. I have the whole damn town on my side. How do you plan on winning when I grew up with the damn judge’s kids? It’s my word against yours. All they’re goin’ to see is my cheating wife trying to move her lover in. Mark my word, I’ll be in her life. You think that you can just replace me? I’ve done everything for you, you ungrateful little bitch.”

His punch hit my arm instead of my face. I covered the spot with my hand as the pain throbbed. My sobs were loud, but nobody could hear them. I kept closing my eyes and feeling comfort in knowing that my baby was safe from this monster. “What happened to you? I don’t even know you. What happened to the man that cared about people?”

“What happened? Are you kiddin’ me? You happened. I gave you my heart and you ripped it apart; you and that soldier. You’re my wife, Katy. You said those vows to me.”

“You married me as my friend. I didn’t love you and you knew it. I tried, but I can’t help it that you’re not Brooks. You’ll never be him, Bobby, and you know it.”

He slapped me again, but this time I held up my hands, blocking him from making contact with my face. The sting from the first blow was still lingering, but I wasn’t concerned about it. What I was concerned about was his determination to hurt me. The more he tried, the more angry I became.

This man was trying to take away my happiness. After everything I’d gone through; all of the pain that I’d suffered in my life, he was trying to hurt me more.

Something inside of me snapped. No longer was I going to sit there and take it. It was up to me to save myself and my future. I was going to have to make a desperate move, fueled by my fear of losing everything.

While he took one glance back at the road, I took the bottle of bourbon on the seat between us and slammed it into the side of his face. His head hit the window as the bottle shattered, knocking him unconscious. I tried to reach for the steering wheel and get my foot up to the brake, but we were already heading straight into oncoming traffic. I closed my eyes and turned the wheel hard to avoid hitting the cars. That’s when the truck lost control.

Maybe I should have considered that he wouldn’t just stop the car, or that hitting him would cause him to lose control of the moving vehicle. At that moment all I cared about was hurting him.

I wanted him to feel what it was like to have someone take out their anger on his face. I wanted him to hurt, like he’d repeatedly hurt me.

I suppose if I was buckled into my seat belt it would have been easier to withstand injuries. I remember the vehicle flipping three times before landing upside down. Traffic stopped on both sides of the road and I could hear the people calling in asking if we were alright. My body was tangled up against the ceiling, while Bobby hung unconscious in his seat belt. I tried to scoot myself away from him, but I couldn’t move.

I remember screaming when the intense pain hit me. That was when I realized that I wasn’t just tangled up against the ceiling of a rolled truck. The pain in my back was the worst that I could ever describe. “Help me! Please, someone,” I cried out.

“Bobby.” I reached for him and got no response. “Bobby, wake up.” I kept trying to reach him, to shake him awake. Blood ran down from his face where I’d hit him, but moving my arms was impossible.

He was dangling above me and I couldn’t do anything to help either of us. I didn’t know what to do, so I kept screaming his name. “Bobby, wake up. Please wake up. Just hold on. Help is coming.”

I wanted out of this situation. More than anything I wanted to see my baby. I needed to be home and safe in Brooks’ arm.

Bobby stirred, getting my attention. He grumbled something under his breath and passed out again. “No, no, no. Bobby wake up. Please, hang on. Help is coming.”

As much as I hated him, I felt horrible for making this happen to us. Sure, I wanted him to suffer, but not like this.

He wouldn’t wake up, and I could hear people outside of the vehicle telling us both to hold on. Sirens were in the distance, and I knew they were coming for us.

I closed my eyes and thought about my family; not just Brooks or B. I thought about all of them and the possibility of earlier being the last time I ever saw any of them.

I was immediately overwhelmed with emotions. I didn’t want to die. After so much pain and suffering, after feeling like I’d never be happy, I had a beautiful daughter and a chance to be with Brooks. Though poetic, I couldn’t die yet. I had to fight for myself and that future that I could almost taste.

While I waited for help to reach in and pull me out, my ears began to ring. Then I lost the feeling in the tips of my fingers, followed by my vision becoming blurred. I felt my hearing fading. Then everything turned to black.

Chapter 51

My eyes were heavy and I felt like I was ready to open them, though the voice talking had my attention.

“Katy, please wake up.” I heard sniffles and recognized the voice. “I feel like this is all my fault. If I’d just been honest with you, you wouldn’t be here like this.” More sniffles. “They need you. He needs you. I’ve never seen him like this. They had to sedate him, Katy. He’s losing it, blaming himself for not following you. It’s like he’s dying without you.” Then I heard sobs. I opened my eyes, but saw that Branch’s hands were covering his face. “Just come back to us. I get it now. I see what I was never able to let myself see before. You were never meant to be my wife, because you were supposed to be my sister. You’ve always been his, even when you weren’t together. I’ll take whatever I can get as long as you wake up and come back to us. Brooks needs you. We all do.”

I reached my hand over and touched his elbow. He looked over and seemed shocked to see me looking at him. “Still here.”

He stood up and ran out of the room without saying anything to me. I couldn’t move to see if anyone else was around, and it scared me.

At first, I had no idea how I’d gotten to the hospital. I remembered being in the pool with B and Brooks.

Then it hit me. The moments played out in my mind, all rushing back at the same time. Danica came in with B in her arms. Walt followed behind her. I could tell that she’d been crying. It was impossible to smile, or even say much, so I accepted her hand when she reached to touch mine. “You had us so worried.”

B was freaking out as she tried to get to me. “B.” My throat felt like I’d eaten sand. “Drink.”

Walt ran out the door and came back in a few seconds later with a nurse. She asked the family to stand back while she checked out my vitals. “I’ll have the doctor come in and examine her and then I’ll be able to get her something to drink. Hang tight, Mrs. Parsons. The doctor’s coming.”

My eyes must have popped out of the back of my head. She’d said my married name. Danica was still fighting with B to stay calm, while I tried to think of reason to explain why I’d lied to their faces.

I could feel tears falling down my face as I silently cried to myself, knowing that I’d let them down again.

The doctor came in, checking my sight, asking me questions, poking at my body, and finally ordering that the nurses get me more comfortable. I was relieved when he did the examination of my feet and I was able to feel both of them as well as my legs. The last thing I remembered was losing feeling in them.

What made me feel even better was when the nurse came in with a cup of ice water and stuck the straw in my mouth. Immediately the dry pain went away, and I opened my mouth and was able to speak. “Thank you.”

“How are you feeling? Do you have any pain in your neck?” The nurse removed the soft collar that was apparently keeping me from moving my head.

“It’s stiff.”

“Good. The x-rays didn’t show any damage.” She started moving the bed to recline my body and when she got to a certain point it became excruciating.

“Ouch! It hurts.”

She took my legs and put a pillow under my knees. “This should help. How’s that feel?”

I noticed the immediate relief. “It’s better.”

“You dislocated your hip and injured the muscles around it. It’s been reset, but the pain is going to last for a while.” She handed me the wand that was hooked to my bed. “This controls the television and a button to call for a nurse. If you need anything or experience any pain at all, just hit it and we’ll be right in.”

As she walked out, I noticed that Danica and Branch had stepped outside of the door. As happy as I was to see their faces, I noticed that B was gone. When I tried to sit up it hurt too much, so I sank down in the bed. Then of course, I had to think of what to say to them. There was only one thing on my mind. “Where’s Brooks?”

“Walt just went to get him. They gave him something to calm him down and it put him to sleep.”

“What happened to him?”

Danica came up to the bed and touched my hand. “I’m not going to ask you anything right now about it, but once you’re out of here I’m going to expect answers. As for Brooks, well let’s just say that when he found out you were gone he thought you were hiding again. He went inside without asking me if I’d seen you.”

“By the time he did ask, that man had already taken you from the house. Brooks hopped in his truck and went after you. He arrived at the scene of the accident before we could catch up. You can imagine how it was for him, seeing the vehicle and the shape it was in. They’d already taken you by ambulance and were still working on your husband.”

I cringed when I heard her call Bobby my husband.

“Brooks rode in the ambulance with Bobby. He’d come to and was threatening you when they were loading him inside of it. The paramedic heard everything, thank the Lord, but it didn’t make what Brooks did okay. Apparently he went at him in transport several times, while Bobby continued threatening you and even B. The paramedic had to keep coming between them.”

“I’ve never seen my son act violently, albeit no one had ever threatened his family before. Once they arrived at the hospital, they subdued Brooks and took Bobby to a room.”

“We arrived a few minutes later when Brooks and the paramedic were telling their story to the police officer doing the report. Luckily, Bobby’s blood alcohol level was well over the limit and you’d been abducted. Taking that into account, and the fact that Brooks is an active duty officer, they weren’t going to look into it any further.”

“I don’t understand why he’d need medicine.”

“Katy, Brooks had a panic attack. He was having chest pains and felt like he couldn’t breathe, just like you used to have. They gave him something to calm down and it made him tired. He’s been in the waiting room sleeping for the past four hours.”

“Is he okay?”

Branch came walking up to the bed. “He will be when he sees that you’re alright.”

“That doctor didn’t even say what was wrong. Why were you so upset earlier?”

“They were worried about swelling on the brain. Apparently if you don’t wake up after a certain amount of time, it’s more likely that you’d have swelling. They told Mom that your head looks clear, aside from having this syndrome that makes you pick the wrong men and run away from your family.”

I rolled my eyes and Branch started laughing. “Very funny.”

He lifted my hand and kissed it. “You had us all scared. Just so you know, we could have taken him down. You didn’t have to leave the house. One scream and we would have kicked his ass.”

I saw Danica standing there and felt so ashamed. “I didn’t want anyone to know about him. I just wanted to forget about him myself.”

“We know what he did to you, Katy. Brooks told us everything. We know that man hit you.”

I started crying, feeling like I was the stupidest person on the planet. “I know you won’t understand, but he used to be my friend. He helped me when I thought I was all alone. He knew how I felt about Brooks and said it didn’t matter, but when I couldn’t love him, he changed.”

Danica came up beside Branch. “Katy, we’ll talk about it later. Right now we need you to recover. Your body is all beaten up and you’re going to be in a lot of pain.”

I saw Branch start backing up away from the bed and I knew he was there before I even saw him. Danica stopped talking and smiled as she backed up as well. Then I saw him, holding B with one arm as they approached the bed. “There she is, bug. Just like you said. Tell Mama hi.”

“Hi, Mama.”

“Hi, baby.”

Brooks reached down and grabbed my hand. He immediately had tears in his eyes. “Don’t you ever do that to us again. My heart can’t take it.”

I began to cry again. “I’m so sorry. I just wanted to get him away. I didn’t mean to cause the accident.”

“What do you mean? Bobby was intoxicated; way over the legal limit. He shouldn’t have even been conscious.”

“I hit him in the face with the bottle of bourbon. He was hurting me and threatening me, saying he was going to take B away. I just wanted him to let me go. I wanted it to stop.”

“You stopped it alright, and almost died doing it. You weren’t even wearing a seatbelt,” Branch added.

“I’ve got this, bro. Why don’t you take Mom for a walk and give us a minute?” Brooks looked at me the whole time he spoke and I didn’t like the look he had on his face.

Branch and his mother left the room. When the door shut, Brooks pulled up a chair and let B down. He handed her a small bag of crackers and she was spinning around shoving them in her mouth.

“You know I’m mad, right?”

I shrugged and could feel the muscles in my body aching. “I had my reasons, Brooks. I didn’t want him in your parent’s house.”

He closed his eyes like my explanation pained him or something. “Kat, I got out of that pool and B jumped back in. I had to retrieve her before I could get a towel and come inside to look for you. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I never assumed that Bobby had driven all that way to kidnap you.”

“I’m sorry,” I cried. “I didn’t know what to do. All I could think of was getting him away from you and B. I knew she was safe, no matter what happened to me.”

“Listen to yourself. What about me, Kat? Did you ever consider how you being gone would affect me? Do you even think that being without you again would kill me? We’re a team, remember? No more lies or secrets. You promised.”

I shook my head. “I did what I had to do, whether you believe me or not. I wanted you to save me, but I didn’t have time to think about it. I had to get him away from our family.”

“He could have killed you, Kat. Tell me something. Did those marks on your face and arms come from him, or the accident?”

I cried more, knowing he was right. I should have called for help. I could have stalled him until Brooks came into the house. I should have done a lot of things different, especially the decision to marry him in the first place. “Please don’t hate me.”

He squeezed my hand and looked right into my eyes. Tears ran down his cheeks. “Have you ever felt so happy that you’re almost wondering when something bad is going to happen?”

I knew exactly how that felt, so I nodded.

“Then you know what it was like to pull up to that accident and know that I could have prevented it.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

Brooks looked at B and then back to me. “It doesn’t even matter anymore. He won’t be bothering you again.”

“Did he get arrested? Is he going to jail?”

“He didn’t make it, Kat. He passed on during surgery.”

I felt like my heart stopped beating. The room began to spin and my monitor starting beeping rapidly, setting off an alarm.

This couldn’t be happening to me. Brooks had to be joking. There was no way that Bobby was gone. There was no way that I’d killed him.

This couldn’t be happening to me.

I was trying to get free, not end someone’s life.

How was I ever going to live with knowing that I’d caused that accident? I’d caused Bobby to become the man that he was and I’d been the reason that he was lying in a body bag with no future.

Chapter 52

Suddenly my prognosis seemed irrelevant. I needed to know if I'd killed Bobby; if I'd killed my own husband who'd only put himself in the dire situation because of me. Just weeks ago we were seemingly happy, even moving forward with our feelings and our family. Being with Brooks had changed everything. It had destroyed a man's life and cost him his existence. All I could do was sob, not for the husband who'd become violent or possessive, but for me, the wife, that had caused his plummet and then eventual demise. I felt like my own devil, as if trying to justify what I’d done would only make that fact truer. I wanted to close my eyes and take it all back. I knew there could have been better choices that weren't made out of desperation.

I could have been more understanding of his feelings instead of selfishly diving into something with Brooks and basically throwing it all in his face. I should have understood that his anger was out of being so completely crushed as a result of those decisions.

It was all my fault.

My guilt overwhelmed me, sending me to a place that I didn't want to be; a place where I'd begun to regret falling right into Brooks' arms. No matter what he said to me, or anyone for that matter, they couldn't know how conflicted I was inside.

Especially not Brooks.

He tried to talk to me, to comfort me and be my protector. I knew I was shutting down, giving up on whatever it was that we were creating together, but I couldn't stop it. I was in shock.

That evening when everyone else went home to rest, Brooks sat by my bed holding my hand. He was crying silently to himself, perhaps knowing what I was already thinking. Our happy time together had come to an abrupt halt. "Kat, please say something to me. I don't understand why you're doing this. He put your life in danger. You did what you thought you had to do."