Save Me

by Waitrovich, H. M.

  chapter 8

  I had spent the night packing, I told Maggie that I would pick up Belle around ten, and it was nine pm. I needed to hurry. I am sure that Oliver had already been by Maggie’s and told her everything. I was surprised she had not beaten down my door yet. She was nosy like that.

  As much as I loved Maggie for being such a great friend and a huge help to me with Belle, she was pushing this too far with Oliver. She would never understand why I could not be with him. She should be thanking me for not getting him tangled up in my shit pile of a life. I was trying to protect him, all of them really.

  I was packing up my dresser when I looked over at the mirror. I picked up the picture of Oliver and me at the movies. It was a silly picture, but I loved it. I suddenly smelt his cologne. It was on the shirt I had just packed up, that is strange; I thought I had washed it.

  I looked at myself in the mirror, look at you Grace; you are a total and complete mess. You have done this to yourself. I looked away disgusted with my own reflection, just then, I heard a car. Shit, who is this? I heard the car door shut, followed by the footsteps on the porch. It was Maggie, she had Belle and wait, it was Gloria too! Oh great! I cannot do this now, and they will not understand.

  “Hey, thanks for bringing Belle home I really…” Maggie put her hand up in the air and said, “Save it Grace! I know what happened, but what I really want to know is why,” she said. Maggie could see right through me, as if I was glass.

  “Hey there Grace dear, sorry to ambush you like this sweetie, but crazy pants over here is right, we want to know why,” Gloria said with a small smile. I did not owe them an explanation. Well actually, I owed both of them much more, I owed them everything. “I cannot have this conversation, not now. Not in front of Belle,” I said looking down at my sleepy girl.

  “Oh well that’s where I come in,” Gloria said. “I am going to put Miss Belle to bed because she is one tired little diva. I want the whole story so you will have to retell it when I get done, but go ahead and start without me.” She turned and picked up Belle. I gave her a quick kiss and hug and off they went. Maggie gave me about six seconds before she started up again.

  “Ok Grace, I have given you long enough, when you first came here, we gave you time and space. I knew something was up with you, no one just moves to Good Hope on purpose. I mean for real, this is the most boring small little town I have ever known. I liked you right away, I could not understand at first why Oli was so infatuated with you or why he felt the need to constantly take care of you, but when I met you, I understood. You have a wounded heart written all over your face. However, you are brave, I can see it. I did not expect us to be as close as we are, but I am happy. I just need the truth, mainly for me, but also mostly for Oliver. He is in love with you sweetie, he does not do that very often, fall in love. The last time he did, he lost big time. Do not make him lose again; I don’t think I will get him back this time,” Maggie said as her eyes swelled up with tears.

  I felt sick. I know I owed them the truth, but at what cost? If Max finds us, he will kill anyone who stands in his way. Breathe Grace, breathe. “Grace it’s time to stop running,” she said. “How did you know I was running?” She was very observant.

  “I saw the suitcases, don’t play stupid with me girl!” She looked at me with confused eager eyes. “Grace, it’s time to stop running, let us help you,” she said again.

  “Ok, Ok, but once I tell you, you will understand and probably tell Oliver and since he is the police around here, I am sure…I don’t know what I am sure of anymore,” I said my voice trailing off. I felt like I could not catch my breath. “Oh for crying out loud Grace, just tell me the damn secret or whatever it is you’re hiding,” she said impatiently. I took a deep breath and sat down on the sofa.

  “My parents and my siblings died when I was young. I went to live with my uncle who did not treat me bad, but he did not really care either. I threw myself into my studies, all I wanted to do was get a scholarship and use the rest of the money from my parent’s inheritance to live on. I got a scholarship, but it was not full ride. I went to school and I worked, a lot.”

  “One day I met a man, he was so cute, I had never had a boyfriend. I was twenty-two and scared out of my mind. He was so sweet and said all of the right things. The same night he took my virginity and a few weeks later, I got pregnant with Annabelle. We had not known each other very long, but once I found out I was pregnant, he insisted that we get married. I did not have any family and his lived out of state,” I said not realizing how red my face must have been. I could tell she was already feeling sorry for me.

  “He was a rich lawyer who had all the right connections in Boston. He had a small shotgun wedding planned within two weeks; I was married, pregnant and scared. When I was twenty-three, I gave birth to Belle. Max had been changing, he starting drinking more and more, he would win a case and then go out to celebrate. That was all he did, he was a ruthless defense attorney and good at his job, and boy was he. The drinking got worse and worse and he started to get…” I trailed off almost as if I was going back in time. Talking about this made cringe, I had not even realized that Gloria had come back into the room. “Oh Grace, sweetie, what did he do?” Gloria said.

  “He started to hit me, a lot, it hurt worse every time. He always did it in spots where no one would ever see, he kept me under close watch anyways so no one would ever see me to begin with. I was not allowed to work, much less leave the house unless it was to go the grocery store or to take Belle for a checkup at the doctor.” Talking about this brought back so much pain, pain I wanted to bury deep down where no one could ever find it. I worked hard to bury it and talking about all of this aloud made me want to break down.

  “I got good at hiding my life, no one knew. Eventually I came out of my misery coma and started to collect things here and there. I would take a shirt of mine and put it in a suitcase that I had hidden in the house; I would take a toy of Belle’s and put it away too. He was crazy as hell; he knew when things were missing. I did this over the course of about a year, he never noticed, thank God,” I said quietly.

  I looked over at both of my friends and they were both sobbing. “Grace this is horrible, why did you feel you had to hide it,” Maggie said.

  “Because Maggie, it is not every day that this happens. Trust me; there is more to the story. Anyways, one day I had gotten enough money and courage saved up to run, I had it all planned out, I knew how to get away from him. I knew he would look for me, but I would be long gone.”

  “However, that day, when I left, he must have known something was up because he came home early, he caught me right as I was leaving and I had Belle by the hand. I will spare you the details on the rest, but he had me pinned to the ground and I almost lost consciousness a few times. When I came to, I saw something sharp out of the corner of my eye. It was a piece of glass from the picture that broke in our struggle. I was reasoning with him, I knew that even though he wanted to hurt me, it was a dominant kind of thing. He loved me in his own way and wanted to control me, so if I played along, I could get free. I played on his emotions and then I stabbed him,” I said. Maggie’s eyes grew large.

  “OMG!” cried Maggie. “See I told you, you people would not listen to me. I am completely and utterly screwed up,” I said.

  “That’s where you’re wrong Grace,” Gloria said. “You are so many special things. I knew it the moment you walked into my store, I saw right away, you are such an incredibly brave girl to have done what you did to protect you and your child.”

  It sure did not feel that way sometimes. “I know that he is alive. I did not stab him anywhere that would kill him, but here is the problem, I know Max and as I said, he is ruthless. He will find me one day, I don’t think I can stay in one place too long,” I said with tears running down my face.

  “Grace for God sakes, you cannot run yourself and this poor baby all over the United States from someone like him. You have to ask for help, we can help you,”
Maggie said.

  “What don’t you two understand? He is the law! He knows everyone and he cannot be stopped,” I said shouting. I could scream right now.

  “Grace, Oliver can protect you. He saw more than his fair share of corrupt people in the line of the law when he was in New York. Trust me, he can and he will protect you and Belle,” she said. I wanted nothing more than to have him do that, the whole time I was reliving my horror story to them, I was thinking about Oli, I did love him. Why couldn’t I just accept his love and stop running? Oh, wait, maybe because I did not want him to get hurt.

  “Maggie, I do love your brother! I have not wanted to admit it, but I do, I am so scared. I know what Max is capable of and he will kill whoever gets in his way, I can promise you that,” I said.

  “Well lucky for you I am packing some serious heat most days,” Gloria said smiling. Oh geez, why didn’t that surprise me at all? She was a tough old broad. Something that I did not want to admit was that I was tough too. I guess years of emotional and physical abuse made me scared and self-conscious. Nevertheless, I was never a scared little girl, and it was time to stop running, Maggie was right. They had all been right.

  “I cannot thank both of you enough for coming here tonight. I really needed to have someone break me out of my scared shitless little bubble. I want to stay because we have been so happy here, Oliver makes us happy,” I said looking over to Maggie.

  “Well then what are you freaking waiting for? Go to him already,” Maggie said. “What now? Maggie it is after midnight, and he is probably asleep,” I said rolling my eyes at her.

  “Are you high woman? He is a mess; you did not see him earlier. He would probably be doing anything but sleeping, here, I will make it easy for you,” She pulled out her phone and pressed a few buttons on it, I was confused, but when she was done, she looked up, smiled at me, and said, “Done.” What does that mean? “Ok Maggie, I give up, what did you do?” I said confused.

  She smiled again. Walked over and hugged me tightly. She whispered in my ear and said, “I promise you it will all be ok, you are my best friend and I could not have asked for a better person for my brother, I love you Grace,” she said

  Her truth made me cry, she was my best friend too, Gloria hugged and kissed me on the cheek and then they were out the door.

  chapter 9

  Great what now? I cannot go to sleep, not with baggy puffy eyes, I had not cried in so long. I went into the bedroom, changed my clothes and tried to unpack a few things.

  I froze when I heard a car pull up the drive, not again, Maggie damn you. I ran to the front door and when I pulled it open, I was going to run outside and scream at that woman. Instead I ran dead smack into Oliver. “Ouch, nice to see you too,” he said. I could not believe he was here, but why was he here? “Oli hi, I am so glad you are here, but why are you here,” I said confused.

  “Maggie,” was all he said. He did not have to say anymore. I knew, damn her, but damn did I love her.

  “Well as much as I normally hate her meddling in my life like a big nosy sister, I am grateful tonight. Look Oli, I have so many things to tell you”…he cut me off. He then grabbed my face in his hands, he kissed me in the most passionate way I have ever been kissed in my entire life, and I was dizzy when he broke away. “Grace, it’s ok, I know,” He said. Wait what? “What do you mean you know?” I said. He took a deep long breathe.

  “Well I knew something wasn’t right with you Grace, I would have never told you that I loved you if I had not already known that you loved me too. You have been acting strange on and off for weeks. You would not open up to me and I was worried about you so I called an old friend of mine at the station in New York where I used to work. He did me a favor and did some digging on you,” he said.

  “OMG, so now you came here to tell me that you were wrong about me that I am not who you thought right? Because that is what you should be saying,” I was pacing back and forth in the living room.

  “Grace, calm down, that is not why I came here. Did you just notice that I kissed you? I mean I thought you did, but damn! My person found out that your husband spent a night in the hospital after you stabbed him. He called a friend of his that was a dirty cop and asked him to put out a nationwide manhunt for your arrest; I am surprised I never received anything. Anyways, the captain of Max’s friend at his precinct found out what happened. They brought Max in for questioning and he told them that you went crazy, stabbed him and then kidnapped Belle,” he said.

  Oh no, this is what I was afraid of. “See, I told you, damaged goods, now I am going to jail,” I said panicking. “Grace stop it! I would never let that happen, my friend at my old precinct made a few calls, I know people too,” he smiled. “They found something off with Max’s story; he had been coming in to the office late and was messy and he smelled of bourbon a lot. His captain did some digging and found out that the neighbor, the one who helped you with Belle, told the police that she heard a bunch of fighting coming from your house that day. She said she heard you were screaming and they derived a conclusion and Max was fired. He had been paying people off looking for you and paying people off to win cases for years. He may be corrupt and know a few corrupt cops, but the good always win over the bad Grace,” he said, this time grinning from ear to ear.

  Wow. “I don’t know what to say, I am shocked they fired him, he must have been doing really badly. He was always so good at hiding it all before,” I said.

  “So the bad news is…no one has seen or heard from him since. Moreover, it was almost 3 weeks ago, who knows where he is,” Oliver said carefully. Great, I do, I know. “Oliver, he is looking for me, I know it,” I said. Panic ripping through my body.

  “It doesn’t matter Grace, he will never hurt you again. You will never have to go through this again, I swear to you. I love you and I want to protect you no matter what, at any cost. I will always protect you and Belle, I love you Grace, please stay, stay with me, I need you,” He said, this time pleading with me.

  He had literally woken me up. It was as if I could not even see the light until he turned it on for me. I did not want to run ever again, I wanted to stay here and have a life with him, that was all that I would ever want, I deserved that, didn’t I?

  I smiled, “I love you too Oli, I have from the start, I have just been so scared, I cannot lose Belle and I almost lost her and myself that night. I cannot even sleep without the nightmares of that night haunting me. Please forgive me, I want to start over, I want to stay here with you, I am so sorry,” I said reaching for him.

  He cupped my face with his hands. “Shh baby, it’s ok. I will not ever leave you, you will never be alone again, I promise,” He promised. I will leave my fate in your hands, because I am absolutely nothing without you. I love you more and more every time I hear your voice for Christ’s sake. I promise you Grace if you let me I will give you everything you deserve, you will know how precious you are to me every single day of your life. I will never leave you, I will never hurt you, and I will never stop loving you,” he confessed.

  “Oliver, will stay with us tonight, with me,” I asked. The truth was I had not been in the same bed with a man in a while. Max worked many long hours or at least that is what he told me. We normally did not share a bed, I never wanted to anyways.

  However, with Oliver, that is all that I wanted. I want to feel the warmth of his skin next to mine; I could feel the muscles in his arms where my hands lay.

  He kissed me, but this time there was so much more passion. He left me screaming for more. I could not help myself; he moved his hands lower, and lower, until he got to my hips. He reached his hand up my blouse, damn he felt good, and I needed him to touch me everywhere.

  He went to pull my shirt up over my head, when suddenly he stopped. “What is it? What’s wrong,” I asked confused. I could not read his face.

  “I...I just don’t want to push you, I mean you have been through so much, I do not want to scare you off. We don’t have to do this tonight,
” he said.

  “Oliver I want to, and I want you, I need you, as long as you don’t mind my scars,” I said pulling up my shirt and revealing the scars on my stomach and chest. I could see the light slowly fade from Oliver’s eyes. I know he hurt for me. I know it angered him, but I wanted him to see me.

  He picked me up in one swoop and raced to my bedroom. When he shut the door, he immediately pulled off his shirt. He was an incredible sight. I cannot believe this man wants me. He sauntered over to me in the calmest way, I do not know how because my heart was literally doing summersaults in my chest right now. However, I did not care; cardiac arrest would be worth it tonight!

  He gently touched my chest; his hands were so gentle and smooth. He kissed my lips, then my chin and then down to my neck. I had goose bumps everywhere; I felt like I had a radiator in between my legs, it was so hot.

  He unbuttoned my jeans and pulled them down with my panties in an instant. He slowly raised his body back up to my face gently trailing kisses up my stomach.

  “Oh Oli, please I need you, right now.” He grinned, “That’s good baby, because I need you too, I want to make this so incredible for you,” He said, and I could feel his erection against my legs. He lowered me down to the bed and before I knew it, my head was spinning and he was inside of me, I was panting and seeing things that I was not sure were real.

  The sex with Oliver James was so freaking good; I was hallucinating, oh well, totally worth it. I had never had sex like this before. On the other hand, was it called making love? It was amazing; he was amazing and so gentle. He never got frustrated with me the few times that I jerked at his touch. It would take some getting used to, but I could do it, for him. I could do anything for him, and he would do anything for me.