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“Didn’t I tell you to make yourself invisible?” he sneers, his voice low and tight.
“I—I did,” I protest. “I was—”
“Shut up,” he cuts me off. “You were in the kitchen, in plain sight. Just like I told you not to be. Don’t you ever fuckin’ listen?”
Barely minutes after the Kings’ VP left, Hammerhead stormed into my room, a look of rage darkening his face. I tuck myself into the corner of my bed, my pillow pulled into my lap protectively, trying to make myself as small as I can. I think that’s the only thing saving me from catching a beating right now. My bed is so low to the floor that to get to me, he’d have to bend down quite a bit. His girth doesn’t allow him to bend down that far.
It’s a thought that makes me want to laugh but I hold it in. Laughing right now would make him pissed off. I don’t want to make him have to put in effort. That would only make the beating that much worse.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I was hungry and thought you—”
“No, see, that’s the problem. You didn’t think. You never fuckin’ think,” he growls.
Hammerhead looms over me, his dirty face twisted into a mask of rage. He’s in an even worse mood than he was earlier so I can only assume that the Kings VP smacked him down. It usually goes that way—when somebody else humiliates him or upsets him in any way, he takes it out on me. Every single time. I’m less his ol’ lady and more his punching bag. And it’s been that way from the start.
“We didn’t speak, Hammerhead. We didn’t say a word to each other,” I protest. “I don’t know what your problem is.”
“Oh, you don’t?”
I shake my head. “I don’t. We didn’t even speak to each other.”
“I told you I didn’t even want Hawk to see you!” he roars. “I told you to stay out of sight! Are you deaf or just fuckin’ stupid?”
My frustration is boiling over and I’m having a hard time keeping it in check. I know talking back to him will carry consequences but for whatever reason, right now, I don’t care. I’m just so tired of this. All of this.
I am pleased, though, to finally have a name to put to the man’s handsome face. Hammerhead is so pissed I don’t think he even realized he let it slip in front of me. That’s the one good thing about him—the angrier he gets, the dumber he becomes. I can always count on him to say or do something stupid when he gets riled up.
“No, that’s not what you told me,” I snap back. “You told me that I’m to be seen and not heard. Well, I was seen and because I didn’t say anything to him, I wasn’t heard either!”
His expression darkens and he grits his teeth as he stares at me. He’s trembling with so much anger right now that his jowls are jiggling. It’s almost comical. Or would be if I wasn’t afraid that he would kill me for my defiance.
“Your smart mouth is gonna get your teeth kicked in if you’re not careful, woman. I’m gettin’ real tired of your lip.”
“What is the big deal?” I demand. “What does it matter if this Hawk guy saw me?”
“Because I said it was. I told you I didn’t want him seein’ you. And around here, my fuckin’ word is the law,” he growls. “You’d think that’s somethin’ you’d know after all these years together and all the times I tried to teach you that lesson. Looks like you’re gonna need a refresher course though.”
Seeing him standing there, trembling and jiggling in his impotent rage, forces something inside of me to shift. The only way I can explain it is that it feels like some door inside of me slamming shut and another one opening. I don’t understand it. But for some reason, I feel the fear Hammerhead has inspired in me from day one begin to fall. It’s replaced by a strength rising within me, a strength that I didn’t even know I had. I’m left speechless for a moment.
I stand up straight, feeling that new sense of strength filling every square inch of my body. I don’t know what’s causing it or why I suddenly feel this way, but for the first time in my life, the anger is blotting out my fear. I’m suddenly not afraid of him. Well, that’s not true. I’m still afraid of him, but for the first time, I’m not paralyzed by that fear. It’s not keeping me quiet and docile. In this moment, I feel like I could take on the world.
It’s a strange sensation and I don’t understand where it’s coming from or why it’s only filling me now. I don’t get why I didn’t feel this strength earlier. But whatever the reason, I’m glad to feel it now. I know it’s going to cost me but right now, I don’t care. Right now, I want Hammerhead to see that I’m not scared of him. I’ll deal with the fallout later.
“You can beat me all you want,” I hiss. “It’s not going to change a thing. I did what you told me to do.”
His eyes narrowed into vicious, evil slits, he reaches down and grabs me by the hair, yanking me to my feet. I grimace with the pain and struggle feebly against his grip. Hammerhead delivers a vicious slap that sends lightning bolts of pain crackling along my every nerve ending. But the pain doesn’t stop me. Not this time. Instead, it only makes me angrier.
“Does that feel better, Martin?” I mock him, knowing how much he hates his given name. “Does that make you feel like a man?”
He growls and drives a fist into my stomach, driving the air out of my lungs with a loud “oomph.” Hammerhead lets go of my hair and I double over, clutching my midsection as I try to swallow large gulps of air. I’m queasy and feel like I might throw up, tasting the bile in the back of my throat. But I don’t care. I’ll throw up all over his stupid face if I have to.
When I stand up again, I narrow my eyes and grit my teeth. I have no idea where this surge of righteous rage is coming from but I’m going to ride it until the wheels fall off. Reaching back, I deliver a hard slap across his face, snapping his head to the side and making his jowls quiver. There’s a perfect red mark in the shape of my hand on his cheek and a thin trickle of blood spills from his lip.
He looks at me, some of the hardness in his eyes fading, replaced by surprise that I’d lashed out at him. Hammerhead wipes the blood with his thumb then looks at it. He nods to himself then wipes the smear of blood on his shirt. He looks up at me with a sly grin crossing his lips and his eyes glitter dangerously.
“Well, somethin’ put a fire in that belly of yours. Is it Hawk? Did the sight of him get you all wet, Molly?” he a with a small chuckle. “Are you trying to impress him, hoping he’ll give it to you good? Is that what’s giving you a spine all of a sudden?”
“You’re a pig,” I growl.
