Scarred (Damaged Souls)

by Twyla Turner

Sloan stood reaching out a hand to help her up. Once she was standing, Lexi gingerly put her weight on her right leg testing her hip. Pain shot up her leg and she fell into Sloan. His reflexes quick, Sloan caught and steadied her.

  “Do I need to get you to a hospital?” Sloan asked, worried.

  “No. It just hurt a little more than I anticipated. I’m okay.” Lexi said grimacing in pain.

  “Here, sit if you can. I’ll be right back.” Sloan said pointing to the edge of the tub, before leaving the room to run downstairs.

  A few moments later Sloan quickly strode back into the bathroom with clothes in his hands. Lexi blushed as he handed her panties and a long sleeveless night shirt, too embarrassed to ask why he didn’t bring her regular clothes.

  “Put these on.” Sloan said as he turned his back to her for privacy, but refusing to leave in case she fell again.

  “Okay, I’m decent.” Lexi said when she was finished putting on the clothes he had given her.

  Without a word, Sloan stepped up to her and swept her up in his arms, walking out of the bathroom and downstairs. He placed her on the couch in the living room and she looked up at him curiously.

  “I originally came upstairs to ask if I could borrow the car to go to the grocery store to pick up some things for dinner. Is that okay?” Sloan asked.

  “Yeah, sure. Go ahead.” Lexi answered. “Can you bring me my purse?”

  “Sure.”

  Sloan walked back to the kitchen and then came back a few seconds later handing Lexi her purse. She reached inside and pulled out her keys and debit card, giving them to Sloan.

  “Are you sure you’ll be alright?” Sloan asked concern filling his eyes.

  “Yeah, I’ll be okay. Just go. I’m a big girl.” Lexi smiled up at him.

  “Okay, I’ll be right back.” Sloan bent down to kiss her softly on the lips, as if it was a common occurrence, strategically chipping away at the wall of protection she had built around her.

  Lexi stared at his back as he walked out the front door. Sloan hadn’t been gone two minutes before her cell rang showing a private number. Lexi knew exactly who it was, and for once she wasn’t overcome with fear. After such a cleansing and healing twenty-four hours, she felt stronger than she ever had. So with a steady hand she answered the call, ready to put a stop to the madness.

  “Eric, what do you want?” She asked in a firm voice, clearly taking control over the call by not pretending to not know who was calling. And it worked because at first there was nothing but silence on the other line. “Let me ask you again. What exactly do you want?”

  “Look here, bitch! You ruined my fucking life and then you think that you can run off?! Don’t think I won’t find you. You’re mine and no one else can have you while I’m still breathing.” Eric ranted into the phone.

  “Well then you just made it really easy for me. Because if you so much as come five-hundred feet near me, I’ll kill you, you worthless piece of shit! So stay the fuck away from me and lose my fucking number, prick!” Lexi shouted and ended the call with a satisfied click, not giving Eric a chance to respond, not like he was saying much anyway.

  Lexi laid her head back on the arm of the couch and smiled, feeling a newfound sense of confidence and control. Her eyes closed in exhaustion and she drifted off to sleep. The soft click of the door closing brought Lexi out of her brief nap. She looked up to see Sloan smiling down at her with hands filled with bags.

  “I tried not to wake you. Sorry.” Sloan apologized.

  “It’s okay. So what’s for dinner?” Lexi asked as her stomach growled.

  “It’s a surprise. Let me get started and I’ll be right back.” Sloan said, handing over her keys and card, leaning over to plant another kiss on her lips.

  “You’re getting mighty comfortable passing out kisses.” Lexi said as he straightened and started out of the living room.

  “Yep.” Sloan said nonchalantly as he walked into the kitchen.

  Lexi had never been so tired in her life after all the physical labor she had done. So listening to the sounds of Sloan preparing dinner she drifted back to sleep again.

  Gentle fingers caressing her cheek woke her up.

  “Mmm…is dinner ready?” Lexi said groggily.

  “No, it’s in the oven.” Sloan answered. “I have something for you. I want you to relax and not freak out, okay?” Sloan said cautiously.

  “Uh…okay.” Lexi said warily.

  Sloan produced a bottle, flipped the cap and poured the liquid into his hand. The smell of the potent fluid hit Lexi’s nostrils and she cringed.

  “What’s that?!” Lexi asked wrinkling her nose.

  “Just some ointment to soothe your muscles and your bruised hip. I used to use it when I did construction before, after a particularly rough day. Just try to relax.” Sloan said, rubbing the smelly ointment in between both hands.

  Carefully lifting her night shirt above her hip, Sloan gently placed his hands on her tender hip. Lexi froze as the warmth from his hands seeped into her flesh. She thought that she’d recoil from his touch, but it turned out to be the opposite. She wanted more, so much more.

  Sloan softly smoothed and kneaded the ointment into the aching muscle in her hip. His hand slid under the side of her panties trying to get to the top of her hip. The material getting in his way, Sloan clasped the edge of her panties and slowly pulled at them. Lexi got the hint and surprising him as well as herself, she lifted her hips off the couch making it easier for him to pull her panties down to her knees.

  Sloan grit his teeth as he massaged up her outer thigh to her hip and he watched as Lexi bit her lower lip, trying to hold back her moans. Reaching down deep to pull out every gentlemanly bone in his body, Sloan pulled her panties back up after rubbing in the ointment fully. He didn’t want, even for a second for Lexi to ever feel regret over making love to him, that she wasn’t ready or that he took advantage of her. She had to come to him on her own.

  “Would you like me to massage your arms and shoulders? If not you might be too sore to lift even a paintbrush tomorrow. Though that would probably be a good thing for me.” Sloan offered.

  “Yes, please.” Lexi said softly.

  She sat up slightly on her side and pulled down the loose straps of her nightshirt and held it to her braless breasts so that it wouldn’t fall. Sloan thought he’d burst into flames at the shy look she gave him over her shoulder before she laid on her stomach. This woman is testing every ounce of my strength.

  Sloan poured more ointment onto his hands and placed them on her soft creamy back. His hands began to smooth the potent oil over her skin. He rubbed the aching muscles between her shoulder blades and glided his hands up to the tops of her shoulders. He worked his way down her arms, making sure he didn’t miss her tired biceps.

  Wanting to give her lower back some attention, Sloan straddled her hips and bit his bottom lip painfully as he tried to ignore her glorious ass that was right underneath him. With just his fingertips, Sloan slowly stroked down Lexi’s back and not able to help himself, he leaned forward kissing down her spine as his fingers gently pulled down the nightshirt, revealing new skin.

  Lexi’s body was racked with tremors at his touch and soft kisses. Sloan straddling her hips, somewhat trapping her, nearly sent her over the edge. Her brain fired off warnings, telling her to buck him off, but her body wanted more of the sensations he was giving her. Lexi bit her lip and buried her face in the couch, trying to focus on the loving touches Sloan gave her, instead of the possibility that he could hurt her in the vulnerable position he had her in. And as his rough calloused hands kneaded further down her spine to her tailbone the tremors grew almost uncontrollable, her brain starting to win the battle.

  “Okay, I know when you’ve had enough. I’m assuming those aren’t shakes of the good kind?” Sloan said getting up from the couch.

  Refusing to look up, Lexi just shook her head back and forth, face still buried in the couch cushion.

  “Did you start
freaking out when I sat on your hips, making you feel trapped?” Sloan asked, trying to learn the things that sent her over the edge so that he could avoid them next time.

  Lexi nodded her head into the cushions.

  “I figured. Okay, well I think the food may be almost done. Meet me in the kitchen when you’re ready, okay?” Sloan said looking down at her with growing need, but resigned to wait.

  “Okay”, was Lexi’s muffled response into the cushion.

  Lexi heard Sloan’s footsteps fade into the kitchen. When she felt the coast was clear, she screamed into the cushion in pent up frustration. She felt something cold and wet nudge her arm and looking up she saw Tank sitting beside her. Making eye contact with the big dog, he nudged her arm again with his nose and then whined.

  “I know I know, boy. I need to get it together. He’s being so patient with me, but that can only last for so long before he gets bored.” Lexi said to the dog as she sat up and straightened her clothes.

  “That’ll never happen.” Sloan said suddenly behind her, and Lexi cringed in embarrassment at being overheard.

  “Thanks a lot Tank. You could’ve warned me that he was standing there.” Lexi gave the dog the stink-eye and he bowed his head in shame. “Yeah, you should feel bad. And what are you a ninja or something, sneaking up on people like that?” Lexi said turning to look back at Sloan.

  “What can I say, I’m a marine. Trained to be a ghost, to not be seen or heard until the enemy realizes it’s too late.” Sloan smirked at her with a cocky grin, showing her a side of the man he used to be.

  “And that’s supposed to make me feel better?” Lexi said, knowing that he could be more deadly than any other man she had ever encountered. She’d caught a glimpse of that the other day, when he’d beat up the addicts that attacked her.

  “You’re not the enemy.” Sloan said softly, staring at her with intense silvery blue eyes. “Anyway, dinner is ready. And I’m sure you must be starving.” Sloan said changing the subject.

  “Yeah, a little.” Lexi downplayed her hunger.

  “You don’t have to pretend with me. I’m a southern boy and I like a woman that can eat. So if you’re hungry I don’t expect you to pick at a salad. Plus, when you’re ready you’re going to need all the fuel you can get, cause we’re gonna burn up a lot of calories.” Sloan said giving her a look that could’ve made her clothes burst into flames and her panties disintegrate into ash.

  “Well since you put it that way…yes, as a matter of fact I am starving.” Lexi said standing up on weak knees. Sheesh! He sure does have a way with words and panty melting looks to get me worked up without so much as laying a finger on me. Well played Stryker…well played.

  Sloan led the way into the kitchen. He pulled out one of the rickety chairs for Lexi to sit at and then started fixing her plate. Lexi was flabbergasted by all the pampering he was giving her. Not used to the attention and being waited on, she fidgeted in her seat as she watched this extremely masculine male do something so mundane and domestic for her.

  Her body was on fire from just one day of his strategic game to break down her walls. From the blatant looks of love, to the subtle touches, the frequent kisses, the compliments and everything else in between. Lexi’s walls were swiftly crumbling under the assault. And soon with nowhere else to hide when they completely came down, she’d be bare and naked in front of him and hopefully ready to receive all that he was offering.

  Sloan walked over to the table with two plates and placed one in front of her before he sat down.

  “So what’s on the menu?” Lexi asked looking down at the delicious looking plate.

  “Baked chicken breasts stuffed with spinach, artichoke and cheese, along with some summer squash and zucchini and dill rice. Oh, and a nice light summer ale to compliment the chicken.” Sloan listed the items on the plate, before hopping up to grab the beer out of the fridge.

  Lexi looked down at the plate with mouth hanging open.

  “Good Lord, you’re a miracle! Where on God’s green earth did you come from?” Lexi said in awe.

  “Hilton Head, South Carolina ma’am.” Sloan smiled at her.

  “This all has to be a show you’re putting on to wear me down.” Lexi stated, still in disbelief.

  “Nope. I like using my hands. Whether it’s building a house, fixing a meal, massaging a woman or bringing her to an orgasm, I work well with my hands.” Sloan said his deep baritone voice and light southern drawl wrapping Lexi in a blanket of arousal. “Now eat up. I wanna know what you think.”

  Lexi at a loss for words, again, decided to obey his order and cut into the juicy chicken. Getting a bit of chicken and the stuffed ingredients on the fork, she brought it to her lips. Biting down, she slid the fork out of her mouth and let the food lay on her tongue before starting to chew. The flavors exploded on her taste buds and she closed her eyes and moaned in the back of her throat.

  Sloan looked on with pride at the pleasure she was getting from his food. Not to mention the erection pressing against his zipper at her facial expressions and the sounds of passion escaping her throat.

  “So…I take it that you like it?” Sloan asked in a gruff voice clogged with arousal.

  “Sloan, it’s fantastic! I hope you know that you’re completely screwed.” Lexi said before really digging into her food.

  “How so?” Sloan asked before finally starting in on his food as well.

  “Well, now that I know you’re an amazing cook, I’ll probably be giving you the puppy dog eyes from now on, so that I don’t have to cook.” Lexi smiled at him.

  “You’ll get probably get me to do just about anything with those eyes. But ask me any time, and I’d be happy to cook for you.” Sloan said honestly with a completely straight face.

  “Unfortunately that would probably be extremely unfair, considering all the work that you’ll be doing on the house. I’m sure the last thing you’ll want to do after a hard day’s work, is cook for me.” Lexi sighed.

  “You’d be surprised how much energy I have to do other activities, after a day’s work.” Sloan said, continuing his impressive seduction.

  Lexi just swallowed hard in response.

  “So, you don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but what led up to you leaving your ex? I know it’s hard for a lot of women stuck in an abusive relationship to get away, for fear or love or a combination of the two. What was the straw that broke the camel’s back for you?” Sloan asked tentatively.

  “It’s okay, the last twenty-four hours have been eye opening, filled with firsts. So I guess telling you what happened wouldn’t be any different.” Lexi said before taking a deep breath. “Around this time two years ago, Eric came home late after a night out. I asked him where he had been and who he had fucked. He cheated on me often and I was getting fed up with it and my acceptance of it. No sooner were the words out of my mouth, before he was punching me in the face. He gave me a black eye and a dislocated jaw.” Lexi’s eyes glazed over as she recalled the second worst night of her life.

  “I learned fairly early on not to fight back or scream and cry hysterically, because he got off on it. If I stayed perfectly quiet, he’d eventually get bored and leave me alone. So I tried not to fight, but then he started to choke me and my natural instinct was to fight back. He threw me down on the couch and ripped off my panties.” Tears finally clouded Lexi’s eyes as the memories came flooding to the present. Sloan reached out his hand to grab hers.

  “You don’t need those details, needless to say he forced himself on me and I felt every painful jab. Once he was done, he zipped up his pants and basically told me to spend more time cleaning the house than what he was up to. And then he left to go back to whatever slut he was currently screwing. I tried to get up from the couch, but when I stepped forward, I felt something tear and I fell to the ground. I was bleeding everywhere and I dragged myself to the kitchen where my cellphone was to call my best friend before I passed out.

  “I woke up in the hos
pital with an eye swollen shut, a jaw wired shut and my womb sewn back up after he ripped it to shreds. The cops were there to take my statement of what had happened and to ask if I would press charges. And I was so fucking close to saying no, to let him get away with it.” Lexi’s tears spilled over onto her cheeks and Sloan gripped her hand tighter. “It was what Bianca my best friend said that changed my mind. She basically said, ‘don’t end up like your mother’. And literally in that moment I saw my mom dead on the floor and then I saw her casket she had been buried in, but instead I was in it. So I instantly changed my mind and pressed charges against him.

  “The cop that arrested him told me that the other felons in the cell with Eric, had roughed him up for being a woman beater. But that son-of-a-bitch got off easy in the end. At the trial, they found him guilty but only sentenced him to one year in jail, one year of community service at a women’s shelter and a court order to stay five-hundred feet away from me.” Lexi ranted indignantly.

  “What?!” Sloan exclaimed in disbelief.

  “Yep. They said since it was his first offense and that he had such a squeaky clean record that he’d probably learn his lesson with the punishment he’d gotten. It was partially my fault. If I would’ve been reporting his ass from the start, maybe his sentencing would’ve been harsher.” Lexi said shaking her head in self-recrimination.

  “I don’t give a damn how many times it’s on record that a man beat a woman, if he nearly kills you and ruins your chances of having children even once, he deserves to fucking rot in a prison cell! End of story! What kind of fucked up system is that?!” Sloan railed at no one in general.

  “You’re preaching to the choir, Sloan. Trust me, I’ve had a little over a year and a half to be angry at the world over it, but it still didn’t change anything. Shortly after he was sentenced, I’m almost positive that the stress caused my aunt’s heart attack that killed her, because it was literally only a few days after. And when I found out that she had left me everything, which I didn’t even know she had so much money, I left town knowing that he’d be out soon enough and that restraining order wasn’t going to stop shit.