Ava Gray
The moment I shared with Ethan on the ride home was like a breath of fresh air.
It had been a long time since I’d felt my body react the way it had.
To be honest, it was the first time my body had ever reacted like that because of another person’s touch.
I’d never been able to have an orgasm when I had sex with Rob.
The only time I orgasmed was when I used my toys, which had pretty much taken the place of my supposed to be husband.
I didn’t know if I should feel ashamed or not. Truth be told, as soon as I had all my ducks in a row, and got my bread right, I was going to sign divorce papers. For a while, Rob had been acting strange, and it only lead me to believe that he was out fucking around again.
My car was parked in the driveway, and it was nice that Ethan waited for me to get inside, but I didn’t need him to linger around.
As soon as I unlocked the door, I turned to wave and continued into the house.
The second I crossed the threshold, my stomach tightened.
Rob had all the lights on, and music played in the living room louder than necessary.
I automatically knew Rob had been drinking.
That’s the type of shit he does when he gets drunk.
There was an uneasy feeling crawling up my spine and I tried my best to ignore it.
I didn’t have the energy to deal with Rob and his bullshit.
I took a few deep breaths as I bent down to unbuckle my heels one at a time. My feet were killing me.
“Where you been?” Rob asked calmly.
The second I straightened, he was standing directly in front of me.
His voice was too calm and his eyes were bloodshot. I knew this man like the back of my hand. The calm voice was always worse than the yelling.
“You know where I’ve been. I told you where I was going earlier. Remember? You were supposed to keep Savannah. Instead, you took my car on purpose. I had to have Aja come pick us up and drop me off. That shit you pulled could’ve cost me my job.”
I watched his jaw flex as he just stared at me.
“Did you have fun?”
I rolled my eyes.
“What’s fun about work, Robert? It was a nice event, but it was still work.”
I tried to walk around him but he caught my arm, hard.
“What the hell is this?”
His finger hooked the necklace resting on my neck. My heart literally dropped, realizing I forgot to take it off. I was so caught up in the moment with Ethan, it easily slipped my mind.
“It’s a necklace. Julia let me borrow it for the event. It’s not mine.”
The lie rolled right off my tongue.
Again, he stood quietly just staring at me. Then the nigga started laughing a cold and humorless laugh. Before I could move, he yanked me closer and buried his face near my neck.
“What are you doing?” I tried to pull away.
I watched his nostrils flare and the smell of whiskey hit me full force.
“Why the fuck you smell like another nigga?”
My ears heated up and I knew the night wasn’t going to end peacefully.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I shook my head.
“The fuck you don’t.” He fumed.
“Rob, I spent the entire evening in a room full of people.”
“Stop fuckin playin’ with me.”
“I’m not.” I shook my head again.
His eyes narrowed as he stared at me with an evil glare. For several seconds, neither of us spoke. Then he reached into his pocket. The moment I saw the white card between his fingers, it felt like every ounce of blood drained from my body.
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I screamed in my head.
“Who the fuck is EJ?” He smushed the card in my face roughly.
The room started to spin as I stumbled back a bit. My mouth was so dry I couldn’t even respond as fast as I wanted to.
“Where did you get that?”
“Answer my question!” He snatched me by the neck and yelled in my face.
I couldn’t even swallow.
“He’s my boss.” I struggled to say.
“Your boss?” He laughed. “Bitch! Do you think I’m stupid?”
“It’s not like that.” I felt the tears welling up.
“Then explain that shit then!” He yelled in my face.
I was beyond exhausted. Emotionally, mentally and physically.
For once I didn’t have the energy to defend myself.
Although I had never been in this type of situation before, I should’ve been begging him to believe me.
Tonight, I was too tired. The scariest part wasn’t his accusations, it was realizing I didn’t care enough to convince him otherwise.
“I don’t have to explain anything to you.”
In the moment, I felt bold because I felt I had reached my breaking point.
As soon as those words left my mouth, the back of his hand hit me across the face.
I’d spent years learning the different versions of Rob.
He could be charming, funny, apologetic and cruel.
However, tonight, I was looking into the eyes of someone else entirely.
He was literally someone I didn’t recognize.
“Nah bitch! You think I’m stupid! You think I don’t know when my bitch cheating on me?”
“I’m not cheating on you!”
Again, he hit me in the face but this time with a closed fist. Pain throbbed in my eye, and I knew immediately I would see a bruise as soon as I looked in the mirror.
“You think I’m a fuckin joke? You go get a new job and think you can do what the fuck you want to, huh?” He hit me again.
My vision blurred and the room began to slowly spin. Fear settled deep in my chest because this wasn’t one of our usual fights. Yes, he’d hit me before but he had never actually punched me in the face.
“You out here fuckin around on me!”
He continued to yell in my face following up with another hit.
Every instinct in my body told me to run, but I knew that wasn’t going to be easy.
I knew I was going to have to fight my way out the best way I could.
I was still holding onto my heels when I swung to knock his ass upside the head.
We went blow for blow, tearing the house up.
A hard punch to my stomach made me double over and drop my heels.
Rob wrapped my hair in his fist and yanked my neck with all his strength.
For a second, I thought he broke my shit after hearing a pop, then it went numb immediately after.
On the floor, Rob stood over me with both hands clasped around my throat.
The anger in his eyes showed he wasn’t in his right mind.
His deranged stare was cold enough to make my heart stop on its own.
I tried to use every ounce of strength in my body to fight him off me.
My nails dug into the skin of his hands as I tried to pry them from around my neck.
Unsuccessful, my fighting back only made him choke me harder.
The pressure I felt behind my eyes was unexplainable.
This man was trying to kill me. The only thing I could do at that point was say a prayer.
I told God, if He helped me survive this attack, I would leave and never look back.
I prayed for my baby, her future, and safety.
One of my biggest fears was leaving this Earth too soon, especially while Savannah was still a child unable to take care of herself.
She needed me. Before I could say amen, everything went black.
I don’t know how long I was out. My head was pounding, and my scalp was on fire.
The lights were still on, and the brightness caused me to wince in pain because my eyes were sensitive.
Speaking of my eyes, I touched my face to realize that my right eye was damn near closed.
My ribs hurt every time I inhaled, and all I could taste was blood.
I laid on the floor, praying that God would give me the strength to get up.
The house was quiet. All I could hear was my heart beating in my chest. Slowly, I rolled over on my side, then used my arms to push myself up.
Immediately, the room started to slowly spin with black dots dancing across the room.
My entire body felt weak, I felt heavy and broken.
I stood still for a few seconds, simply staring at the damage around me.
The house looked like a crime scene. Blood was splattered all over the floor, which most likely came from my wounds.
It didn’t take long for reality to settle in my spirit.
This nigga actually tried to kill me. The thought alone sent the coldest chill through my body.
For years I had made excuses. I’d accepted apologies.
Hell, I disregarded every damn lie. However, tonight, there were no excuses left.
Tears began to well up in my eyes as I felt anger burn in my heart.
I was mad at my damn self. I was pissed off at every single version of me that kept believing things would eventually get better.
I was such a dummy to ever believe that.
There was a mirror a few feet away from me but I refused to walk near it.
Instead, I searched for my keys and my phone.
There was broken glass and shit thrown everywhere.
My phone was on the floor beside the couch and I ended up finding my keys underneath the coffee table.
All the searching I did wore me out. Once I had what I needed, I headed out without looking back.
As I drove, I couldn’t stop the tears from falling.
Hell, I didn’t even know where I was going.
I knew I should’ve been going straight to the hospital, but I didn’t want to speak to the police.
My biggest fear was for them to be involved along with social services.
I couldn’t go to my parents. I damn sure couldn’t go to my brother or sister.
As I sat at a stop light, I dialed one person who I felt could help me.
The phone call lasted one minute and twelve seconds before I ended it.
A message chimed through on my phone with an address.
I typed it into my GPS, and it said I would arrive at my destination in thirty-five minutes.