She backed up, her fists still balled up, and stomped her feet in frustration. "You're lying, Momma! Why? You said lying is bad."
"Lying is bad. I wouldn't lie. He did hit me, but he's sorry about it. I fell into the wall from it. He didn't mean to do it. That makes it an accident. It doesn't even hurt. It's nothing. Nothing can hurt me, Sophie. Let's get supper started, sweetheart. Let's put it behind us for right now. Please, for Momma," she said, a sad smile in her eyes.
"Only for you, Momma," Sophie mumbled.
Her mother gave her a weak smile and touched her shoulder softly as she passed by her. Sophie turned around to watch her mother walk into the kitchen, noticing the way she touched her cheek and the cringe that followed. It didn't hurt, huh, Momma, Sophie thought dejectedly. Her momma was still lying. Lying was bad. Why would her momma still lie?
***
"I'll be right back. I should really put in this application. I need a good job. Why don't you just come with me?" Deja asked hopefully.
"I'll be fine. You'll be gone less than an hour, and really, do I need a babysitter? I'm a big girl. I survived my whole life by myself. I survived over a year with him. I can survive an hour without you, Deja," Sophie said.
"I know. It's just...you know, why don't I call E-man? I need to explain to him why I'm not taking the job from him anyway and you haven't seen him since—"
"Stop, Deja. I know you're trying to help, but it's not. I don't want to see Emmett or Ava or any other person in the McCord family. I want peace for a while. It's only been three days since I kicked Austin out. I need just a bit more time to process it all. Just go," Sophie said, opening the door for her. "Get that application in. Good luck."
"Thanks, Soph. I'll be no more than an hour. Tire iron's in the living room," Deja said as she offered Sophie a weak smile.
Sophie nodded and closed the door behind her. She locked it and walked into the living room. She wasn't scared. She would not let any man scare her, including Kevin. She would fight back if he decided to show his face. Grabbing the tire iron that sat on the couch, she placed it on her craft table within reaching distance.
She wasn't worried about Kevin, anyhow. She should have reasonable warning if he was on his way to Minnesota. Despite the fact she kicked Austin out of her life, his family was still there helping her. Deja had talked to Ava last night who informed her that her dad still had his people, whatever that meant, watching Kevin. If he even looked like he was heading to the airport, they would know and would call her. She wouldn't be surprised if he got around their little spies. He was a devious, cunning man. She didn't think they fully understood that, but she was putting faith in this family. Ava hadn't called and she decided not to worry about it. She refused to worry about Kevin and what he would do.
If he came here, she had no qualms about what he'd do. He'd kill her. He told her so many times that if she left, she'd never live to see another day again. He was still playing his mind games not making a move yet. That's what he did. Played his little games.
Sophie attempted to focus on her work, failing miserably at it, when the doorbell went off. The clock on the wall told her only fifteen minutes had gone by since Deja left. Sophie shook her head in annoyance, assuming Deja had gone against her wishes and called Emmett anyway. She didn't need anyone babysitting her.
She walked to the door, cursing inside that she still had no door with a peephole. She suddenly felt like cursing on the outside. Why did Austin have to hurt her like that? He made her want to curse and she hated cursing. Everything started to boil inside, hoping against hope it was Austin on the other side of the door and not Emmett. She wanted to unleash her anger at him for making her want to curse.
"What do you want?" she asked as she whipped open the door. Her anger slowly dissipated into a frown.
"To take you home, dear. Let's go pack your bags, shall we. And maybe teach you a lesson or two for running off like you did," Kevin said with a vile sneer on his face as he stepped inside shoving Sophie out of the way and closed the door.
"Wh..what are you doing here, Kevin?" Sophie asked, backing up.
Stay calm. Show no fear. She would never bow down to him again.
"What do you think I'm doing here? You're mine, Sophie. Nobody can have you. I don't know what made you think otherwise. Your behavior is unacceptable. I've had the police at my door and you made me look like a fool. I've since taken care of that nonsense and now I'm here to take you home," Kevin said, glancing around, the disgust obvious on his face at the simple means she lived in.
"Why are you still standing there? Go pack your bags, Sophie," he yelled.
The sudden increase in volume from him made her jump. She tamped down her frightful nerves, steeled her spine, and said, "No."
Kevin gave her a borderline sneer, trying to play his handsome polite persona like he enjoyed doing right before he really dished it out. "I will not repeat myself. I will forgive this little incident and chalk it off to nerves. You're nervous about getting married. I see that now. We'll have a long engagement."
"I never agreed to marry you, Kevin. You've never asked me. You've always just assumed I would. I won't. I will never marry you," Sophie insisted.
"I don't have to ask. You're mine, Sophie. You will do as I say. Because I love you, I will say it one more time. Go. Pack. Your. Bags." Kevin pointed upstairs, the mean sinister look forming in his eyes.
Sophie braced herself for what she knew was coming, but she also tried to focus her mind. She needed to get to the living room and to her desk. She needed the tire iron. "No."
Kevin didn't hesitate as his hand whipped across her face in one fluid movement. Sophie cried out in pain, losing her balance from the force of the slap and stumbled onto the stairs. Before she could make a run for the living room, he grabbed her by the arm, gripping tightly, and started dragging her up the stairs.
"I see we still haven't learned our lesson, have we, Sophie dear? I guess we have to do things the hard way. I'm so disappointed in you."
She wasn't going to let him treat her this way. Not anymore. Not when she knew how great life could be to live in peace, with happiness, with love—with Austin. She started struggling, almost making Kevin lose his balance on the stairs. He pulled her arm up and shoved her back down, slamming her hard into the stairs.
"You want to fight back, huh? You have no idea what's in store for you when we get home," Kevin said, making it to the top of the stairs. He dropped her arm and waved his hands around. "Which room, dear? Let's get packing."
Sophie lay on the floor, the tears threatening to flow, the pain in her arm and back swelling to the point of her wanting to scream, but she clamped it all down. "No."
"Oh, we're going to do this the really hard way I see," Kevin said with a vicious smile and kicked her hard in the stomach.
***
Austin grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, trying his best to ignore his annoying brother and wife, who stood in the kitchen staring at his back. He could feel their concern all the way from his head to his toes. He shut the fridge and started to walk back out of the kitchen when he heard, "Can we please talk, Austin?"
Inhaling a deep breath, he slowly turned around and gave Ava a weary look. "I'm not really in the mood."
"Austin, you haven't been in the mood since it happened. Come on, talk to us," Zane said.
"What do you want me to say? I screwed up. I screwed up the best thing in my life and I have no idea how to fix it. I've tried knocking on her door, calling her, and I'm always deflected by Deja. She won't talk to me. I lied. That's all that matters to her. It doesn't matter it was a little lie, or because I was just trying to help. All she cares about is that I lied," Austin said with defeat.
"Just give it time. She'll come around. I've talked to Deja, too. Deja's on her side, but she's let it slip a little how bad Sophie's doing. She's miserable without you. Just give her time," Ava said with a tender smile.
"How much time, Ava? She won't let you, Emmett
, nobody but Deja over to the house. I worry about Kevin coming. Deja can't be there 24/7, she's gotta get a job soon," Austin said, twisting the bottle in his hands, staring at it intently. "I worry about her, but mostly I just miss her. This is why I never wanted to fall in love. It hurts."
"Yeah, it does. It's unavoidable sometimes. Real relationships have their ups and downs. You think Ava and I don't argue sometimes. Most of the time it's because I'm in the wrong. Because really, it's just easier to tell your woman they're right," Zane said, grinning at Ava.
She nudged him in the stomach, muttering, "You're gonna get it for saying that."
He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Promise?" He kissed her on the neck and glanced back at Austin. "Austin, Ava and I were talking. We want to invite Sophie over for supper and try talking to her. At least about her safety. We want to help in any way we can."
Austin looked up, wanting to smile at the way his brother held Ava into his side, but couldn't manage it. "I don't know. You just said to give her time."
"I did say that, but I also want to try. She needs time from you, but not necessarily from us. Someone other than Deja needs to try because Deja isn't really trying on your behalf. Just let me make a quick call to her," Ava said, encouragingly.
"Why are you even asking?" Austin asked with a shrug.
"Because I don't want you mad at us. You have enough to deal with. I hated it when you ignored me last time. I'm not looking forward to that again," Ava replied.
Austin sighed. "Fine. Whatever. Probably won't work. She's stubborn as hell."
"That she is," Ava said, smiling as she grabbed her phone and dialed Sophie.
Ava tapped her fingers on the counter while she waited for Sophie to answer. The light in her eyes shined when Sophie answered. "Hey, Sophie. How's it going?"
Ava shook her head. "Okay. Are you alright? Because I just have a quick question."
The light in her eyes dimmed as each minute passed. Austin started to fidget on his feet, knowing the conversation wasn't going well. It killed him not to hear Sophie's voice and what she was saying.
"But Sophie, please, can we just talk about this? Don't say things like that. If you will just come over—"
Ava dropped the phone onto the counter and glanced at Austin. "She hung up on me."
"I told you it wouldn't work. She's stubborn," Austin said. He didn't want to talk anymore or even know what she said. He didn't.
He turned around to leave, then whipped back around. "What did she say? You told her not to say things like that. What did she say?"
Ava stared at him with a frown, hesitating.
"Please, Ava. Just what did she say?" Austin pleaded.
"It was weird, actually. She seemed occupied and...I don't know."
"Ava, what did she say?" Austin yelled.
"Calm down, Austin," Zane said, stepping away from the counter to stand next to Ava. "Just spit it out to him, Ava. You can see he's already in pain. If she never wants to talk to him, just put him out of his misery."
"Wow, thanks, Zane," Austin muttered.
Zane shrugged his shoulders, knowing no amount of words would make him feel better anyway.
"She said she never wanted to see you again, Austin. She was very quick to say that," Ava said softly. "I'm sorry."
"What's so damn weird about that? I knew I lost her when she kicked me out," Austin said, turning around to leave again.
"That's not what was weird. She said to tell you, you were never a sexy beast. I've never heard her talk like that before. It was just weird," Ava said as she grabbed Zane's hand.
Austin stopped moving. "What did she say?"
"Geez, Austin, how many times do you want Ava to say it?" Zane exclaimed. "She—"
"Sexy beast. She said those exact words," Austin demanded, as he turned back towards her.
"Yes, why? What is it?" Ava asked, recognizing his fear right away.
"Call nine-one-one, Ava. Get every available officer over there. Sophie's in trouble," Austin shouted as he ran out of the house.
He hopped in the truck, cranked the engine, and moved to shift into drive when the passenger door opened and Zane and Ava piled in.
"Drive. Talk," Ava said, dialing her phone as she said it.
"That's our safe word. We made it when I went to New York. She was supposed to say those words if she had a problem with Deja. She has a problem now. She would never say that to you if she didn't. He has to be there. He has to," Austin said, as he took a right a little too sharply.
Zane's shoulder rammed into the door. "Slow down, Austin." He saw Austin's pointed look and grimaced. "Well, at least drive a little better. You don't want to kill us before we can reach her, do you?"
"Shh, both of you. Yes, I need all available units to Sophie Greene's residence. Possible hostage situation, subject is most likely Kevin Dittmore out of New York. Unknown if he is armed," Ava said.
She kept talking to the person on the line as Austin drowned her voice out and everything she said. His focus centered on getting to Sophie. She needed to be alright. He refused to lose her to that lunatic. He pressed his foot harder on the pedal, picking up speed, barely hearing his brother yell as he ran a red light. He didn't care. He only cared about getting to Sophie. That's all that mattered as he slowed on the brakes to take another hard right.
Five minutes later, he pulled in front of her house.
"Damn, I'm driving next time," Zane mumbled as he opened the door. He barely set a foot on the ground as Austin already rounded the truck. "Ava, where the hell are the police? He's gonna get hurt, or worse, kill that man inside. Stay in the damn car," he said, slamming the door before she could exit or even answer his question.
As Zane ran behind Austin, the sirens could be heard in the distance. "Don't be stupid, Austin."
Austin whipped open the front door, stumbling inside from the force of opening it. "Sophie!"
He heard a soft yelp coming from upstairs and took the stairs two at a time. He ran to their room, because no matter what she said it was their room, and ran inside.
Immediately jerking in his tracks, he saw Kevin by the window. Sophie lay on the floor, a foot pressed to her throat and blood dripping from her mouth. Austin already saw a few faint bruises forming on her face and his rage instantly bubbled to the surface at the sight.
His eyes processed it all when he stepped inside.
Kevin, the deranged man who called himself a man when he was really a sniveling, no-account coward.
The tremors that ran through Sophie's body as she lay immobile on the floor, bleeding, in pain.
Her clothes scattered all over the room, her dresser drawers wide open. Her jewelry and the few things she found precious and dear to her that normally sat on top of her dresser scattered around the floor.
And her angel, her beloved angel with the broken wing, in pieces, broken beyond repair. He refused to lose his angel. She was everything to him.
"Get off of her," Austin demanded. "You wanna fight? You wanna hurt someone? Why don't you try it with someone who can fight back, you bastard."
"I suppose your Austin, the not so sexy beast she muttered about on the phone. I should have never let her answer it, but she was quicker than me. Very bad of you, Sophie. Very bad," Kevin said, pressing his foot down a little, eliciting another small whimper from her.
"You're nothing but a coward. A disgusting, poor excuse for a man. You have to beat a woman to feel good, is that what your problem is?" Austin said, taking a step closer.
"What? You're telling me you showed her what a real man is? I highly doubt it," Kevin said.
"He is a real man. The only man in this room. Go ahead and beat me. He'll just make me forget because he's really good at it. He's good at it all," Sophie whispered, half laughing as she did.
A vein bulged in Kevin's neck, his eyes glazing over in anger.
"Sophie, let me do the talking, huh, my pixie angel," Austin said softly, never taking his eyes off Kevin.
> "How in the world do you think you're going to get out of this mess? You hear those sirens. The police are here. Your ass is going to jail," Austin said, taking another step closer.
"I highly doubt that. You'd be amazed with the power I have," Kevin snickered.
"Wow, you're more full of yourself than I realized. You're truly delusional. I guess you have no idea the power I have either," Austin said, one more foot going forward.
"I know about all you pathetic people helping Sophie. Farmers, nothing but little pathetic farmers. You are nothing. I didn't hurt Sophie, did I, dear? She hurt herself. She's sick. I need to take her home," Kevin said.
"A farmer. That's right I am. You definitely don't wanna mess with this farmer. I will shovel the shit out of you before you even know what hit you. I can tell you with complete certainty, you're wrong. You messed up, Kevin. I will destroy you for touching the woman I love. I love you, Sophie," Austin said, a smile on his face as he glanced at her.
She smiled back even though a foot lay pressed on her throat. "I love you, too, Austin. Go ahead, Kevin. Kick me again. Hit me again. It doesn't hurt. None of it hurts. You can't hurt me anymore."
Kevin lifted his foot to oblige her wishes when Austin jumped on him, slamming him into the wall. Austin grabbed him by the collar, hitting him squarely in the face and knocked him to the ground. Austin tried not to step on Sophie as he did all that, but thankfully, she managed to scramble out of the way, as he advanced on Kevin.
Kevin tried to sit up, but Austin was quicker, the anger flowing through his veins for every hurt Sophie ever endured by the man, and started to pound him in the face.
Each time his fist hit Kevin's face, he thought of Sophie and her beauty, her smile, her sweet kindness. He thought of the memories they made and how her face lit up in delight at the littlest thing. He thought of her wrapped in his arms, safe, loved, sated from his warm, caressing hands. He would never let this man hurt her again. Never.
He didn't know how many punches he delivered before he felt hands pulling him off.
He tried to fight them off until he heard his brother in his ear. "Stop, Austin. Stop. It's okay. Sophie's okay. She needs you. Let the police handle the rest. Let them arrest him, not you. Any more punches and they might."
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