Chapter 22 #2
“It wasn’t that hard to find you, Jennifer,” Marty went on, ignoring me completely.
“Your MySpace updates were like following a goddamn treasure map. You’re such an idiot.
As if changing your last name would make you invisible.
” Marty stood over Jenn, who cowered before him.
“The fact that you thought you could get away from me shows that you can’t make it on your own. You don’t have the brains to survive.”
Marty crumpled his empty beer can and threw it over the cliff’s edge less than an inch from Jenn, who jumped as if he had thrown it at her.
“I need to go,” Jenn whimpered and tried to walk away, which pushed me to action.
I grabbed her again, my grip rougher than I intended. I wrenched her back. “Don’t leave me, Jenn.”
“Please, let me go, Rhett, please!”
I held on to her tightly, as if she were my anchor, my lifeline.
Didn’t she understand that I couldn’t let her go?
“Jenn, stop it,” I yelled, but she kept fighting against me as if my touch repulsed her.
I vaguely registered that Marty had his phone out and was pointing it in our direction. But my thoughts weren’t on what he was doing; they were on keeping Jenn here—with me.
“Jennifer, if you leave, I’ll only find you again,” Marty warned her, his threat clear.
“Please, Marty, just let me go,” Jenn begged.
“You know I can’t do that, sweetheart. I made a promise to bring you home alive or dead. And after what you did, I’m not picky about which one,” he replied.
“Rhett,” she whispered, turning to me. “I have to get away.”
The words triggered something dark and awful inside me.
No!
I tugged on her arm so hard she cried out in pain. “Stop fighting me and listen!” I roared, trying to be heard over the commotion both inside and outside my head. “Just listen to me!”
Before I realized what was happening, I had backhanded her across the mouth. Her head flew sideways and she let out a whimper of pain.
Her words were on a loop in my head.
I have to get away.
What I heard was, I have to get away from you.
I hit her again, harder this time. Her lip split and blood trickled down her face.
“You will never go anywhere without me.” I took her by the shoulders and threw her to the ground, her body crumpling in the dirt at my feet. She smashed her head against the rocks and cried out in agony.
As the night began to fall, and the stars came out above us, Jenn lay on the ground, barely moving. Her blood, that I shed, painted the dirt and leaves around her.
The horror of what I had done suddenly hit me.
I dropped to my knees, pulled my shirt off over my head, and pressed it to the wound to stem the flow.
“Oh my God, Jenn, I’m so sorry. What have I done?”
Her blood seeped through the shirt.
My fingers were sticky with it.
I had hit her. I had tossed her to the ground like garbage.
What the hell was wrong with me?
Then I felt calloused hands grab me, dragging me from her.
Marty loomed over me, his face filled with a rage I had never seen on anyone before.
“What did you do to my sister?”
He didn’t yell.
His words were preternaturally calm, which made him all the more terrifying.
I stared up at him in confusion. Everything slotting together.
“Your sister?” I asked, dumbfounded.
Marty snarled down at me, and then his heavy boot careened into my side as he kicked me over and over again.
I howled in pain, and I covered my head and face as I tried to protect myself. Marty dropped down, kneeling over me, his fists finding their way through my meager defenses. My vision faded as he pummeled me.
I turned away, finding Jenn lying only a few feet away.
My once white T-shirt now stained red.
Hours Later
I lost consciousness at some point.
When I woke up, I wasn’t sure how much time had passed—but I was freezing cold, and in pain.
More importantly, I was alone. Jenn and Marty were both gone.
“Jenn?” I called out, but heard only silence.
I tentatively got to my feet, wincing and groaning with every movement. I picked up my shirt and was shocked by the amount of blood it had soaked up.
I was trembling, though whether it was from shock or the cold, I wasn’t sure. Either way, I needed to get out of there.
I put my T-shirt back on, the now dry blood making the fabric stiff. I looked around, trying to figure out where Jenn had gone. I refused to believe she would leave me unconscious and injured.
I could have died.
Though, I shouldn’t have been surprised given what I had done. How could I expect her to stay when I had hurt her like that?
And she wasn’t the only woman I had put my hands on.
I didn’t trust myself or my anger.
I stumbled to the gravel path and headed back in the direction of my car. My body ached with every movement. My battered and bruised face throbbing as I called her name over and over again.
If she was still up at Jagged Point, she was clearly hiding from me. The realization that I had, in fact, lost her after all, didn’t break my heart. It broke my soul. I was a shell. Losing Jenn felt like something worse than death.
Once back at my car I got in and sat there for a while trying to figure out what I was going to do.
Jenn had left me. And, after our fight tonight, Lucinda would likely do the same. I was left with nothing and no one.
This was all wrong.
I was supposed to be a good guy.
Sure, I had acted badly tonight, but they had driven me to it. None of this was my fault.
Marty had been right, even if he also turned out to be an asshole.
Women were the problem.
I stared into the darkness and saw him out there. Or at least I thought it was Marty.
But could it have been someone else?
And if it was Marty, was he waiting for me?
Even then, I knew I wasn’t who he wanted.
He was waiting for Jenn.
Not wanting to face him again, I started the ignition and drove home. Maybe I should have stayed to make sure she was okay. To make sure Marty wouldn’t hurt her, because I didn’t put it past him. I had seen the possessive way he looked at her.
But my ego, as well as my body, had taken a beating, and I needed to go home and lick my wounds.
And I was already thinking about how to straighten out the mess I had made of my life now that Jenn had ditched me. Maybe I could salvage what was left of my relationship with Lucinda.
Lucinda wasn’t the woman I wanted. But I couldn’t lose everything—that wasn’t fair.
So if I couldn’t have the grand prize, then the consolation would have to do.