Page 35 of The Beginning
With both Shayna and me working from home, the house is so quiet during the day with the boys gone. We’ve settled into such a comfortable routine of sharing, taking the boys and picking them up from school, eating lunch together, and getting dinner ready. Some days we do everything together, and then depending on our work loads and if one of us has more to do, the other just fills in. It’s so nice having someone else to lean on. I know that me being in the house helps Shayna with all the other responsibilities as well.
I’m sitting at the desk in the room that was supposed to be mine, but now I only use it to keep my clothes and books, plus my work stuff. Typing out an email to one of my bigger clientschecking on a specialty order, there is a small knock on the door. Not looking up I yell, “Yeah?”
The door pushes open and Shayna walks in. Continuing to type on the keyboard of my laptop, Shayna walks up behind me and begins to rub my shoulders. She doesn’t say anything, just stands and kneads the tense muscles in my shoulders and upper back. I didn’t realize how tense I was until she did that. My shoulders shag and my hands immediately stop typing as I lean my head back resting on her upper stomach.
“God, that feels amazing,” I groan out, causing her to chuckle.
“I’ve got to go pick up the boys. I know you need to finish up so don’t worry, keep working. I’m going to grab dinner while I’m out too. So neither of us needs to cook tonight. How does that sound?” she asks me.
I tilt my head further back, looking up in her beautiful face. “That sounds awesome. Maybe we can find something to watch later after the boys are in bed,” I say with a little wink, making her giggle.
“Sounds like a plan then,” she beams, leaning down and kissing my nose, then my lips. We sit there smiling at one another. “Let me go. The boys are waiting on me,” she says as she walks off. I watch her walk away. I can hear her grab her keys from the side table near the door, then the front door opens and closes. I take a deep breath and focus back on my email so I can finish up for the day.
After another ten minutes, I’m closing my laptop. My eyes are stinging from staring at the laptop all day. It’s month end so I’m doing a lot of follow ups, making sure my clients are set for the next month. I stand up from my desk and head into the front room. As I’m walking into the kitchen, I hear a knock on the front door.
I stop in the hallway and stare at the door. Trying to peer around, through the plate glass window I don’t see anything. I quietly move to the door and don’t see any shadows. Maybe it’s a delivery. I know Shayna orders stuff from Amazon all the time and they will just drop, knock and leave.
I wait a few more minutes and no other noise is heard. I quietly unlock the top deadbolt and slowly open the door peering through the small little gap. I don’t see anyone standing there. I release a deep breath I had been holding and chide myself mentally for worrying. I open the door more, looking around the edge of the door for whatever package was left, and a hand is roughly around my throat pushing me back into the house. I close my eyes automatically from the fear, and hear the door slam shut as my back is rammed against the wall.
My hands immediately go to claw at the arm holding me so tightly. I can’t breathe. Opening my eyes wide as I’m standing on my tippy toes trying to break the hold he has on my throat. “Pl-plea… please,” I hoarsely whisper as much as I can, looking up into the furious face of Jason.
“Oh you’re going to be begging soon enough, whore. You really think you can fucking leave me? Run from me?” he grits out. I try to shake my head as best as I can. He pulls me back slightly away from the wall, slamming me back again. I feel my head throb and it feels like my brain is rattling around inside my skull. Immediately a sharp pain hits me in the base of my head.
“You think what you’ve gotten before was pain,” he chuckles sinisterly. “You have no idea what pain is… yet. But I will show you.”
“Please, Jase. I’m sorry,” I try to plead. He laughs in my face and begins to tighten his hold around my throat.
“Sorry? You’re not sorry. But you fucking will be,” he says as the spots around the edges of my vision start to dance. Darknessseeps in and my head is getting light. I hear the front door bang open.
“Get your fucking hands off of her, Jason. NOW!” I hear Shayna yell. As soon as Jason removes his hands, I crumble to the floor gasping for air. I’m coughing and holding my throat where he had such a tight hold on me.
Jason is backing away from me. I look up and see his hands are in the air, indicating surrender. My immediate thought is what has him acting this way? Still coughing trying to catch my breath, I glance over at Shayna seeing she has a baseball bat held up ready to knock the hell out of him.
He moves away as Shayna moves toward me. I again look up at Jason and he’s still smiling. “Get the fuck out of my house, Jason. And don’t fucking come back. I’ve already called the cops and they are on their way,” she informs him standing in front of me, still on the floor. I look around her and see the smile has dropped from his face as he moves toward the door.
“This shit isn’t over, Shayna. Lexi is mine and I will be back to get her. I’m not leaving until then,” he bites out.
“GET. OUT!” she yells and I can tell she’s shaking all over.
Stepping further out of the door, Jason looks down at me. “If you don’t come home willingly, Lexi. I will make sure you can’t ever run from me again. And that’s a promise,” he says as he turns and walks out of the door.
Shayna stands still in front of me still holding the bat up, expecting him to rush back in. After a few short moments, she turns and drops the bat next to me and kneels down grabbing me in her arms. I can feel her shaking all over as I am as well.
“I saw his car out on the street. I was scared to death when I pulled up,” she says and leans back still holding my shoulders, looking over me everywhere. I’m still holding my neck trying to breathe normally. “Are you okay?” she asks, finally letting her eyes settle on my neck. She moves my hands and looks closer.
“I’m okay. I’m so glad you showed up when you did,” I breathe out, and she nods. I can hear a siren coming closer and closer. I look up at her with bewilderment in my eyes. “You really did call the cops,” I say and she nods.
“Of course I did. I’m not going to let that bastard get away with this,” she says and stands up. Holding her hands out, she helps me stand up on shaky legs. The sirens cut off and I can hear car doors open and close. She puts her arm around my shoulders and we walk to the front door just as the two police officers walk up the driveway.
“Where are the boys?” I ask Shayna in almost a whisper.
“When I saw his car, I told them to go down to the skate park. I didn’t want them here in case anything happened,” she explains, tightening her hold around me.
“Mrs. Lezzaro, I presume,” the first officer states walking up the stairs.
“Yes, come in. This is Lexi Richards,” she introduces me and we all head to the living room.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t be of further assistance, Mrs. Lezzaro,” Officer Colton says to Shayna, following his partner out. He doesn’t sound sorry. I hear Shayna open the door for them, walking them out as I sit on the couch stunned. A report? A fucking report is all they could do. How is that going to help next time he comes?
