Page 28 of Sweet Nightmares
Yet she still stayed, and she hated herself for it.
But what were her other options? Jane’s life was split between two villains. The one she knew and the god who gave the city nightmares. The god who was known above all else for his cruelty. The god who had stolen the job she had loved from her.
Nightmare was evil, too. But at least he didn’t hit her. Not like Jane’s husband, who currently clawed at her shoulders, trying to get his hands around her throat, but she couldn’t let that happen because if he succeeded, she’d only have seconds to live. So, she kicked her knee up hard, hitting him in the balls.
Jane tried to run as he fell, but he reached out and grasped her ankle, bringing her to the ground with him. She hit with a thud, all her air rushing from her body.
His dirty nails dug into her shin, and she screamed, kicking her leg out, trying to free herself.
It worked—barely. Jane scrambled up, begging her body to move so she could get away before he managed to get up again.
But Jane was slow. This attack had started with her husband throwing her onto the kitchen counter, and she hit her head on the sharp corner. She probably had a concussion. Blood gushed from her scalp, and she painted her white cotton dress in a sea of crimson.
Every muscle hurt, but she wouldn’t let that stop her. She was six feet from the door, and if she could make it outside, she could scream and hopefully get help.
Nightmare’s red diamond ring, which was placed on a chain, bounced between her breasts with her footfalls. Its movement was a reminder of why she was in this predicament to begin with. Her husband didn’t want to share anymore.
He had demanded she move back in every day of the month, and when she told him the money would run out if she did that, he had become vicious.
But now Jane was almost to freedom. Reaching out her hand for the front door knob, Jane sucked in a breath… that was immediately torn from her.
A pain screamed through her scalp as her husband grabbed her by the hair, red pooling between his fingers. She was hauled backward and slammed against the entry hall, her shoulder hitting hard.
“No,” a whimper left her lips. “No.” She’d been inches from freedom and escape.
Inches.
“Please, don’t do this,” Jane begged.
He towered above her and pushed her down onto the floor. Her shoulder made a wretched popping sound as it crashed into the marble. Her husband jumped down on her. His legs were straddling her and pinning her down. “You’ve been fucking another man.”
He slapped her across the face. “Wearing his ring, like his little whore.” Technically, wearing his ring wouldn’t make her a whore; just his wife. But, semantics.
Instinctively, Jane’s fingers brushed the ring sitting on the necklace chain. She pinched her eyes shut and screamed in her head.Please, please, I don’t want to die.
Jane’s husband squeezed her breast hard as if he wanted to tear it from her body before slapping her hand away and taking the chain with Nightmare’s ring into his hand.
“Whore.” He slammed her head into the floor, the vein in his forehead bulging. “Only I fuck you. You and then the men I sell you to.”
Please, she screamed into her mind again, as if Nightmare could hear her. A tear leaked down Jane’s face.
“What the point of your dirty, defiled cunt now?” He seethed. “You can’t even do your job and give me heirs.” He’d been trying to impregnate her with his tiny, disgusting cock almost nightly when she was forced to be in his house, but it’d never work because she was secretly on prevention.
“Useless cunt.”
With the ring still in his fingers, Jane’s husband curled his hands around her neck and squeezed.
“You’re worthless now.”
His fingers pressed harder, and Jane knew she was dead. She tried to scratch his hands and face, but the fight was to no avail.
Jane couldn’t scream, she couldn’t breathe, and she could barely lift her arms to fight. Her head was tight, an intense pressure building behind her eye sockets, so intense she thought her head might explode.
She felt like she was drowning in liquid fire.
A loud pop sounded in her ears before a chorus of rings burst out, roaring like a train.
Panic churned in her stomach, and she tried to hit him or do anything to free herself. But it was all in vain.
