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“He… wants to have dinner with me.”
For a moment there was nothing but silence. The kind you never really want.
“Dinner?” Jay asked incredulously.
“Yes.”
Tyler coughed. “No, not dinner. That’s not what he wants at all.”
The others looked at Tyler curiously as my shoulders slumped. I already knew what he would say next.
“He wants youback.”
I sighed and sat down, sinking into one of the cheap chairs I’d inherited from the last person who rented this place. There were so many things the guys didn’t know. So many things they didn’t realize.
It was time to tell them.
“Look, when I met Elijah I’d just finished college and was taking some post-graduate courses,” I explained. “He was sweet, charming, intelligent. Everything a girl could ask for. And for a while, everything was good. I thought I was lucky to have him…”
Tyler, Jay and Luca stood over me, their anger seething just beneath the surface of their grim silence. They didn’t speak, though — as much as they wanted to. They let me continue.
“Anyway, Elijah seemed perfect at first. He was a three-letter athlete in football, baseball, lacrosse. He went to Notre Dame by way of their ROTC program, then joined the Navy and became a SEAL. I didn’t realize until later that his daddy got him into that school, and pushed him through. Who knows what else he bought him. Money tends to grease all those wheels…”
Their expressions hadn’t changed. I sighed and shook my head.
“His father was military also — a decorated Vietnam vet. He had Elijah when he was older, well after he’d made his fortune. Even so, he wanted him to follow in his footsteps. I guess he was living vicariously through his son.”
Tyler and Jay said nothing. In Luca’s eyes however, there was a glimmer of commiseration.
“After a few months of dating him, I saw the true Elijah. He was commanding, demanding, controlling. In time he became physically abusive. It was borderline at first; a few grabs and pulls, a couple of bruises on my upper arm. It progressed into screaming into my face. Slamming doors during arguments, and not letting me leave.”
“Jenna,why?”Tyler demanded. “Why would you ever stay with someone like that?”
I looked up at him through glassy eyes. “The truth?”
“Of course.”
“I was scared.”
Their expressions softened, as their body language changed. Jay came over and knelt down beside me.
“I wish you’d called us,” he murmured softly. “I wish you’dtoldus.”
“You weren’t even on my radar,” I said truthfully. “My life was so different back then. I was in another place, far from home. I had no friends, no family. Only Elijah.”
“But if you were unhappy…”
“When you’re in the thick of things, you don’t realize the full extent of it,” I explained. “Now though, I can see just how far I’d fallen. How deeply into a depression I’d gone, to the point where I would even make excuses for some of the things he did.”
“The sign of a true piece of shit,” growled Luca. “A guy who deflects his own bad behavior onto you.”
“Exactly,” I went on. “Only at the time, I didn’t see it. After a while, I even accepted it. I just didn’t care anymore…” I paused, grimacing as old memories resurfaced. “Until one day I suddenly did.”
I wanted to tell them the rest. About how Elijah yanked me out of the shower one morning, causing me to slip and shatter my arm. I was afraid if I did, they’d go right over there and drag him out of the house. It’s the one reason I called them over to my place tonight, rather than do this at theirs.
“When I finally decided to leave, I knew Elijah wouldn’t just let me. So I had to plan it out. I sent my phone off in one direction and drove in another. I even traded my car in, because I knew he was somehow tracking that too.”
“Unreal…” Jay breathed.
