“They are going to be here any moment, so you better leave.” I barely wheezed out the words and he knelt next to me, his knee pressing into my injured ribcage, but I didn’t wince, holding his gaze. He knew it was over. He knew his little rampage was done.
The man ran a calloused thumb over my injured lip, and though there was something oddly tender in the action, I refused to cry.
“I should have known you were going to put up a fight. You always do.”
I swallowed thickly, watching as he shoved the laptop into the bag.
The last sound I heard as he walked away, was the soft chiming of the door as it closed and then…silence.
***
I held up an ice pack to my lip. I’d held it long enough that I could barely feel it as I watched the police officers and EMS assessing the damage to the gallery and myself. I kept replaying everything in my head, his voice, the way he hadn’t actually tried to hurt me unless I tried to escape.
Something is wrong.
Now that the police had gathered outside the gallery, there were several bystanders, trying to see what happened but I didn’t need them anymore. I needed them when the man was throwing me around like he owned the place. I closed my eyes, setting the ice pack on the floor. The tremble in my hands wouldn’t stop, not even when the police officers reassured me that the place was empty, it sure as hell didn’t disappear when I had to tell them what happened over and over.
“Where is she?”
My head snapped up at the sound of the voice. Desperate and angry and worried.
Derek.
Nathan and Derek pushed through the crowd of officers, following behind the sweet police woman who had helped me when she arrived, and Derek…well, he nearly shoved her out of the way to get to me. He knelt in front of me, taking my face in his hands, his eyes scanning over the bruise was surely had formed on my lip and my cheekbone from when I hit the ground.
“Fuck,” he whispered. “Are you okay?”
For the first time, I felt the adrenaline wane and a sense of despair invaded me. I gave him a small nod but avoided his gaze, looking instead at Nathan who watched me cautiously.
“Does she still need to be here?” He asked, directing his question to the officer.
The woman smiled. “No. We’ve got her statement. We would like to talk to you, though.”
Nathan nodded, taking the keys out of his pocket before handing them to Derek. “Take her home.”
Derek took the keys and took my trembling hands in his. He helped me to my feet, placing an arm around my waist and with no other word, guided me out of the gallery into the silence of the night.
***
Derek
The city lights were blurry as I drove back to her house. She hadn’t said a single word since we left the gallery, hadn’t said a word when we picked up the girls from Evie’s…and didn’t say a word as I carried our daughters into the house. I locked the door, double checking—triple checking—before I placed our sleeping girls in the cribs.
When I was done, I found her in her bedroom, quietly standing in front of a mirror with her fingers tracing the bruise forming on her cheekbone. My hands balled into fists, and even then, they still shook. Fury flooded my veins like never before.
I’d kill them.
Whoever the fuck touched her…I would end them.
No one had a right to her.
No one had a right to her body.
But in front of her, I had to keep it together. I cleared my throat, approaching her though I was sure she could see my reflection in the mirror. She met my eyes through the mirror, so fucking dim with emptiness, I could barely handle it. I could take her anger…I could take her resentment, but this emptiness was too much to bear.
“Did he…” I fumbled with the words, letting out a humorless laugh when I spoke again. “Did he touch you?”
Realization flashed in her eyes, and she shook her head. Her tongue slid out, licking her bottom lip and though the action caused a fire to burn within, I fought it.