Chapter 5 #2
Marin’s eyes were wide and full of fear as she turned to look at me. “Charlotte, just go. It’ll be okay.”
“Yeah, Charlotte,” Frank mimicked in a high-pitched, nasally voice. “You should listen to her before you get yourself hurt.”
“Or what? You’re gonna hit me too?” I gave him the same treatment he’d given me and scanned him up and down, my expression telling him I wasn’t scared in the slightest. “You know what kind of man hits on women smaller than him? A pussy. That’s all you are.”
“You got a nasty fuckin’ mouth on you for such a small thing. Maybe you’re the one I should be teachin’ a lesson.” He let go of Marin then, tossing her aside like a rag doll as he started for me. “And you know what, bitch? That’s exactly what I’m gonna do.”
I quickly reached into my back pocket and pulled out the retractable baton I’d brought with me just in case.
As soon as he got close enough and brought his arm up, I swung.
The sound of metal smashing into bone filled the air just a second before Frank’s howl of agony drowned it out.
He clutched his now-broken arm against his chest, opening himself up for me to kick him right in the balls.
He went down to the ground with a satisfying thud, and as soon as he did, I lifted the baton back up and brought it down again, shattering his kneecap this time.
“Oh my God,” Marin cried, coming up beside me, her jaw hanging open in shock. “I can’t . . . how did . . . I don’t—”
“You bitch!” Frank screamed from the floor, tears coursing down his cheeks. “You fucking bitch! You’re gonna pay! Both of you!”
I crouched down beside his head, bracing the baton across my knees.
“You aren’t gonna do a damn thing,” I told him as he writhed and moaned in pain.
“Know why?” I didn’t wait for him to answer, knowing he was probably struggling to form words.
“Because I’ve already taken pictures of what you did to your girlfriend.
You could try going to the cops, but the pictures will prove self-defense.
She was leaving your worthless ass because you’re an abusive piece of shit.
That made you snap. You beat the hell out of her.
She was scared for her life, so she fought back.
” I turned to look up at Marin. “That’s how I recall it going down. Is that how you remember it?”
A slow, calculated smile stretched across her pretty face. “That’s exactly how it happened.”
He turned his vicious eyes to Marin and spat, “Fuck you,” through his whimpering.
“Hey.” I smacked his cheek hard enough to make my hand sting.
“Don’t look at her. Don’t even talk to her.
Now, as it is right now, your knee will heal .
. . eventually. But you give me your word right this second that you’re never gonna so much as breathe in Marin’s direction, or I’m gonna turn your kneecap into confetti. So what’s it going to be?”
He glared at me through huffed breaths.
“What’s it going to be?” I repeated, stabbing my finger into his injured knee.
“Ah! Fuck! Okay, okay! I get it! I’ll never even look at her again. Just stop! Please.”
“Good,” I chirped with a smile, patting his shoulder before pushing up to my feet. “Now you just stay where you are and relax while we finish packing her things. We’ll be out of your hair before you know it.”
Marin followed me out of the living room but reached to grab my hand, pulling me to a stop. “How . . . where did you learn to do that?”
“Let’s just say I know what it’s like to feel helpless. I’ve known my fair share of Franks in my life, and I made myself a promise a while back that I wouldn’t be helpless anymore.”
Her fingers gave mine a squeeze, and her lips tilted up in an appreciative grin. “Thank you,” she said quietly, those two words chocked full of emotion. “I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you.”
“Yes you would’ve,” I insisted. “Maybe not today or tomorrow, but you’d have eventually found your strength.”
Her eyes began to glisten. “How do you know that?”
I gave my shoulder a shrug. “Because I know you. I know you’re loyal and caring.
And I know how smart and strong you really are, even if you don’t always see it in yourself.
In your head and your heart, you were already done with that loser back there.
All I did was have your back. Most of the time, that’s all it takes. ”
The tears that had been glistening dried up and the smile she gave me in that moment told me all I needed to know. She was going to be just fine.
“Maybe I’ll get me one of those baton thingies,” she said with a conspiratorial glint in her eyes. “You know . . . just in case.”
I let out a giggle and started back toward the bedroom with her walking right beside me. “I’ll send you the link to where I got it. Oh, and the Taser.”
“You have a Taser?” she inquired with big eyes.
“Yep,” I shot her a wink. “Single women these days can’t be too careful.”
“Do you . . . have it on you?”
The more I got to know Marin, the more I liked her. “If he’s moved by the time we get back in there, I’ll let you have it.”
“Deal.” She all but skipped back into her former room, and we went about packing the rest of her belongings.
Frank the fucker was still lying on the floor in the living room by the time we finished loading the last of her boxes in the back of my car, either passed out from the pain or having bawled himself to sleep.
I saw the disappointment in Marin’s expression as we headed out, but to make her feel better, I gave her the Taser anyway . . .
Just in case.