Page 37 of Trust in the Fallen

I unbuckle his pants as quickly as I can, but my own trembling makes it hard to do much of anything. Every move he makes causes me to flinch, expecting the next blow to come at any second, and I don’t have to wait very long before his fist comes down on the side of my face, and he shoves me away.

“I have to do everything myself with you. You’re fucking useless.” I try my best to creep backward toward the door, hoping by some miracle I can make a run for it. I don’t really have anywhere to go. Most would say to go to my parents, but they’ll bring me right back. All my friends are through Jason, he’s never allowed me to have any of my own, and the reason for that has never been clearer. Friends meant I had someone to run to if things went south.

But I have no one.

No one in my corner.

No one to run to.

No one to help me.

No one to save me when Jason inevitably takes things too far.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-SIX

LEIGHTON

My fingers brush against something at the edge of the bed, and I let out a small sigh of gratitude for the asshole in front of me. His college baseball bat. The one he keeps under the bed in case there’s ever a home invasion.

I don’t know where I’ll go, but if I make it out of this house, there’s no way I’m coming back. I don’t deserve this life. I don’t deserve a man who would hurt me. And I’m done pretending I do.

I wrap my fingers around the bat in as firm a hold as I can manage and slowly rise to my feet. Apparently his pants are giving him the same amount of grief they gave me because he doesn’t notice me swing until it’s too late.

The bat hits him hard in the side of the head, and I drop it before he has time to react. I run as fast as I can out of the room, down the hallway, but only make it a few steps down the second flight of stairs before fingers wrap around my hair and jolt me backward.

I lose my balance on the steps and slip down the remaining ones, crumpling at the bottom in agony. Tears fall against my cheeks, and for long moments I’m paralyzed. From pain or fear, I’m not sure because both are so overwhelming I can barely breathe.

“Did you think I’d let you run from me, Leighton?” Jason crouches over me, wiping the blood from his lip before wiping it along my cheek.

In a quick movement I barely see coming, he tears the front of my robe open and shoves me down until I’m flat on the rug at the bottom of the stairs. The bitter taste of blood fills my mouth, but I can’t move to tell where the source is.

I let out a choked cry, but my fight is gone. What’s the point? I tried, and I failed just like I always do.

He palms my breast painfully, giving little regard for the pain he’s causing me, but I let him do it. That makes me all kinds of pathetic, but he’s already proven he can best me, and all the fighting has brought me is more pain, so what’s the point?

He flips me onto my stomach with ease where he would normally complain about the extra weight I carry. Either that’s always been a lie, or the liquor has given him some kind of superhuman strength.

Somehow I don’t think it’s the latter.

Jason’s hands push the robe up over my ass, and he lets out a growl. “Who did you wear these panties for, Leighton? Did you know they would be there tonight? Did you fuck them in the toilets like a common slut?”

I shake my head against the rug as a choked sob breaks through. “No, I promise.”

“I don’t believe a word that comes out of your mouth.” He tears the panties from my body, the fabric biting into my hips before finally giving way.

It’s not until the hard wood of the bat brushes up the back of my leg that I realize he brought it down with him, and a cold sweat breaks out over my whole body. I don’t need to be in his mind to know what he’s thinking.

“Jason, please don’t do this,” I beg. I claw at the rug, trying to get any kind of control on this situation, but the agony through every inch of my body tears away any strength I had left.

“I’ll do whatever the fuck I want, Leighton. Do you know why?” His hot breath whispers across my cheek as his body pins mine to the floor. He’s so heavy on top of me I can barely drag in a breath, and for a moment, for the slightest of seconds, I wish for death. Wouldn’t it be easy if he just killed me? Finally I wouldn’t be in pain. Finally I would befree.

But almost as soon as the thoughts enter my mind, so does the fight. I haven’t had the chance to live. I’ve spent my whole life scared. I’ve spent my whole life living for everyone else. I’ve never had the chance to live for me.

“I’ll do whatever I want because I own you. You will be my wife. You will be my property. And I’ll do anything I fucking well please to what belongs to me.”

The blunt end of the bat moves between us until it’s wedged at my entrance. There’s no way he can get that inside me at this angle, not with his entire body on mine. He has to reposition himself if he wants to make this work, and that’s going to be my only chance to run.

“I’m going to stretch your whore cunt out, and then I’m going to fuck your ass raw. Then maybe you’ll have some fucking respect.”