Claiming Racheal

by Michelle Woods

  Chapter 15

  They pulled up to their cabin at about nine o’clock Racheal crawled off the bike. Tiny reached out taking her hand after he too had crawled off the bike. He pulled her into his arms for a short hug then took her hand, and led her towards the house. Both of them were a bit solemn, lost as they were in their own thoughts.

  Tiny unlocked the cabin after grabbing their bag, letting her enter before him, following after her with a sigh.

  “We’re going to have to talk about what happened today, Racheal.” Tiny declared, as she entered their room. Racheal turned to him and sighed.

  “I know.” She didn’t want to be the one responsible for turning Tiny, who was a normally an easy going man, into the angry man who’d beat a man almost to death today. “Can it wait a bit though? I just want you to hold me.”

  “Yeah, but we need to talk about it.” Tiny replied walking into the room setting down the bag of their clothes near the dresser.

  “Let’s take a shower then we’ll lie down and discuss it.” Racheal croaked, and Tiny nodded following her into the bathroom.

  He held her while the hot spray of the shower caressed her skin. His rough hands ran a rag over her body helping her wash. The tender way he held her and the hesitancy in his touch let her know that today had bothered him as much as it had her. She feared what he would tell her about today and why it had happened. If he told her that she was the cause of his rage she would have to let him go, and just the thought of letting Tiny go made panic rise within her.

  Tiny wanted to make love to Racheal, but knew that now wasn’t the time. She was still too upset right now to handle it. He wanted to assure her that everything would be okay, but this time he wasn’t sure it would be. He’d frightened her today and seeing her flinch from him had nearly ripped his heart from his chest. The fear in her eyes had nearly broke him. He just wanted to care for her and he always seemed to be fucking it up.

  Helping her to dry off a few moments later, he almost groaned at the site of her beautiful body displayed before him. He wanted to kiss her from her head to her toes. He wanted to own every inch of her body, but he knew they needed to talk first, and he was going to have to tell her about his mother. Tiny walked to the bedroom watching as she slipped on some panties. He lay down when she did pulling the covers over them and lying on his back, allowing her to settle against him.

  After a few minutes of lying this way, he began the conversation they were both dreading, even though he didn’t want her to know about the man who’d raised him. His reaction to the situation today may cause her to fear him after he told her of his father. He knew that he would never hurt her, but he was afraid after what Eugene did to her that she wouldn’t be able to accept that he wouldn’t harm her, ever.

  “When I was six I realized that my old man was beating my mother.” Tiny began in a tight voice, feeling Racheal stiffen.

  Racheal almost cried at Tiny’s words. Not just with relief either, but with the pain she sensed was still inside Tiny over what he was about to tell her. She waited, listening.

  “He threw her against the wall, and I can still remember blood spraying from her mouth as she hit the wall and fell down. I ran into the room yelling at him to stop hurting my mother. That was the first time he hit me.” Tiny let out an audible gulp.

  “He would laugh as he beat her sometimes. I would hide under the bed like my mother always insisted, crying. I couldn’t always stay hidden though and he would beat me worse when I came out,” Tiny’s arms gripped her tighter. “Then when I was ten it got a lot worse. He was always accusing her of sleeping with other men, and she would always say she hadn’t and that she loved him. It was sickening to watch her beg. I almost sometimes hated her for it, and not because she was weak. No, I almost hated her because she didn’t leave him, no matter how many times he hit her.”

  “Tiny…” Racheal clutched him, silent tears running down her face.

  “Shh… I need to get this out and if I stop I won’t be able to say it all. So, please let me finish.” His hand ran down her back as she lay with her head on his shoulder her face buried in his chest, and her leg thrown over his.

  “When I was ten, like I said, things seem to escalate. Mom finally decided we needed to leave. She began talking to my grandmother in secret. I was glad we were finally getting away from him. By that point he’d broken my arm twice, my nose once and my ribs four times. I just wanted to be safe and I didn’t know that he’d never allow that to happen.” Tiny’s voice caught on the last part and he paused for a moment to control the emotions rolling through him.

  “Three days before we were to meet my grandmother, I wanted to go to my friend’s house. I had just turned elven the week before and I didn’t get a party because he wouldn’t allow it. Mom let me go, I think she knew what was going to happen. She was pale and withdrawn for an hour before I left and she hugged me so tight when I told her I was headed to Max’s. I remember saying ‘stop mom I’ll be home in a few hours and you can see me then.’ She laughed, but I could tell it was fake. I left going over to my friends anyway, but I should have stayed.” Tiny voice filled with the rage that she’d seen at the diner a few hours ago. It was a relief that it wasn’t her fault Tiny was so angry, but she wished she could take this rage from him.

  “That was the last time I saw my mother alive.” Tiny finally continued.

  “Oh God, Tiny. I’m so sorry.” Racheal tearfully whispered.

  “He killed her, and then himself. I came home and found the sick bastard dead with her on his lap. He’d killed her first, you could see that she’d been beaten so bad there was no way she could have survived. He’d hit her with the gun over and over first to knock her out then shot her to be sure she was dead. Her skull was almost completely crushed. That’s why I flew into a rage today at that diner. It’s why I kept kicking him. Because all I could see was my old man beating my mother to death before he shot himself.” Tiny whispered the last against her hair as she held him tightly, crying.

  “If I’d been there I could have done something, but I just wanted to go to a friends. It didn’t matter that I knew something was wrong with my mother. He had gotten worse since I began getting bigger because he knew that I would soon be able to stop him. It was already happening. I’d already stopped him from hitting her on several occasions. If I’d been there I might have stopped him.” Tiny kept repeating.

  “No, no, baby…no. If you’d been there he would have killed you too. He had a gun Tiny and you were elven. Maybe you could have stopped him, but more than likely he would have killed you as well as her.” Racheal pushed up running her hands down the sides of his face. Tiny’s eyes were filled with anger at his father and guilt for leaving his mother alone that day.

  She knew that most likely had Tiny been there his father would have killed him too and if his mother had known what was going to happen or suspected, she’d sent him to his friends on purpose. She was glad that Tiny hadn’t been there because she couldn’t imagine a life without him. She held him while tears for his mother filled his eyes though he blinked them away quickly. She kissed his cheeks and then she cried for him, knowing he wouldn’t cry for himself.

  He held Racheal as she cried running his hands down her back wishing he could cry with her and grateful that his story hadn’t scared her away. It wasn’t long before they both slipped into an exhausted sleep.

  “No…please, please not again…” Racheal was tossing back and forth on the pillow screaming. Tiny woke on the other side of the bed hearing her screams. She hadn’t had one of these nightmares in a while. What happened yesterday and what he’d told her must have triggered another one he thought as he gently shook her arm trying to wake her.

  “Please...please I won’t do it again please.” Racheal begged, coming awake seconds later with a start hearing Tiny’s soothing voice.

  “Shh…it’s okay he’s gone. I’m here.” Racheal latched onto Tiny, clinging, while she shivered with the fear that always fille
d her after these nightmares.

  “Damn, I thought I’d stopped having those dreams.” She whispered a few moments later when the fear had begun to fade.

  “Do you want to talk about it? Sometimes you just need to let it go, in order to make it feel further away from you.” Tiny suggested

  “I...I don’t know.” Racheal lay there in Tiny’s arms thinking of the nightmare. It always seemed to wake her after a stressful day. Would it ever go away?

  Then just when she thought she could go back to sleep she began speaking. “He would hold me down sometimes, and he’d…he’d put a pillow over my face. I remember screaming, but no one heard me. It was awful. I couldn’t breathe and I could hear him laughing at the gasps I was letting out.” Racheal buried her face in his chest. It was disturbing how frightening retelling this was for her.

  Tiny stilled waiting his hand rubbing her back slowly even as everything inside him clenched. He almost couldn’t bear to listen to her tell this story, but he knew about the poison abuse could build up and he didn’t want her to ever end up like him. He knew that what had happened to him had scarred him permanently. He didn’t want that to happen to Racheal and that meant letting the poison out. Talking about the trauma was like lancing a boil, rough but necessary

  “Then there where the insane questions, I would be home two minutes late and he would insist I’d been with another man. The hitting would start, always in the stomach so no bruises showed. Thank god, he couldn’t get his dick hard without a stimulant, which he was too embarrassed to buy or he would have raped me too.” She felt Tiny stiffen again at this admission.

  “Eugene was an evil man. He was always blaming me for everything, and he even threatened to have my mother killed when I told him I was going to leave him. I became a broken woman, just like your mother.” Racheal felt her tears threaten again realizing it was true. She’d allowed Eugene to destroy her. It hadn’t happened all at once she finally realized, no it had been a slow process that had stolen her soul bit by tiny bit.

  “Darlin’ no, that’s not true you got away. My mother was too afraid and she waited until it was too late.” Tiny murmured.

  “No, Tiny. I didn’t. I was just lucky. Tha…that night,” Her breath hitched as she thought about that night. “He was angry because I was talking with another man at his mother’s party. When we got home h-he was furious screaming at me that he was going to kill me and I was cowering away from the belt he was hitting me with begging him to stop, and promising him anything to get him to stop. I just wanted him to stop.” Her voice was shaky and she began to cry in earnest.

  Shifting beneath her, his whole body seethed with anger at the man whose abuse he hadn’t been there to prevent. Tiny wanted to hit the wall, break something, anything but stay still and wait for her to finish telling a story he had no control over. Knowing that was what she needed he waited trying not to let his pain and anger on her behalf show.

  “He started hitting me with his fist then, knocking me all over the kitchen. He hit me with a pan screaming that I was a whore. He slammed my head into the counter and I knew he’d broken my nose, and I was still crying trying not to make him angrier. Then he told me he was going to kill me and I thou-thought,” Her voice hiccupped then she continued. “God forgive me, I thought, GOOD! That’s how far gone I was. I was grateful that I wouldn’t have to bear it anymore.”

  Tiny couldn’t help it he exclaimed. “FUCK!” He couldn’t imagine being without her and he didn’t want to hear anymore, but he had to know what made her fight Eugene instead.

  “What happened then, Babe?” Knowing he wasn’t going to like this anymore than he had the rest of her story, he held his breath, waiting.

  “He told me when I was dead he was going after my mother. Tha-that’s what made me realize that I couldn’t just die. That I was going have to kill him instead. I grabbed a knife out of the block and ran at him. Then everything gets a little hazy. He’d hit me in the head several times by this point, and I was so far gone, all I remember is the knife going in over and over as I screamed and screamed.” Racheal paused taking a breath before she blurted out.

  “The next thing I knew the guards were showing up and taking me to the prison. I was covered from head to toe in his blood still holding the knife when they showed up so there was no question whether or not I’d killed him.” Rising up she looked at him again hoping that he didn’t think less of her now, but all she saw was forgiveness and understanding in Tiny’s eyes as he pulled her down kissing her lightly.

  Pulling back from her he whispered. “Get some sleep. We have to go back to work in the morning.” Then he kissed her forehead.

  Tiny waited until she was sound asleep again before he slipped from the bed and went down to the basement where his workout room was. He put on his ties then he began to hit the bag and every time his fist slammed into it he wished it was Eugene, that stupid fuck.

  Chapter 16

  The next afternoon, Tiny was leaning into the engine of the car he was working on, using a ratchet to loosen the bolts on the radiator. Racheal had left a few hours ago with Tracy to go see Lisa’s baby and they still weren’t back yet.

  Since last night things had been a little uncomfortable for both of them. Opening your soul to someone as they had last night left you feeling vulnerable. Not that he didn’t feel closer to her than he ever had before, but he felt a little uncomfortable that she’d seen the pain that lived so deeply inside him.

  Tiny lost in his own thoughts almost had a heart attack when he heard the woman’s voice from over his left shoulder. He’d thought he was alone and had no idea that anyone else had entered the shop’s bay area.

  “Boy, you think it’s okay to steal my daughter away without permission, do ya?” Miss Pearl grumbled near his ear, causing him to flinch.

  “Shit! You scared me!” Tiny exclaimed in surprise, feeling even more freaked that it was Racheal’s crazy mother speaking to him.

  “Hum…I think perhaps you and I should talk boy.” Pearl was glaring at him, which made him shudder slightly. This woman really freaked him out and he thought she was well aware of that fact.

  “Umm, okay?” Tiny questioned, a little apprehensive at her suggestion.

  “My girl, she’s special, you know that right?” Pearl asked, looking at him as he wiped his hands on a rag, standing up and stepping away from the car. Although, he was really just backing away from the insane woman in case she decided to do something crazy. Like grab his dick or hit him with something. He wouldn’t put either of those options past her. The woman was mentally disturbed.

  He also couldn’t argue with her assessment of Racheal, she was amazing. That was why he didn’t want to offend her mother by running to the back room and locking himself in while yelling nobody was home. Yep, he really was scared of a woman in her sixties and he wasn’t afraid to admit it.

  “I know that, yes.” Tiny finally replied, meeting the woman’s eyes hoping she didn’t do anything freaky.

  “You know if you hurt her I’ll cut your balls off and make you eat them right?” Pearl questioned as if it were no big deal to say something like this to a virtual stranger.

  Clearing his throat uncomfortable with the direction of this conversation, even as he respected her fierce protection of Racheal. He knew that she was just trying to be sure he was good enough for her daughter, but he couldn’t figure her out and it wigged him out. Pearl was a wild card, you never knew what she was going to do. He gulped loudly watching her carefully.

  “I won’t hurt her.” Tiny told her stepping over to the counter nearby attempting to lean on it in a casual pose. He watched as she came closer, wanting to run in the other direction, but afraid to show any weakness. He would bet money that showing any weakness to Pearl would be like showing a bloody finger to a shark, in other words it was a good way to end up dead.

  “I didn’t stop her from doing something stupid before even when I knew it was a mistake. That will never happen again. Do you under
stand that nothing on this earth would help you if you make her unhappy? That girl means more to me than anything on this earth, and I will protect her with every breath I have left.” Pearl growled fiercely.

  Tiny wasn’t surprised by this bold declaration from the woman standing before him. He knew that guilt over what had happened to her daughter ate at her. It made her fiercely protective, and he understood that because he felt the same way about Racheal, she was his world.

  Pearl watched him for so long it made him uneasy. Not wanting to show how uncomfortable he was, but filled with nervous energy, Tiny grabbed a rag using it to clean the grease from his hands. Tiny wasn’t normally afraid of old ladies, but Pearl was different. She creeped him out, and his need not to offend his woman’s mother made him feel the need to run and hide every time his saw her.

  It was a sad state of affairs when a biker, for fucks sake, wanted to run from an old lady. Tiny knew he was acting like a damned pansy every time he saw the older woman. Tiny sighed, he was acting ridiculous. He just needed to grow a pair and act like a biker, not a pussy.

  “You might also want to deal with that hussy.” Pearl finally added coldly.

  Tiny looked at her not knowing who she was talking about. What hussy? He continued to clean under his nails with the rag looking at her questioningly.

  “If that hussy attacks my girl again, I will not be held responsible for my actions.” Pearl sneered at him.

  Tiny stilled, what the hell was she talking about? No one had attacked Racheal, she would have told him if they had. Wouldn’t she?

  “What hussy?” Tiny asked, waiting for Pearl to answer him.

  “That one Mae said you were running around screwing before my girl showed up.” Pearl replied glaring at him.