Page 20 of The Book of Wrath

“Morrison,” I reply as I eat a few more fries. I eyed the mac and cheese, deciding against trying it because if it’s good, I won’t talk anymore. “It’s been quite a few years since it happened. Anyway, Ryan convinced me to give him a shot and took me out to a baseball game for our first date and things were good for the first year. Once we moved in, my world turned upside down. He started telling me how to dress, saying things like, that outfit doesn’t fit your body right or are you looking for attention. Little things that got me self-conscious of what I was wearing, so I would wear older looking clothes, so I didn’t upset him. Then started the controlling of what I ate, no chocolate, no cakes, no sweets of any kind, not even for special occasions. His mother bought me chocolate covered strawberries for my birthday one year and he told her I was allergic to chocolate so she wouldn’t do it again. The screaming and hitting came about six months later. The first time he hit me was when I found out my dad was in the hospital. I grabbed my keys to go to be with my dad, instead he grabbed my hair and threw me down on the floor, hitting me over and over again because we had dinner plans that night. My dad ended up having surgery that night, he’s good now but it was touch and go for a bit,” I stopped talking as the waitress came back over with his shot and my drink. “Thank you.”

She nods, leaving as quickly as she came. This woman must have the worst impression of our date. I took a sip; it wasn’t as sweet as I’d prefer it but whatever. “From that moment on, anything I said or did was cause for screaming, yelling, things being broken, me being hit over and over. I managed to get myself out of a few of those situations but, as you know, Delaware is a no self-defense state. It was all his word against mine, I just stopped calling the cops. It was a waste of time. The bruises and cuts didn’t show up until a day or so later. There was one officer who tried to offer me help but Ryan convinced him that I had done the damage to myself by slipping down the front steps, wearing heels coming home drunk from a party. I smelled of booze because he smashed a beer bottle on my head. It was enough for the cop to believe him though.”

“When was this? What was the officers name?” He was white knuckling his knife and fork at this point. I’m now regretting opening my mouth about this.

“It’s been awhile, I don’t remember,” I confess and decide now is the time to dive into the golden bowl of goodness in front of me. The cheese was creamy and there was a fantastic cheese pull! It was a mouthful of heaven as well, who the hell was the chef here? They could be making food for celebrities. They’d probably pay whatever price the chef listed for this deliciousness.

“Good huh?” Max asks me and I make a yum sound in response. I push the bowl toward him ushering him to take a bite. He hesitates for a moment then sees it as what it is, a temporary change in subject. He takes a small forkful and then acts as if he’s going to take my bowl and run.

“That’s mine!” I say teasingly as I reach for the bowl. He pushed is back to me and goes back to his steak, the saddest look on his face. I scoop a few forkfuls onto his plate and smile at him. “I can share. I still have all this steak left.”

His smile is warm again, no hint of the rage I saw there only a few moments ago. It’s a lot to talk about this kind of thing with someone you know. Let alone someone you’re trying to get to know. But it’s best that we start off whatever this is completely honest and open. “Thank you,” he says as he digs into the golden goodness.

“I finally had my breaking point the day you found me in that parking lot. He came after me with a knife and that was it. I knew if I didn’t get out he would kill me. I didn’t want to die. I don’t want to get into the amount of times he cheated on me, telling me he was going off with friends when in reality he was hooking up with chicks from a dating app. If he couldn’t find someone to go fuck, he would force himself on me,” I just let the words flow out of me as if I was talking to Ally or Gwyn, not someone who could potentially be something more to me than just a friend.

“He fucking did what?!” Max roars, the anger in his voice so red hot, the pounding of his hands on the table has me shrinking back into myself. I now regret being so honest. “Fuck! Megan, I’m sorry.” He moves from his side of the table to kneel next to me, forcing my chair back so he can place his hands on my cheeks. “I didn’t mean to do that. I lost my temper. Not at you. Never at you. He fucking hurt you in more ways than one and I want his fucking head on a silver platter right now. Please look at me,” he begs me to look at him but if I do the tears I’m not holding back will free fall down.

“I can’t,” I choke out, I don’t want to be afraid of those kinds of outbursts anymore. I don’t want to react like this when someone gets angry. The manager comes scurrying over to check on us and I panic. I can’t do this. I’ve done this enough at so many restaurants in the past.

“Is everything alright miss?” Oh, dear god this woman must think he’s going to hurt me. Fuck. I need to pull myself together. I look up at the older woman, her golden blonde hair neatly pulled into a high ponytail, her beige manicured nails, her minimalist makeup, she reminded me of my mother when she was younger. I took a deep breath.

“Everything is fine. He was just proposing to me, and I might have freaked out a little,” I plaster a soft smile on my face as she looked down at Max who is still kneeled on one knee before me.

“Oh! My apologies then! Pardon my intrusion,” She nods once and turns on her heels to head back to the lobby, saying something to our waitress. I looked down at Max still on his knee in front of me.

“I’m sorry, I kind of panicked,” I stumbled over my words feeling like they were rushing out of my mouth. I really should’ve come up with something better than a damn marriage proposal. Why am I so stupid?! Someone just strike me down where I stand.

He laughed, like a deep throaty genuine laugh. Well, that is not at all what I was expecting. “Baby girl if you want a ring on your finger, then so be it.” He stood up and walked back over to his seat, eyes light with humor.

“Umm, excuse me?” I choked out. Surprise and confusion etched into my brows. I could feel it. What the hell was that all about.

“You’re the one who just said I was proposing to you,” he smiled wickedly at me. Fuck. Me.

“You were on your knee; I just said the first thing that popped into my damn mind! What else should I have said, we were talking about my past and you lost your cool?” I bit my tongue immediately, looking down at my hands. Shut up Megan, don’t argue. Shut up!

“Well, you wouldn’t have been lying if you did. I lost my cool, thinking of him forcing himself on you isn’t something I would expect anyone not to be upset about. I do, however, like that you immediately jumped to me proposing to you. I should warn you though, my dad proposed to my mom here, the owner was only a waitress here at the time. Her parents owned the place back then, I can only imagine what she’s trying to put together for us now,” He leaned in and fucking winked at me.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t know! I can tell her that I am breaking your heart and not saying yes if that will help,” I spew out. I can’t believe I just put him in that position.

He laughs, and fuck if that laugh alone doesn’t do something to me. “Hell no, we are running with this.” My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach.

“What do you mean, running with this?” I ask. He stops laughing, giving me the most serious of looks. I watch as his eyes glide over the low cut of my dress, moving to my lips as he licks his own, then finally landing on my eyes.

“You and I will give this a shot. You want a ring baby girl. Deal. You just have to earn it,” his voice was deep, commanding and sultry all at fucking once and I wanted to melt in my panties for this man.

“What if I say no?” I push back, I don’t want to say no, but I need to know what he will say to that. I need to know that I can challenge him.

“If you say no, I will court you like a normal lovestruck idiot until you give me a proper shot,” he replies so full of confidence. I need a fucking drink.

“Fine, one shot. Don’t fuck it up,” I look over at the waitress who has been intensely watching us since she dropped off our earlier drinks. She perks up and heads our way, I offer her a small smile as she reaches us. “I don’t mean to be a both, but can I get a rum and coke and a shot of jack please?” She looks at me as I order and smiles. Glancing over to Max who is now sitting back in his chair with a smug smile of victory on his face.

“Would you like another shot as well, sir?” She asks so politely; he nods at her without taking his eyes off of mine. She turns on her heels and heads over to the bar.

“I hope you’re ready for the time of your life,” he paused, smiling at me, “future Mrs. Carter.” He’s fucking teasing me. I roll my eyes, pulling another deep laugh out of him. My heart flutters at that laugh, he kind of reminded me of Matt. Mainly in the personality, maybe I could take the dare and see where this goes.

The waitress brought our shots and my drink out, placing them before us. I offered another smile and thanked her.

“Here’s to hopefully this being the best time of our lives,” I said as I raise my shot glass to him, “future Mr. Monroe.” I smirk. He laughs as he clinks his glass to mine.

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