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It’s been two weeks since I’ve been alone with him. I’ve seen him sitting beside her at church, but that’s it. I’ve volunteered in the nursery and listened to her go on about the baby they’re still trying to have while digging my nails into my fists to keep myself from scratching her eyes out.
I can’t wait for the day when it’s me by his side at these events. My parents might have a hard time with it at first, but they’ll have to get over it. They like Mark; they think he’s a great person. I don’t see why that would have to change.
And Ally…I don’t care what she thinks anymore. It was a nice idea, though—that we’d be family inthisway, not because she was fucking my loser stepbrother.
I cross the road and climb into the car.
“I missed you so much,” I tell him as I close the door behind me. I climb onto the center console, lean over, and kiss his lips.
But he doesn’t kiss me back.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“We have a problem, Darci. You’ve been threatening me, thinking you can tell me what I can and can’t do,” he says. “This endsnow.”
“What ends now? What do you mean?” Iask.
“We’re done, Darci.”
My eyes fill with tears. “No…but…you said you loved me. You said we were going to be together for real.”
He laughs. “I wanted one thing from you. And it was good, but you’ve become a liability.”
“You’re lying!” I shout. I start hammering his chest with both of my fists. “You love me. You want to be with me! Stop worrying about them! Man the fuck up and tell her the truth, or I will.”
I feel something cold and metal jut into my chin.
“No, that’s not what I want,” he says. “You know what your problem is, Darci? You’re smart, but not conventionally smart—you’re smart in the way that makes a woman dangerous. You’re cunning, and I should have known better. There are so many more Darcis out there with fewer brain cells to rub together who would be a lot easier to control.That’swhat I want.”
I hear his words, and I feel the barrel of the gun under my chin, but I can’t make sense of any of it.
“You don’t want some stupid girl, Mark,” I tell him. “You want me. You want what we have together.” I swallow hard and reach for the waistband of his pants, but he only pushes the gun harder into my throat. I sink back into my chair.
“You’re going to give me your phone, Darci. And you’ll never mention any of this to anyone, or it will be the last thing you ever do. I won’t lose everything I worked for over some needy little whore.”
“I’m pregnant!” I lie. I stopped taking my birth control, but it’s way too soon to know. “We’re having a baby. That’s what you wanted, right? You’ve wanted a baby for so long. We can have that together.”
He laughs, but not like he usually does. His eyes stay hard and dark. “You stupid little girl,” he says, pulling the hammer back. “You are not having this baby. We’re going to take care of this now—right after you give me that phone.”
No.
I will not go down like this—tossed aside and ashamed. He won’t get away with it. If he wants to do this to me, there are going to be some fucking consequences, damn it.
And he’s smart. He won’t just shoot me…I don’t think.
My eyes dart to the driver’s side door. I try to make out the status of the lock in the dark. The car is off, and I never heard it click when I got in; as far as I can tell, it’s unlocked.
“Okay,” I tell him. “I’ll give you the phone.”
I reach behind me but go for the door handle instead, then throw myself out of the car. I tumble down into the ditch, hearing him screaming after me, but the words are muffled as if I’m hearing them through water. Once I stop rolling, I pull myself onto my feet and break into a run back toward the woods and the safety of my home.
But I don’t even make it across the road.
I never see the other car coming. I don’t know if it’s from the tunnel vision caused by adrenaline and fear or if maybe the driverwas drunk and had their headlights off, but the next thing I know, all I feel is pain. I’m rolling over the hood of a car, and it’s almost surreal how slowly everything is happening.
My body hits the pavement, but I don’t feel it. I don’t feel anything. I try to get up, but I can’t move my legs.
My eyes flutter open, and I see Mark step out of his vehicle. He stands over me, emotionless.
