Page 47 of Anders and the Girl Worth Fighting For
My months of independence and freedom.
Me telling Bill it was over and leaving him.
The years of abuse I suffered at his hand.
Everything flooded back, and the rage building in me gave me the strength I needed to open my eyes and keep them open.
There, on the other side of the room, was the last person I expected to see standing next to my rotten ex-husband. I knew now why that voice was familiar.
Kaye. The preacher’s wife.
I tried not to say anything to alert them to my being awake and did my best to just watch. I could smell my vomit lying directly in front of my face. Thankfully, my position tied to the pole meant that when I slumped over unconscious, I ended up on my side and I hadn’t choked on the vomit. I was about the choke on the smell of it, though.
Kaye paced as far from me as she could be while Bill lounged in a chair near her. The thugs were not there. Maybe their job was just to get me for Bill and Kaye. I couldn’t wrap my head around Kaye being part of this. More than that, apparently, this washerplan.
“When she wakes up, we need her to be coherent so she can get us the money. I can’t believe my luck, finding her at that store and being able to sneak my phone into the car she had come out of so we could track her.” I heard her giggle at her own ingenuity. “God,” she groaned. “I’m tired of playing the part of the poor, meek preacher’s wife. I’m entirely too good for it. Besides, we have too many mouths to feed and it’s time that bitch gives us what we deserve.” She rubbed her belly as she spoke.
“I told you to get on birth control. We barely got away with convincing Robert the first one was his,” Bill grumbled back.
Wait, what?
“Is it my fault you seem to have super sperm?” Kaye laughed as she stopped pacing to sit on Bill’s lap and give him a kiss. I closed my eyes. I didnotwant to see that.
So, Kaye’s baby was Bill’s, apparentlybothher babies were his. I thought back to that day I learned about her first pregnancy. The same day I started writing to Anders. My mother had been over the moon that Robert and Kaye were finally having a baby.God blesses the faithful.My mother had said. I wonder if she knew what a hypocrite the perfect preacher’s wife turned out to be. On second thought, she would probably make it all my fault, since Bill and I were still married.
That cheating bastard. If I wasn’t tied up, I would probably try to kill him.
And now she’s pregnant. Again.
And they are desperate for money.
It was almost ironic. It was definitely pathetic. How much time did I spend upset that I couldn’t be more like Kaye? How many hours did I waste crying because I couldn’t have Bill’s baby? How many years of my life did I live in a fantasy while refusing to see my life for what it really was?
I got out. I didn’t even need to see all this to get out, either. I held onto that little ray of light. I’d gotten out. Now I just needed to get out of this.
“When we run away, what do you want our names to be? Bill is so uninspired,” Kaye asked, interrupting my internal pep talk. They must have finished making out. I wanted to vomit again, but this time for reasons completely unrelated to chloroform.
I opened my eyes again and saw that she was still sitting on Bill’s lap. More importantly, they were so wrapped up in each other that they weren’t paying a bit of attention to me.
Sensation had returned to the rest of my body, and I could move my arms again. I had almost worked my bindings freebefore they knocked me out last time. This time, I made sure to be quiet and work as slowly as I could, so I didn’t draw attention to myself.
I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out as I worked to free my wrist. A trickle of blood dripped down my hand, but I was so close that I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop. I used my blood as a lubricant and freed one hand. The other was still tied up and attached to the pole. I was so close, just a little more, and my other hand would be free.
Finally, the other rope gave way and both my hands were free. As much as I wanted to sit up and untie my legs so I could run, I took a second to check on Bill and Kay again. They were still so distracted with each other that I think anything short of a fire would go unnoticed. Slowly, I sat up and brought my hands down to untie my legs. These were easy to untie.
I had one chance to do this. As soon as I got the last tie free, I made a break for it. My legs were still unsteady, and the world spun as I stood, but I darted as fast as I could move to the phone I saw earlier and prayed it was plugged in.Call 911 and then drop the phone and go for the door.Anders’s voice said to me as I made my way to the counter.
I made it halfway to the counter before I stumbled and fell. I let out of muffled cry when I caught myself on my bloodied wrists.
“Bitch!” Kaye exclaimed, and she was on me before I could get up again. I saw the glint of a familiar necklace and saw red. So that’s where it went? I reached up and yanked the necklace off of her. She gave an outraged cry at my actions.
She grabbed me by my hair and I tried to twist around and get leverage on her, but my hands slipped when I grabbed her wrist, leaving bloody cuffs on her arms. I tried again. And again. The blood and pain worked against me, making me weak, dizzy, uncoordinated.
With on last surge of strength, I kicked her feet out from under her and dropped our weight so that she ended up sprawled on the floor. She gave an outraged shout and lunged for me again.
I couldn’t keep going much longer. The only move left in me was to kick out and hope to hit her somewhere it would hurt.
I brought my leg back to kick her as she came down on me and… stopped.
