AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She hated lying to people but lying to Will was worse. He’d been friends with her brother growing up and when she graduated from community college with her associate degree, he’d hired her as his assistant despite her lack of experience. It wasn’t as though he couldn’t have chosen someone else from the company to step into the position when the woman he’d inherited from his father retired. There was a number of others that knew the company far better than she did and had experience compared to her, but he’d never once complained when she made mistakes those first few months.
They worked great together and had become close friends, but now he was yet another who bought into the act of the blissfully married couple. Couldn’t he tell there was something different about her the last few years or had the changes been so gradual that he couldn’t see them clearly?
“Hey…I thought you’d gotten lost somewhere in the building,” he said as she hurried to her desk five minutes late.
“Why?”
“Well, your car was in the lot, but you weren’t here,” he stated sitting on the edge of her desk as he looked through his file.
“Scott drove home last night; we were about to head in this morning when he got a call, so I had to grab a cab.”
“Long as you’re safe that’s all that matters,” he mused handing her some work to go over.
As the day wore on, she started to feel the effects of Scott’s latest treatment of her more and more. Walking hurt, as did sitting, or standing. She grabbed the bottle of Tylenol she’d started to keep in her desk and took a couple praying that they’d take the edge off of the pain and allow her to at least get her things done.
“Olivia, want to join us for drinks tonight?” Meghan asked popping her head around the door about four-thirty.
“Can’t…we have people coming over for dinner, so I have to stop by the store,” she lied keeping an eye on the clock to make sure she was out by five tonight. She’d worked through her lunch hour to make up for being late this morning as well as to get caught up.
“Go on home Liv, I know Scott must be waiting,” Will said with a smile ten till five. “I’ll see you at your parents’ place Sunday, right?”
“We’ll be there,” she agreed wishing she didn’t have to go to her parents’ annual summer barbeque. Pretending to be blissfully happy in front of everyone she knew took everything she had anymore, she was exhausted from it and the terror that overtook her every time she was alone with Scott.
“Night Liv,” he stated dropping a kiss on her temple as she headed to the door. “Remind your husband that he’s a lucky man so he doesn’t come barging in here like a bull again.”
“Hush Will,” she said forcing a laugh out. “Don’t do anything stupid without me around here tonight.”
“Such as?” he questioned with a grin.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe sleeping with the girl from the cleaning crew? We don’t need a harassment suit.”
“The last one didn’t file one although I could have,” he mused.
“Yeah so could’ve I,” she teased remembering the incident vividly.
She had been downstairs getting things set up in their main conference room for the next morning while Will had come up to get the last box. He hadn’t come back for a full twenty minutes, and she figured he must have gotten stuck on a call. He’d gotten stuck alright she’d found out as she opened the door to his office and saw the cleaning lady dressed in only a sexy nightie. He’d been pushing her off of him, but the girl hadn’t gotten the message. It put a smile on her face that not even the pull at her bruised lip could dissuade.
“There’s the Livy grin we’ve been missing,” Will stated, returning it. “So, what’s on your mind lately?”
“Nothing,” she said, but the look on his face said he didn’t buy it, which simply made her wonder why no one saw the truth of what Scott was really like, the way he terrified and abused her. It hurt to know no one could imagine Scot as a monster, know no one would believe her if she said a thing about it. It was almost worse than the physical pain he inflicted on her. “Scott’s just been working these cases and it reminds me of the madness out there.”
“Maybe it’s time you convinced Scott to take you on a nice relaxing vacation somewhere warm where you can bask in the sun like you did when you were a kid. I know your boss would let you off, after all we can survive without you for a week…any more than that might be too much though.”
“We’ll see,” she said hiding the terror that idea filled her with. No way in hell she’d ever go anywhere with Scott. She didn’t trust that he wouldn’t kill her and make it look like an accident.
She hit the store and picked up the food for the party Sunday. She always brought the salads and desserts which meant she’d be in the kitchen all day tomorrow making them.
A short prayer for Scott to get called out in the morning so she could spend the day in peace filtered through her mind, stopping her cold.
The idea that she prayed that someone would get killed sobered her up as she headed to the cash register. How could she possibly think that? How could anyone?
It stayed with her as she went home and found the house empty. That meant he was out at the bar with his buddies and when he finally got back he’d want two things…dinner and sex. She wasn’t thrilled about either of them but put some food in the oven as she did the laundry, yet something else that would likely piss him off.
She didn’t use enough starch on his shirts; she used too much. She didn’t use the right detergent; she used a softener. She didn’t match up his socks right…nothing about it was ever right. The thought of what he’d likely do and say about it this time after everything that happened this morning filled her with spite, and she stopped.
Let him wash and iron his own shirts. He was already going to use her as a punching bag…she might as well make it worth it.
She made a plate and set it on the counter for him then headed up for a bath. More than anything, she needed something to ease the pain in her body and she let the jets soothe her aches away. She couldn’t get away with this while he was here. If Scott knew she was taking a bath he’d come in and do as he had plenty of times before…hold her under the water until she thought she was going to drown.
