Page 85 of Breaking Conviction
But Thea reached out her small hand. “Mommy, come wif me. Please?” She begged with her eyes and Naomi swallowed, wishing she could, but needing Thea to get the hell out of the situation more.
Before she could answer, Dean stepped in front of her andpushedThea. He’d used his big beefy hands and shoved Thea by her small shoulders, forcing their daughter to hit the wall just like she had.
Naomi fuckingsnapped.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Her vision narrowed with rage, zeroing in on this monster who’d just had the audacity to hurt her child. She leaped onto Dean’s back, scratching his face, kicking and punching him with everything she had. The pounding staccato rhythm of her beating heart drove her wild strikes, not giving either of them even a second to breathe. In the back of her mind, she barely registered that Thea had run off in tears, hopefully to get Naomi’s purse.
Dean fell back, landing on her against the dining table. A sharp stabbing sting into her skin made her hiss in pain and recoil her grip. It gave her the freedom to take a breath, but also made her realize how tired she was.
When he turned and grabbed her by the front of her dress, she gathered her strength and clawed down his arms and face. His fingers wrapped tightly around her bicep before once again slinging her into the wall. She choked on the air as it was knocked from her lungs until Dean’s hand gripped her neck, cutting off her inhale. Manic eyes narrowed into her gaze. His grip closed in and she felt history repeating itself as the room around her dimmed and spun.
“Get…off… me.” The words were whispered and so hoarse she wasn’t sure he heard until she was falling.
Lying on the ground, her hands shot up to her now bare throat to scratch at the air trying to force its way into her chest. She’d only just gotten her breath when sharp pricks to her scalp sent shooting pains down her spine as Dean grabbed her by the hair. He tugged her to the living room, forcing her to crawl backward and catch the furniture around her to help her balance. Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t stand upright, and yelped with every trip and fall. She finally snapped her hands up to his and held on, trying to minimize the damage.
“We’re gonna talk like fuckin’ civilized adults. Hash this out once and for all.” Dean gritted through his teeth. “No use in wastin’ anyone else’s time.”
All of a sudden, she found herself at the foot of the couch in their living room.
“Get up, sit down.”
Instead, she scrambled away, until she realized she’d backed herself into an empty corner of the room.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
I’m trapped.
With no other ideas, she pulled off the one heel that had miraculously stayed on her foot and held it beside her. That way, if she needed to run, she could go barefoot.
He stalked toward her, his dead leafy eyes boring into her in a look she’d only seen one other time, two and a half months ago when she was sure he was trying to kill her.
When he reached her, he bent low, balancing on his heels with his elbows resting on his knees and his hands steepled in the middle.
“Why did you do this to us?”
Naomi’s eyes widened at his question. The sadness in his voice as it cracked while he asked it almost made her feel guilty. Almost. Then she remembered the bastard had almost killed her now on two occasions and had just pushed her daughter.
“Why did…” Unable to stop herself, she huffed out a laugh and his narrowed in response. “Why didIdo this tous? Dean… you’re the one who is hurtin’me, not the other way around.”
Dean’s jaw clenched. “No. Physical pain ain’t nothin’ compared to what you’ve done to me. I knew you’d leave me for another man. I fuckin’knewit, and yet here I am, still taking you back—”
“Youblackmailedme back here! Do you really think this was my choice? To end up curled in a corner like a rat?”
She searched his face, trying to figure out if he truly believed the bullshit he was spewing. From what she could tell, he did. It was mind blowing that he’d been able to convince himself he was the victim in this situation.
“I didn’t want to have to do it that way, Naomi, but you left me no choice! You weren’t comin’ home. You weren’t takin’ my calls. What was I supposed to do?”
“Um, respect me? Leave me alone? Move on? Not fuckin’ attack me in the first place?”
He shook his head before threading his fingers through his dirty blond hair. “We were good together, sweets.”
“Don’tcallme that.”
Why am I arguin’ with a man hell-bent on killin’ me?
Something that might’ve been pain swirled in his eyes. “We were. You just don’t remember it because you’ve insisted on creating this awful picture of me in your head. But look at yourself. You’re whorin’ around, tryin’ to deny what we have… I just… I need to know. With all them lies, you’ve convinced yourself I’m a monster. Do you think you could ever love me again?”
