Page 79 of F*ck You

I opened my mouth to correct him, to say he needed to call me Natalee instead, but no words came out. My brain was processing that he called me Lee for the first time ever, and I couldn’t seem to form a response. However, in my mind, I was swinging a frying pan at his head. Now if only I could get my limbs to move enough to be able to actually do that.

“Do you have any idea how that made me look?” His lips sneered with his words, and the little vein in his temple pulsed as he glared at me.

Gulping around the lump in my throat, I managed to croak out one word. “What?”

His nostrils flared at my question, and it sent chills down my spine. I’d never seen him this angry before. He wasn’t the same guy I used to think I would see at the end of the aisle. Instead, he sent every hair on my arm standing straight up simply by his mere presence as he stood in my kitchen, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides.

“I’ve seen pictures of the three of you together. I’ve heard the stories. You left me, claiming I was the one being unfaithful, while you ran out and fucked every guy in your path? And you still turn your nose up at me when I show up to profess my love and bring you back? I even tried to change for you.”

My mind whirled to life as my fingers grew numb from clenching the countertop behind me. “What are you talking about? Who have you been talking to?”

The smack of flesh echoed throughout the kitchen as my head snapped to the side. Ringing filled my ears, muffling his noisy breathing. If it wasn’t for the salty smell in my noise, I would have forgotten the bacon was still sizzling on the stove.

A metallic taste dripped through my mouth and to my lips from where I’d bit down too hard on my cheek at the smack, and I watched as the first drop of red fell to the floor, a stark contrast against the glowing linoleum tile.

Todd’s words were inaudible as the ringing in my ears slowly receded. His fingers bit into my jawbone as he jerked my face back toward him. His eyes were as dark as the depths of the hell I’d escaped from, and when I looked inside, I saw the life I could have had. The life I’d given up when I burned his shit and ran off to drink on the beach. The life I’d avoided by getting out and making something of myself.

That life no longer existed, and to be truthful, I wouldn’t have lasted very long in that life. While I was the same pain in the ass I’d always been, I was no longer the obedient girlfriend always ready to do this man’s bidding. This fucker didn’t own me, and there was no longer a ring on my finger to say otherwise.

“We’re supposed to be on our honeymoon right now, did you realize that? Instead, you’ve made me a laughingstock back home. I lost out on a promotion because I came out here for you and missed work, and you still turned me away.” His fingers turned painful as they bit into my jaw. “And you won’t even give me back the damn ring. We could’ve been together.”

“But we never would have been happy,” I whispered, watching the fire in his eyes burn at a worrying level.

His words were still a mumble to my ears, and when I didn’t respond to whatever it was that he’d said, he placed his lips on mine with such force, I was worried he would knock out my teeth.

Shoving a knee between my legs, he moved forward so I was leaning backward against the counter in a painful way. My lower back burned from being pushed against the edge so hard for so long, and my brain struggled to figure out how to react.

Using the pain as a motivator, I clawed at his arm, but it wouldn’t budge no matter how much blood I drew from him. Even if I managed to leave claw marks across his skin, that wouldn’t help get me out of this situation. Alarm bells sounded in my head as the fear of how far he would go flowed through me like ice-cold water.

I didn’t want to think he would go that far, but he’d never done this before either, and here we were.

He pried my lips open as his other hand snaked up my chest toward my breast and, taking advantage of the moment, I opened up enough to suck in his bottom lip and bit down hard until I tasted a surge of blood.

The metallic scent filled my nose as the blood flowed in and mingled with my own that was still spilling from my cheek. His scream broke through, snapping me out of the fog as the ringing fully subsided.

I opened my mouth and let him stumble back while I regained my senses. Pain still shot through my back, but I brushed it aside. I could worry about that later. Right now, I needed to get out of this situation and fast.

My mind raced to remember where I put my phone. He was much stronger than I was, and if I could reach for my phone, I could fight him off as best as I could until help arrived. All I had to fight with were my fists. Except…spinning around, my hand shot out toward the knife block, and I wrapped my hand around the handle of the closest knife at the same time his fingers gripped the back of my pants and tugged. Hard.

I was yanked back with such force, my chin slammed against the counter as I went down. I was going to end up with a serious concussion if the bastard didn’t stop this shit.

My forearm took the brunt of the impact when I landed and I twisted my body, swinging the knife around. I heard a pained grunt when the blade struck, and my heart leapt with hope.

Maybe I could get myself out of this after all.

His hands wrapped around my wrists, cutting off the blood as he pressed them into the floor. With my back flat against the hard surface and my chest being crushed as he put his weight on top of me, my hand went slack and the knife clattered to the linoleum.

No. This was not how this was going to end.

You’re worth more than this, Lee. You’re worth more than a dead ex-fiancée face down on the floor of her own kitchen. You’ve put people in their place before, and this wasn’t much different.

Survive, Lee.

The kettle screamed from the stove where it was fully heated up now, the steam escaping at an alarming rate. It was only a matter of time before it would go on for too long and possibly explode. If I was lucky, it would send shrapnel all over him.

I raised my head, pulled my lips back, and bit down on the side of his neck as hard as I could. I had no idea if I was hitting an artery, or it if would be nothing but a bruise, but it didn’t matter. Any little bit could help save my life.

He yanked himself away, leaving a chunk of flesh behind in my mouth, and I lost it. With his weight now off of me, I rolled to the side and vomited on the floor. I could hear him screaming nearby, and when I turned around, his eyes were full of even more rage than he’d arrived with, if that was even possible.

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