Chapter 26 – Stevie
Everything was set for the grand opening of Nourish Co-op next week, earlier than originally planned. The late August day was surprisingly cooler than usual in Texas as I sorted through gift baskets in the co-op offices, preparing for the first-day giveaways we'd planned.
I moved to the printer to create the badges for the six volunteers we had starting on Monday, including the new manager I planned to hire later this week. As the printer began its noises, zipping back and forth across the slick pages, I heard the front door jingle, signaling a new visitor.
Assuming it was Wylie, here to pick me up for dinner, I paused the machine and headed into the packing area. To my dismay, the face I encountered was one that I had hoped to never to see again.
“Charles,” I said, trying to conceal my shock at seeing him in Lonestar Junction while taking a wobbly step backwards. Unfortunately, he noticed my fear and surprise at his presence as he progressed forward with a wicked grin.
“Well, if it isn’t my beautiful ex-girlfriend, Stevie Vector.”
“I’m not your ex,” I spat out as I moved backwards again, this time my back bumped into the countertop that separated the kitchen from the packing area.
I panickily took inventory of the items within my grasp that I could defend myself with and realized nothing was nearby. The kitchen knives were on the other side of the room and there was no way I’d make it to them before Charles would surely grab ahold of me.
“You’re just as much my ex as any other woman I'm fucking in Texas.”
“Where’s your wife?” I spat out, ignoring his disgusting comment.
He shrugged, “Probably off getting her hair done like she usually does on Thursdays.”
“What are you doing here?” I asked trying to stall for time while I figured out a plan to get me out of this hellish situation.
“Was passing through on a campaign I have going on in San Angelo and I figured I’d pay the new, blushing bride a visit. How’s married life treating you? Is it everything you expected it would be married to a poor, dumb cowboy?” he asked sarcastically.
I clenched my jaw. “It’s great. My husband and I are madly in love. Speaking of Wylie, he’s actually on his way here right now.”
He stormed forward getting so close in my face that I could smell the cheap cologne he'd worn since high school that had always nauseated me. “You think I give a shit that you’re married now? You owe me for the rest of your damn life, Vector. You and your sister .”
"I paid you back," I insisted firmly.
"Your debt isn't paid until I say it's paid." He gripped the back of my neck harshly before aggressively slamming his lips against mine and spiking his tongue into my mouth. I attempted to clamp my mouth shut and tried to bite down, but he gripped my neck harder, surely leaving bruise marks while I tried to push his chest away.
Before I could react, a loud shout pierced the air, and suddenly Charles was forcefully pulled away from me. I watched as he stumbled backward, and Wylie stood in front of me protectively now, breathing heavily. Without hesitation, Wylie swung his arm back and delivered a solid punch directly to his jaw.
“Wylie!” I screamed as Charles fell backwards, folding in half for a moment before standing straight again.
He attempted a feeble swing at Wylie, that he effortlessly dodged before landing another punch to his face. Wylie's years of fighting and hard labor contrasted sharply with Charles's soft, uncalloused hands that had never seen a day of manual labor. Growing up wrestling with two brothers had honed Wylie's reflexes; he smoothly avoided Charles's next punch and swiftly tackled him, pinning him to the ground and holding him in a headlock.
“Hey Stevie, you going to explain what this mother fucker is doing with his tongue jammed down my wife's mouth, or do I need to break his neck?”
Damn, if that wasn’t the sexiest question I’d ever heard.
Charle’s face reddened as Wylie tightened his grip, cutting off his oxygen supply. His eyes were bulging now, and I considered letting Wylie do it. That’d solve all my problems for good, but I knew having him get sent away to prison for manslaughter, especially of the governor’s son, wasn’t the solution. Seeing Charles realize that Wylie and I had something real, and understanding that Wylie wasn't someone to mess with, instantly made me feel safer.
I tried to manage my most calm response possible as I picked at the bed of my nails and watched Charles' face turn from red to blue. I was enjoying this view. The man had made me suffer for years; it was his turn to feel some pain.
“Let him go Wylie, he isn’t worth it.”
He tightened his grip a little more before loosening just enough to stand him up and push him towards the kitchen in the back.
“Move," he commanded.
Charles attempted some sort of weak maneuver of a swing again, but Wylie easily caught his fist and twisted his arm backwards to the point where I heard something in his wrist snap. “I wouldn’t try that again, fucker. If you do, you’ll see just how far I’ll go to protect what’s mine .”
Charles' face went red again as tried to hold still out of fear of a broken arm while Wylie walked him into the kitchen and up to the walk-in freezer door.
“You can’t be serious,” he choked out when he realized what was happening.
Wylie nudged him forward. "Step inside and let me talk to my wife. Once I'm finished, if I'm satisfied with what she says and if she agrees , then I'll release you."
Wylie pushed him into the freezer with one final shove and moved to close the door.
“You’re fucking insane!” he screamed as he gripped his bruised vocal cords and spun around to escape but Wylie had already slammed the door shut, effectively closing the freezer and Charles inside.
My eyes widened. “Is he going to survive in there?”
Wylie shrugged, “He’d probably be able to make it a coupl’a hours but if you don’t want to find out, you better start talking and tell me who he is and what he’s doing touching you.”
I paced back and forth in front of the closed freezer door, trying to figure out how to explain Charles to Wylie while also freaking out about the close call with the man locked behind the doors of the freezer.
“You'll judge me, and you won't understand.”
“Try me, Stevie.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, “I’d do anything for my family. Anything. You can be selfish and arrogant. If I explain to you how I’m in this situation, you’ll look at me differently.”
“You think that little of me? You really think I wouldn’t do anything for my family? Why the hell do you think I agreed to this marriage? To save my family and preserve the Cameron legacy. You want to tell me I know nothing of sacrifice for family? Who the hell do you think kept this damn family together when my mom died over ten years ago? Because it sure as shit wasn’t my brothers and dad. Clay probably doesn’t even remember it because he was only 10 years old, but when mom died, I was the one who had to step up and step in as the man of the house. My dad checked out emotionally, mentally and most days, physically as he buried himself in work. And though he was sober and never dated seriously again, that didn’t mean he didn’t keep a lady nearby if you know what I mean. I had to keep Cameron ranch running while also making sure my dad and Clay didn’t fall apart so much that they couldn’t come back from it. Clay’s homework, getting to school on time and not skipping, that shit fell on me, Stevie.”
He took a deep breath, his eyes flashing with anger, and my heart tightened as I realized the immense pressure weighing on his shoulders and how my doubt must have affected him.
“Don’t talk to me about not understanding familial responsibilities and the pressure that comes with being the first born. The world is on your shoulders and it’s a damn expectation, not a suggestion, for you to carry it without a please, thank you, or a reward. I drank myself to oblivion during that time and buried myself in women every night so that I didn’t have time to sit and think about all the shit that was on my shoulders because if I did, I’d crumble just like Dad did in his room upstairs, Clay did at school and Nash did hiding out in Houston. But if I crumbled, it wasn’t just them I’d let down, it was all of the employees we pay a salary to that were depending on us here in the city.”
He stepped closer to me, passion, and anger radiated off his body as I felt the exchange of heat flow through him to my heart.
“I may seem selfish now because for the last few years of my life, I’ve finally been able to be selfish. To enjoy myself now that Clay’s all grown up and my dad’s not distracting himself trying to forget my mom. I missed most of my 20s because I was the man of the house keeping shit together so don’t ever fucking tell me again that I don’t understand doing what you have to do for the ones you love, Stevie.”
He stepped back, as if gathering himself against rising anger, running a hand through his tousled brown hair.
“So, you want to tell me what’s got you scared shitless by a man with rapist eyes, or do I need to employ other means to get it out of my wife?”
I swallowed, wondering what those other means would be and unsure if I was ready for the judgment and pity that I knew would surely come as soon as I opened up to him about my past.
“I hate that I look so pitiful to you right now. That I was so defenseless minutes ago and needed you to save me. I've never been able to defend myself against Charles,” I whispered.
Wylie stepped closer, his large hand now gentle as he cupped my cheek, his strong thumb tracing down my jawline and across my swollen lips, bruised by Charles's punishing kisses.
"You tell me what he did to you, Stevie, and I swear you'll never feel defenseless again. You don't have to be ashamed of looking vulnerable in front of me because, even without knowing the details, I already know you're the strongest woman I've ever met. Now tell me what that fucker has on you before I yank him out of the freezer and strangle his frozen body with my bare hands.”