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I’m sore. My wrist is broken and swelling against the belt and I’m bleeding and limping. My pants are undone, my breasts are out, and the remnants of my shirt have fallen away leaving me completely bare on top—except from my bra, which is pushed up and useless. I can’t allow myself to worry about any of that. I just need out of here. I make it to the door, and I’m trying to get my hands to cooperate. The one with the broken wrist is next to useless, making it even harder to get the door opened because they are cinched together. I’m trying to twist the doorknob and finally get it to move just as Mitch grabs me around the waist and throws me in the air as if I was a football. I cry out as I go sailing, crashing into the seventy-five-inch television that he insisted we buy. My body plummets to the floor, the television falling on top of me. For a minute everything goes black, and I don’t fight it. I want to escape any way I can. I don’t get that luxury, however. Mitch grabs my hands, his fingers moving over the belt and he uses that hold to drag me.
I’m completely helpless, banging into the couch and other stuff that I lose sight of.
“You’re going to pay for that, Callie. You’re going to pay,” he promises, as he drags me into the bedroom.
He stops when he gets me there, dropping my hands. I don’t move. At this point, I can’t. When I look up, Mitch is standing over me. He kicks me in the ribs. He does it repeatedly. I lose count on the number of times he delivers his blows. He hits my face a few times. I can taste the blood on my lips that is running down from my nose. My stomach is sore, so I figure a few of the kicks landed there as well. He yanks out the knife and white-hot pain explodes inside of me. He tosses it across the room, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not able to use it to save myself even if it was closer.
He tosses me onto the bed. When I look up at him, seeing the look in his eyes, I know that my hell hasn’t even begun yet….
CHAPTER 21
Reed
“He passed away about an hour ago, Reed. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, me, too,” I respond, rubbing the back of my shoulder out of habit. It seems to be something I do every time I get upset. “I have a flight out, but it will probably be midday before I get there.”
“Do you want me or Jeff to pick you up at the airport?” she asks, making me smile. There’s not much about Macon that I like these days, but there’s something to be said for having friends you can count on.
“Nah, I’m going to rent a car there in San Antonio and drive on in. I may crash at your place tonight, though. I’m not sure sleeping at Mom’s is something I want to do with Callie and Mitch there, too,” I tell her honestly.
It might make me a punk but sleeping under a roof where Callie and Mitch might be lying in bed together is something I never want to do. When they first got married, they moved in with my parents. I went to Jake’s house. I didn’t want to share a house with them then and I sure don’t want it now. Hell, it might be better to go to Mama Ryan’s now. At least I know I’m always wanted there. I always felt more at home in that house than mine own anyway.
“You know you’re welcome. Call me when you get into town. I’m supposed to meet Callie in the morning. She wanted me to go with her and your mom to the flower shop and things.”
I frown, thinking that sounds strange.
“I know you and Callie do a lot of shit together, but isn’t that something she could handle alone with my mother?” I shrug. “I guess it’s not any of my business. Girls are weird,” I mutter.
“We used to do a lot of shit together. Callie doesn’t do a lot these days, Reed. She goes to work and that’s about it. We barely have our dinners at Mesa Grande anymore.”
“You used to eat there together twice a week,” I remember.
“It’s probably been well over a month maybe two since we have. Callie’s not the same. I’ve been concerned for a while, but she won’t talk to me. If she keeps refusing, there’s not a lot I can do.”
“Katie—”
“Before you say anything, I know it’s not your place anymore, Reed. I’m just worried about my friend, and I wanted you to know. You’ll see what I mean. Maybe you can get her to talk. Despite everything, Callie cares about you. She might talk to you over me.”
