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"And what is that?" I could feel his eyes on me, and it was making meuncomfortable.
"He hit me after I confrontedhim."
"He laid his hands onyou?"
I put my hand on Elliott's arm. "He did, but I left after he hitme."
"And after that you never saw him again, correct?" Elliottquestioned.
"Not exactly." I held my head down, looking into mycup.
Elliott looked up at me with a frown. "What do you mean by not exactly,Tatum?"
"Well, he came by my apartment when he got back into town the following Saturday. He wanted to talk and see if we could work thingsout."
"And you better tell me that you told him to fuck rightoff!"
I stared down at the floor, unable to look at him. I could feel the blush from my embarrassment crawl up my face. I didn't want to answer his question, but I knew I hadto.
"Tatum? Please tell me you told him to fuck off." His hands were balled intofists.
"Not exactly. He swore to me it was over between them and that he had made a huge mistake. We sort of ended up sleepingtogether."
Parker shifted in his seat, a look between jealousy and hate coming over hisface.
Elliott slammed his fist on the table, causing me to jump. "You did what? I can't believe after you saw him with another woman that you would do that. What the fuck is the matter with you?" Elliott got up from his seat and walked to the other side of the room. "Wait, is that the night you called me and told me you were moving downhere?"
Nodding my head, I swallowed hard, trying to keep myself from crying. "I don't know why I did it. It didn't matter anyway, because he lied to me. He was still seeing her. I found his cell phone--there were text messages still going on between them thatmorning."
Elliott poured himself another cup of coffee. "Did you honestly think that he was going to tell you the truth? Guys like that, Tatum, are wastes of skin. Fuck, I never liked him from the fucking start! I never should have let you talk me out of doing a background check on him when I fucking wanted to. What else?" He put his coffee down so hard, it spilled on the table. He was pissed, and I couldn't say I blamedhim.
"Well, after I talked to you that night, I went to stay with Jen. Dean started persistently calling me. Jen was sure that she saw him at the airport the day I was leaving. He has been texting me daily since I got here. Jen was adamant that I get a new number when I got here, so I did as she suggested, but he's somehow gotten it. He called me right before I called you thismorning."
"You mean to tell me that Jen knows about all of this, but you wouldn't tell me? Your own brother who might actually be able to do something about this? Fuck, Tatum, I'm beyond pissed with you right now! How many times has he hityou?"
"It was only that one time." I zipped up the sweater I was wearing and averted my eyes. At this point, I didn't dare tell him that it had been happening from the beginning. I also didn't want to let him know that it had gotten worse as the yearprogressed.
Parker looked up from his mug and made eye contact with me, a warm look coming over his face. I could tell he felt sorry for me. He placed a hand on Elliott's shoulder. "I think the right thing to do here is not to get mad at your sister. She made a mistake. I think the fact that she's coming to you now is what’simportant."
Elliott ran his hands over his face and took in a deep breath. He looked between the two of us and then got up from the table and leaned against the counter. He stood with his hand on the back of his neck for a few minutes, completely quiet, just staring at the floor. "Where is this message he leftyou?"
I grabbed my phone and played the message for them. I hated hearing his voice; it sent chills through me. When the message was over, I sat there looking at my phone. "I'm scared,Elliott."
"Well, don't be scared. I'll look into this guy. But in the meantime, you have both of us that you can call. Parker is closer to you, so if it is an emergency, call him first, and then call me. I am going to be out of town for the next two days for a course. Keep your doors locked and make sure you always have your cell on you when you leave the house. We can get that number changed again foryou."
I leaned over and wrapped my arms around my brother’s neck. "Thank you for everything. I'm sorry that I didn't talk to you sooner," I whispered, kissing him on thecheek.
"You should never be afraid to talk to me, Tatum. None of what has gone on is your fault, despite how it may feel. Remember that. This guy is a problem, but you've got to tell me the truth if you need my help. I really hope you’re not hiding anything else from me." He hugged meback.
As I hugged Elliott, I looked over his shoulder at Parker. He caught my glance and mouthed “tell him” as he looked to my arms. But I saidnothing.
The guilt started to fall over me after they left. I should have told Elliott everything. Especially about the night before my flight when Dean showed up at the hotel, but I felt he was already angry enough. I prayed that Dean didn't follow through with his threats. I just wanted to move on with my life and be done with him. I hoped that if I wished hard enough, he would disappear, but things don't seem to work out thatway.
Ihad finished paying mylast bill and headed to the kitchen. I still felt bad for hiding everything from Elliott, but he swore he forgave me. I prayed I wouldn't have to tell him what else I hid fromhim.
Placing all the dirty dishes from dinner into the dishwasher I washed down the counters then made myself some tea. A knock on the front door made me jump. I stopped what I was doing and went to the door, pulling it open. The front porch was empty. There wasn't even a car insight.
I shrugged, grabbed the newspaper off my stoop, and shut and locked the door, turning on the outside light. I went back to cleaning, and when I was finished, I grabbed my tea and shut off the kitchen light, then headed into the living room and curled up on thecouch.
