Page 46 of Coming Unraveled
The room remains quiet for a few minutes, the heavy breaths ejecting from everyone’s chest the only noise resonating in the large room.
Something sounding like a whisper hums in his ear and he looks down to find Everleigh’s lips moving. He focuses on her mouth, her words, and his heart pounds with each sentence.
“He hit me the first time after I had told him that I couldn’t go to a party with him after the homecoming game. We had only been together for a week, but I was stupid and thought I was in love. He apologized and said he didn’t mean it and I believed him. Things were good for a while until he decided that he didn’t like me wearing my cheerleading uniform. We were supposed to be studying after I got done with practice, but when I went to go to my car he pulled up with a shovel in his hand and hit my arm and leg with it, breaking them both.”
Most of the room gasps, but the noise of agony sounds beside him as her mother whispers, “They said you fell from a stunt. Why would they lie to me?”
“No one was around and that is the lie he told the hospital. No one even questioned me. I tried to break up with him after that, but I was so scared. He began threatening my family and friends so I kept to myself and began to focus on school.”
“That’s when you began wearing pants and long sleeves all the time,” Sydney admits beside Dylan. “I just believed you when you said that the library was cold. He was always so nice when he would come to dinner.”
“I hated those dinners. He despised coming to the house. Those beatings at school the next day were the worst. He’d force me into one of the bathrooms and leave me black and blue. But all the teachers suspected we were just being stupid teenagers sneaking off to the bathrooms to do what teenagers do.”
From the corner of his eyes, he watches as her father’s fists clench tight enough that his knuckles were whiter than the paint on the mantle.
Off on the side of the room, Ryker growls as he inquires, “What about the other part of the article?”
And they all understand what part he is referring to - the baby.
Only at that moment does Everleigh acknowledge his strength as she eyes him with fear.
“It’s ok, sweetheart.”
Her lower lip begins to tremble and Brooks feels its shivers all the way down his spine. He can feel her pain and suffering.
“On my eighteenth birthday Rich claimed that he was giving me the ultimate birthday gift,” she shutters as she takes a deep breath. “He…he had his friends take me from the library and tied me up in his basement. Eight weeks later when I told him I was pregnant he kicked me down his basement stairs and left me there bleeding.
I had to wait until he and his family went to sleep then I crawled out of his basement window and ran to Dr. Fields’ house. Dr. Fields called the police but Sheriff Fitzgerald was on vacation. No one believed me even though the doctor had documented bruises and completed the exam. Rich was the town superstar and at that point, everyone believed the lies he spread about me. They only offered a restraining order so I took it knowing that it wouldn’t keep him away from me. It still doesn’t.”
“Is that why you left for college right after graduation? There wasn’t a summer program was there?” Austin asks.
“No, there wasn’t a program. I got as far away from Carson as I could until I knew I could come back.”
“But Rich still lives here, right?” Logan questions beside a tearful Avery.
“He does, but I’m old enough now to turn the other way.”
“And that’s why you never want to be near him. I knew your reaction at the wedding wasn’t normal.” Brooks shakes his head admonishing himself for not seeing it all before.
Her eyes close as she rests back against his chest and he rubs his eyes as he thinks about the young woman that had her innocence stolen from the disgusting man that the town seems to praise.
The room around them begins to empty, each person carrying with them a weight that has shifted from Everleigh to them. They now have the knowledge of what state their blind eye has left her in. Dylan and Austin stand by the front door and nod their heads at him, beckoning him to join them.
“I’ll stay with her,” Avery says from her position in front of him where her eyes take in the sister that needs all the love Avery is willing to give.
“We’ll stay too,” her parents say from beside him and he shifts her into her father’s arms. A father that clearly wishes he had done more to protect his daughter as his painful gaze takes in her form.
“I’ll be back, sweetheart. You’re so strong. I love you so much,” he sighs into her hair as he strokes her head. He is sure she doesn’t hear his last confession as she snores lightly in her father’s arm, all of her energy expelled with her secrets, but the truth still remains.
Outside the house, her brothers, Logan, and Dylan wait patiently for him, each knowing what is about to be unleashed.
“Do we know where he’s at?” Brooks inquires as they all pile into Dylan’s SUV.
Jameson just texted that he is under surveillance at the market.
Perfect.
They head in that direction, hoping to wait for him in the parking lot and hit the jackpot as they pull in behind a cherry red convertible where Rich stands loading a few bags into the trunk.
