Chapter Twenty-Nine
“What are you doing here?” Her voice wobbled enough to give her away.
“Put the phone down, Tara.” Drew stood there with a cold emptiness in his brown eyes, as if his soul had been ripped away. She had seen that look many times, and each time she swore it would be the last because one day it wouldn’t end well for her.
His dress shirt was wrinkled and untucked on one side. His hair stuck up in different directions. The smell of alcohol hung around him like a black aura. Her stomach turned sour.
She gripped the phone tighter and engaged the power button. She only hoped it worked because she couldn’t take her eyes off him for a second.
“Get out of my house.” She willed her voice to stop shaking. She couldn’t show him fear and give him the upper hand. He always waited for that moment when fear paralyzed her. Not today. Not this time. She had nothing to hide any longer.
“How could you do this to me? How could you tell a courtroom full of strangers that I hurt you? I never did it on purpose, but you always made me so mad.” He fisted his hair in his hands and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Keep your voice down. Royce is sleeping.” She backed away in slow steps toward the kitchen. If she tried to run for the door, he would catch her. His speed and strength outmatched hers, and he used that to his advantage.
“I won’t let you take my son away from me too.”
“Leave him out of this, Drew. You hurt more women. I couldn’t let you do it anymore.” She took another small shuffle to the left, thankful her feet were bare and didn’t make noise on the floor.
“I can’t go to jail, Tara. I’ll die there.”
“You should’ve thought about that before you sent me down the stairs.” Her heart pounded enough to make her chest hurt.
“I never meant for that to happen.”
“But it did.” Heat built in the pit of her stomach and burned through her veins. “Did you hear me? You pushed me so hard I tripped over my own feet and fell down a flight of hardwood steps. I lost my child because of you. And the worst part was I let you do it. Well, no more. You won’t steal anything from any other women.” Every single day she regretted staying with him. If she had only left one day sooner.
“You don’t understand what Jane was like. Always nagging me. Wanting things from me. No matter what I gave her, she wasn’t happy. She didn’t take care of me and my needs.”
“That doesn’t give you the right to hit her.” She moved closer to the kitchen. That room was her only chance, with its knives and forks and rolling pin. All the things that were put in place by the Rykers for any employee who lived here.
“She made me do it.” His face turned an ugly red, and a vein bulged on the side of his neck. “All you women are the same. You’re never happy. All you had to do was listen to me, do what I say, and it would be fine. But you want to go and think for yourself. If you had just agreed to marry me again, I wouldn’t be faced with jail time. It’s your fault my life is ruined.” He lunged for her with his outstretched arms and giant hands.
She jumped out of the way, and her hip collided with the corner of the counter. Pain shot down the side of her body. Her breath caught halfway out, and her phone clattered on the floor and slid out of sight. She was still unsure if she had turned it on.
She opened her mouth to instruct the phone to dial for help, but he grabbed her wrist and tugged her against him. She bit her tongue instead and bounced off his hard chest but didn’t get far because of the vice grip he held her in. Spit formed in the corner of his mouth. She forced her gaze to remain on his. “Let go of me.” She fought his hold but to no avail.
His other hand, flat and fierce, came down with a blow to her head, snapping it back and making her ear ring. The room spun for a second before standing still. He hit her again. The slap of skin against skin echoed in the small kitchen. Her face burned. She tried to claw at his eyes and nose, but he brushed her hand away with little effort. He raised his hand to hit her again. She stomped on his foot, stopping the blow. She bit down on his other hand, the one still holding on to her, with all her might.
He shoved her away. She collided with the handle of the refrigerator, and another pain ran down her back.
“You bitch.” Dark red spots in the shape of her teeth rose to the top of the skin on his hand.
She reached for the closest thing to her, the deep granite pot on the dish drain, and held it out like a sword with both hands. “Stay away from me.” Her hair fell in strands around her eyes, but she couldn’t risk moving it. Her breath came out in short spurts. She needed more air, but her lungs wouldn’t work right.
A cold, sinister laugh leaked from his lips. “Do you think you can stop me with a pot? When I get my hands on you, you’re going to wish you grabbed a knife instead.”
He dove for her, and she swung with every muscle from her core up to her shoulders. She would have one chance to hurt him and run for it. The pot collided with the side of his head and shook in her hands. The connection stopped him mid step. She swung again and again. The pot clanged like the bell in an old tower every time it hit his skull.
He crumpled to the ground. Blood ran down the side of his head. She hit him twice more before her arms surrendered to her command to throw the pot to the ground. It rattled against the tile.
She willed her bare feet to move and get to Royce. She scooped him and his stuffed cow out of the bed, and she ran for the back door.
“Mommy, where are we going?” Sleep filled his voice as he rubbed his eye.
“Somewhere safe. Hang on to me, buddy.”
The cold night air stung her skin and her tear-filled eyes. The guest cottages weren’t far, and that was where Gage lived. He would help her because she needed someone stronger than she was at the moment. She wanted Kace but couldn’t call him with only hours till his race.
The gravel bit into the bottom of her feet, but she ran as fast as she could, clutching her son to her chest and without looking over her shoulder.
If Drew was behind her, she was dead.
And if he wasn’t chasing her, then he was.