I nearly floated to practice. The other girls looked at me inquisitively. They wondered what had me looking so aloof. They would never understand. I knew they wouldn’t even try to understand. I didn’t bother to explain it either. To them, Chris was a convicted felon crouched around the corner waiting for his next victim like some kind of monster. They would never give him a chance to prove himself otherwise. They would never believe that the monster I dated was far more dangerous than the monster they saw in Chris King.
Trevor came by my house that Saturday. “Hello, Mrs. Davenport,” he said, dazzling my mom with his cheesy smile and charisma when she answered the door.
“Hi, Trevor,” my mom responded, obviously fooled by his act.
I never talked to my mom about the arguments Trevor and I had. As far as she knew, he was still as wonderful as that night two years prior, when he impressed her after the baseball game. “I hope your parents are doing well,” she said.
“Yes ma’am. My mom is almost finished with her nursing degree, and my dad is as busy as ever at work.”
“That’s great,” she said warmly, “I’m glad to see your dad’s business hasn’t suffered during this recession.” She walked into the kitchen to wash the dishes from dinner. I was just finishing some homework at the dining room table as he made his way over to where I was sitting.
He beamed at me as he plopped down at the table beside me. I half-heartedly grinned back at him; it was the best I had to offer.
“Ready for the movie?” he asked.
“Yep, just finishing up.” I was actually kind of excited about seeing the movie I had been begging to see for weeks. Trevor, like most guys, didn’t really enjoy chick flicks.
When I’d finished my homework, he walked me to his truck and opened the door for me. “Such a gentleman,” I commented.
“I do my best, babe!” he said, flashing those pearly whites again. He still managed to make me melt sometimes.
I waited in the lobby while he bought the tickets and popcorn. The aroma of fresh buttered popcorn caused my stomach to growl.
“Oh, hi Kaitlyn!”
Hearing Arnold’s voice characteristically caused me to scan the lobby to see if Trevor was nearby. If Trevor caught me talking to Arnold, things could get ugly. Thankfully, Trevor was nowhere to be found. “Hey, Arnold,” I said, peering around to determine if he was with a date. “Are you here by yourself?”
“Yep. I wanted to see Alien Invasion again. What movie are you guys seeing?”
“Times Gone By. It’s a movie based on a popular romance novel,” I replied.
“Trevor’s willing to watch it again?”
My eyes narrowed. “Again?”
“Yeah, you guys were here last night. I saw Trevor walking into the theater and…I thought that was you with him,” he expounded, suddenly sounding slightly distressed.
I guess the look on my face explained it all.
“Oh,” he said quietly and bit his lower lip like he knew he had said too much.
I nodded, immediately aware that Arnold had just inadvertently slipped me the truth of Trevor’s deceit.
Eva! The thought exploded in my head like an atomic bomb. Everyone was always getting us confused. From the back, she and I looked like twins. My blood boiled. I felt like my body could burst into flames. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to kill Trevor, find Eva to rip her apart limb by limb, or just run away crying and sulking in my own foolish despair.
“Sorry,” he whispered apologetically. “I’ll see you around.”
“It’s okay. Enjoy your movie.” I forced a smile. After all, it wasn’t Arnold’s fault. He had actually done me a favor. I might have never known otherwise.
“One popcorn, one Coke, and one ticket to a chick flick,” Trevor beamed as if he had just handed me a million dollars.
“Thanks,” I said flatly. I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to cuss him out right there in the middle of the theater lobby, or pretend like nothing was wrong and seize him when he least expected it.
I decided to lay low for a little while. I deserved to see the movie. He owed me at least that much. The fading bruise on my arm was proof enough as far as I was concerned. I fought the tears back with all my might. He’d probably never notice anyway. He was too busy checking out the other girls standing at the popcorn counter. How had I never noticed that before? Was I too blinded by him that I missed the signs? I reprimanded myself for trying to take the blame. This was Trevor’s fault. He was the guilty one. Not me. A soothing voice reminded me in my head, “You are worth it.” Trevor, on the other hand, was not.
I couldn’t concentrate on the movie at all. The whole time I plotted my next move. I hardly laughed at the funny scenes. Even the sad scenes barely struck a nerve. I noticed that Trevor didn’t flinch like everyone else during the surprisingly loud parts. It was almost like he already knew it was coming. My blood boiled inside of me.
“So, what did you think of the movie?” he asked once we were sitting in his truck.
“It was pretty good,” I said. “Fairly predictable.”
“Yeah, I thought so too,” he agreed. By then, we were pulling out of the parking lot and heading down the highway toward my house.
“Oh really?” I asked innocently. “So, was there anything you saw tonight that you didn’t catch last night?” My plan was intact.
“Nah,” he said absently. “I wasn’t really paying attention last ni—” Suddenly, his words caught in his throat. His eyes widened, burning with the reality of being caught, and he swallowed hard. As usual, anger fumed from him.
Ha! I got him!
“How did you know?” he screamed. “Who in the hell told you?” He stomped on his brakes and swerved into the parking lot of an old abandoned gas station. Yanking the emergency brake into position, he barely avoided slamming his truck into the gas pumps. I should’ve known better than to bring it up in the truck. I should’ve waited until we were at a safe place. He got in my face and growled, “Who. Told. You?”
I was not about to rat out Arnold. “I saw you,” I reactively spat out, covering the truth.
“Liar!” he shouted.
My eyes were wide with fear as I stammered, “I saw you…with Eva. I followed you.”
“Tell me the truth, Kaitlyn!” he roared even louder. “Whoever told you—I’ll kill them!”
That is exactly why I was not about to tell him the truth. “Take me home, Trevor.”
He glowered at me. “I’m not taking you home until you tell me who told you.”
“Fine,” I scowled at him. “I’ll walk.” I jumped out of the truck into the dark parking lot.
He flew out after me. “You’ll do no such thing. Now get in this truck right now.” He snatched me by the wrist.
Shit! Why did I confront him like this? Stupid, stupid, stupid…but, I can’t take this anymore. I can’t keep going like this! That’s it, this is over. I have to stand up for myself. God, please don’t let him hurt me! I stomped my foot and tried to jerk my hand away from him. “No, Trevor. Let me go, now! We’re over!”
He gaped at me in horror, refusing to release my wrist. “No!” he snarled through clenched teeth. His grip tightened as he twisted my arm behind me forcing it upward.
I let out a gasp. I had to be strong. I would not let him get to me. “I’m not going anywhere with you! Break my arm if it makes you feel more like a man, but I can tell you now, we are over!” I screamed the last word as loud as I could with hope that someone passing by would hear me.
“You’ll regret this,” he loosened his grip on my arm. “I can promise you. You will regret this.”
I turned my head to glare at him. “I doubt it.”
At that moment, with all of his strength, he shoved me onto the pavement. My arm was weak from being held in such an awkward position behind my back, and it buckled under the weight of my body. My face hit the pavement with such force, I quickly tasted blood on my lips. Within seconds, Trevor’s truck roared to life. His spinning tire
s spewed loose gravel all over me as he sped out of the parking lot.
I laid there for a minute trying to assess my situation. No bones seemed to be broken. I could tell my face was bleeding, but that was all. I began to shiver. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was cold or because I was terrified. I suddenly realized I was in an empty parking lot, in a bad section of town, in the dead of night. Alone.
I fumbled for my cell phone. I didn’t dare call my mom and dad. Allison was with Eric, celebrating with her family for her grandmother’s eightieth birthday. Rachel went to her dad’s house for the weekend, which was nearly fifty miles away. Oh, and I would have rotted there alone before I would have called Eva.
There was only one person left to call. I searched frantically in my jacket pockets for that wadded up piece of paper. Chris King. Nervously, I dialed the number.
Someone picked up on the fourth ring. “Hello?” a groggy female voice answered. My phone call must have woken his mom.
“I…I’m sorry,” I stumbled over my words, trying to find a way to hang up quickly. “I must have the wrong phone number.”
“Are you looking for Chris?” she asked.
“Yes, please,” I said through anxious, panting breaths.
“Hold on,” I could hear muffled sounds as the phone was being passed.
“Hello?” Chris’s voice came on the line.
“Chris!” I suddenly lost control and sobs claimed my speech.
“Kaitlyn?” he asked. “Is that you?”
“Yes.” I took a deep breath. “He drove away. He’s gone! I’m by myself! It’s dark. I’m bleeding!” The words tumbled out of my mouth like a rushing waterfall. I wasn’t even sure if I was making any sense.
“Whoa, Kaitlyn. Slow down. Where are you? What’s going on? You’re bleeding?” Chris pumped me for answers.
“I don’t know. We left the theater and headed back to my house. We got into an argument and he drove into the parking lot of the old Mobil gas station. He pushed me down. He left me here. I mean, I told him to leave, but now he’s gone,” I said, taking a breath. There would be more time for explanations later. “I’m scared, Chris.” That’s all I needed to say.
“I know exactly where you are, Kaitlyn. I’ll be there soon.”
Relief flooded me. “Thank you!”
I crouched down behind a gas pump and waited for Chris. Just in case Trevor drove by again I didn’t want him to see me. My face was swollen. It hurt pretty badly. I could tell one of my eyes was almost swollen shut. My arm was sore, but I was so thankful it wasn’t broken.
Suddenly, a black souped-up Honda CRX swerved into the parking lot. A silhouette jumped out of the driver’s seat. “Kaitlyn?” Chris’s voice sounded worried.
“I’m right here,” I called out. He rushed over to me. I tried to smile through the pain on my face. “Thanks for coming to get—”
“Oh my god!” Chris interrupted. “What the hell did he do to you?!” He lifted my chin up and to the side to get a good look at the injuries on my cheek. I could tell by the look of horror on his face that it had to be bad. Shaking his head, he wrapped me in his strong, comforting arms.
I collapsed into his chest. “It was my fault. I shouldn’t have pissed him off…” I apologized into his shirt.
“Don’t, Kaitlyn. Don’t you fucking say that! He’s the one who did this. This is all on him. I’m gonna kill that motherfucker!” he growled.
“Please, Chris, you don’t understand. You can’t do that. He’s got the whole town in his back pocket. They won’t think twice. They’ll send you back to juvie. Please, don’t do anything. I need you here,” I pleaded with him as my tears threatened to fall.
He held my gaze and pulled me tighter against him. Brushing a strand of hair off my forehead, he assured me, “Only for you, Kaitlyn. If it were up to me, I’d put that asshole six feet under, but just for you, I swear I won’t touch him.” He held me there while I tried to compose myself. I held my breath to keep the sobs from coming. I knew the salty tears would sting my face. “It’s okay.” His voiced soothed me as he gently stroked my hair. “I’m here now. He’s not going to hurt you again.” I wasn’t strong enough. My sobs got the best of me and my chest heaved under the pressure. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get you out of here.”
We drove by the drug store on the way to his house. I couldn’t go home looking like I did. What was I going to tell my mom? Maybe once I got cleaned up a little I could conjure up a convincing story of tripping down the stairs.
He ran in and out in record time. I think he was afraid to leave me alone for too long. Thankfully, Trevor wouldn’t recognize his car even if he did see it.
When we got to his house, he helped me up the stairs to his kitchen. At that point, my eye was swollen completely shut. He pulled out a chair from under the table.
“Dr. King, at your service,” he said with a grin. I flinched as I tried to smile back at him. “Don’t,” he whispered. “Let me get you cleaned up. Maybe the medicine will help with the pain.” He withdrew some antiseptic, a few bandages, a roll of tape, and some tweezers out of the plastic drug store bag.
“Tweezers?” I asked, perplexed.
“To get the gravel out.” He winced empathetically. Within minutes he had it all removed. The tears falling from my eyes burned my face. “It will be over soon,” he assured me. His dark eyes comforted me. The antiseptic stung when he touched it to my cheek. I flinched. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“It’s okay. Go ahead. Do it quick, though.” I held my breath.
The burning was over after a few seconds. Chris had me bandaged up in no time. “Almost good as new…and just as beautiful,” he lied.
“Yeah, right,” I looked at my reflection in the window.
“Well, at least you have a pretty convincing story, right?”
Just then, we heard feet shuffling into the kitchen. “Chris!” his mother’s voice boomed. “What have you done?”
“Nothing mom. I was just helping her out,” he said truthfully.
“Chris,” his mom repeated accusingly.
I practiced my story on her. “It’s not his fault. I called him to come help me. I was out shopping and I tripped on a curb and landed on the pavement. My eyes were too swollen to drive myself home so I called Chris to come get me.”
It worked.
“I hope you’re okay,” she told me as she grabbed her reading glasses off the kitchen counter and disappeared into the dimly lit living room.
“Well, at least you’ve had some practice in getting your story straight,” Chris said half-jokingly.
“Yeah, I’m not a very good liar,” I admitted.
He winked at me. “I can tell.”
“There’s just one more big favor I need,” I told him.
“You name it,” he said whole-heartedly.
“Okay. I need to sneak home, get my car, take it to the Stop-n-Shop, and have you bring me back home again.” I felt sure my parents were already asleep in bed. They felt comfortable going to bed even when they knew I was out with Trevor. I guess they thought Trevor would keep me safe. Ha! “I’ll just tell my parents that Trevor dropped me back off at home after the movie and I hopped in my car and headed back out for a little shopping. That’s convincing, right?” I asked, not certain I even convinced myself.
“I guess. You don’t really have a choice, right? I mean your mom saw you leave with Trevor. She’s going to wonder why you needed me to come pick you up,” he reasoned.
“I’m just not ready to tell her the truth. I’m not sure she would believe me. She thinks the world of Trevor.” Quite honestly, I wasn’t sure if anyone besides Chris would believe me if I told the truth. Trevor was the Golden Boy, the star athlete, the model student, and every underclassman’s hero. Everyone loved him.
It didn’t take long to sneak my car out of the driveway and drop it off at Stop-n-Shop. I was a little disappointed that my night with Chris was coming to an end. In the meantime, my cell phone had r
ung off the hook. I finally put it on silent mode after the tenth time. Chris and I sat in his car and listened to the many voice mail messages Trevor left for me. They ranged in emotions from angry death threats to pleading declarations of love.
“Save those,” Chris suggested. “You might need them later.”
“Good idea,” I agreed.
We pulled into my driveway a little after one in the morning. My curfew was normally midnight, but my parents had gone to bed long before that. They would never know what time I actually arrived home. When they thought I was with Trevor, they never enforced the curfew.
“Thank you again for coming to my rescue,” I stated, staring at Chris in the driver’s seat.
“Anytime. That’s what I told you, and that’s what I meant. I’m glad you called me,” he said. “Under different circumstances, I would tell you I had a great time tonight.”
“It’s okay,” I assured him. I understood what he meant, because I felt exactly the same way.
Chris watched me in the darkness. “He doesn’t deserve you, Kaitlyn. You deserve to be treated with kindness and respect.” Chris reached over and took my hand in his, lacing our fingers together. The touch of his hand ignited a warmth upon my skin. It burned its way up my arm. A sensuous longing permeated throughout my body. My heart jump started in my chest as pounding adrenaline coursed through my entire body. “I would never hurt you, you know,” he continued, rubbing his thumb across the soft flesh of my hand. “I mean, if you were my girl, I would never do anything to hurt you. Ever. You would mean too much to me. Trevor should feel the same way. It’s not fair the way he treats you, and he still gets the girl.”
“I know. You’re right,” I said sadly, staring at the interlocked fingers of our hands in my lap. “I can’t explain it. Trevor and I have been together almost two years. He was my first real boyfriend. I was in too deep before I realized what he was capable of doing to me. I broke up with him tonight, but this fight isn’t over. He might have left me alone in that parking lot, but I’ll have to face him again. What scares me the most is that he’ll convince me to take him back.” I winced at the memory of Trevor’s death threat, but continued, “For reasons I can’t explain, I can’t seem to get away from him. I know you don’t understand. No one does…” my voice trailed off. The shiny black 9mm that I knew Trevor kept in a locked box under his bed was the reason I couldn’t explain; it was the reason no one understood. Fear kept me tied to Trevor. Fear alone.
So Much It Hurts Page 8