Read with BonusRead with Bonus

Chapter Seven

It was time, I had to spill my story not just to the man who had held my heart since highschool, but to a group of guys I'd never met. Oddly, the idea of speaking with them was less intimidating than the idea of Oliver being in the room, hearing everything I had to tell. I took one more big breath and walked into the hall, closing the distance to the conference room I can do this I thought. It's okay. I told myself. I looked around the table.

"Josie, I'd like you to meet Jason Turner, he and Mike Smith are body guards." Sean introduced a tall, muscular man with brown hair and eyes first. He had kind eyes. Mike had brown hair and hazel eyes, was so tall and muscular he made the other. men seem normal sized. "They are gentle giants, and you will probably be with them mostly. You met Sam earlier, he's our tech guru, so you probably won't interact a ton with him. The man next to him is Judd Castel, he's our guy who does most of our contract work. He's only going to be here for a few weeks before he heads out to his next assignment." Sean ended on a tall, more slender man than the rest. He had blonde hair and blue eyes that saw all. He was stoic and broody.

"What do you do?" I asked looking back as Sean.

"I work mostly in the office, keeping this place running." He said with a smile as he looked at the guys. "Why don't we start with getting information from you first, and then we'll develop a plan from there. Go ahead and have a seat." He said sitting on the corner of the table by me. For some reason his and Oliver's presence calmed me.

"Ok, well, when I first married Josh he was sweet. He didn't want me to work, but I insisted on keeping my job as an office manager with the legal firm was I employed at. He reluctantly agreed, but we compromised that I would work from home once we decided to start a family. At first things were fine, we were happy. Then one night he came home late from a work meeting and was drunk. I called him out on it and that was the first time he hit me. He slapped me so hard I lost my balance and caught myself on the counter. He immediately apologized and it seems like he hadn't meant to do it. He got me an ice pack and coddled me the next few weeks.

Things returned to normal, until about four months later. He got fired from his office job for being drunk at work. He came home early, and I wasn't home yet. He kept drinking, and by the time I got home he was livid. I started on supper just trying to avoid him, but he kept picking fights. Finally, I had enough and I snapped. His response was through his fists at me. He broke my wrist, gave me a concussion and broke two ribs that time. He passed out and was super sweet the next few months. I told him if he laid hands on me again I would go to the cops, whether he was drunk or sober. He went to school got his degree and passed the bar with no incidents.

I thought we were past it all. I thought that him having to watch me heal was enough and he wasn't going to do it again. The first case he won, his firm took him out to celebrate. They got him drunk and he came home at one in the morning and I wasn't excited enough for his win, so he beat me again. Gina drove me to the ER and I filed a report. They put a restraining order on him and he stayed away.

I moved into an apartment of my own. I started saving all my income that I could. When it came time for his trial, he has his a friend from a different firm, and they concocted a tale that made it sound like I tried to beat him and it was self defense. It was a he said she said. He had a few bruises and scratches on him from me fighting back. So it there was no real evidence to whose tale was true. The restraining order was put in place for two years. He left me alone during that time.

Then the day the order ended he was on my front steps. He wanted his wife back, swore he had changed. I told him no. I told him I couldn't do it anymore and I had already started the process for divorce. He lost his temper. He barged into my apartment, shut and locked the door. He beat me so bad he broke my jaw. I couldn't yell for help if I wanted to. He got me on my stomach and he...." I paused I couldn't say it, not infront of Oliver.

I had been looking down at my hands the entire time. I took a moment to glance at the faces around me. They were filled with rage and disgust. I was sure that it was towards me. They were mad at him, but disgusted that I stayed, disgusted that I let him push me around. I took a shaky breath and met the face I was looking least toward meeting, Oliver. He was staring at his lap, his hands were clenched so tightly into fists that his knuckles were white.

"Say it, sugar. Say what he did." He growled, not looking up.

My gut turned at his growl of my pet name from back in high school. I shook my head, I couldn't.

"Damn it, Joselyn. Say the fucker beat you and raped you, say it to my face." He said standing up and slaming his fist into the table. I shrunk back into the chair, putting as space as I could between us. My chair bumped into Sean, who put a calming hand on my shoulder.

"Oliver, step outside." Sean ordered, his voice flat and monotone. "Doc, that's an order."

Oliver, looked at me and than back to Sean. His face fell flat, he stepped out with Sean. I heard Sean yelling from the hallway, but couldn't make out what was being said. The two men came back inside, Sean settled himself in Oliver's chair, and Oliver stood in the corner, his arms crossed his face flat and unreadable.

"What happened after that night?" Sean asked. "I was rushed to the hospital, they did surgery to fix my jaw. I stayed there for a few weeks while I gained my strength. He was there everyday, attentive and acting like the perfect husband. When it came time to leave I tried to go to Gina's, he told that if I didn't leave with him he would kill Gina and her husband. I knew he would, so I left. Three weeks later I couldn't keep anything down, so Gina brought me back to the hospital while he was work. That's when we found out I was five weeks pregnant.

I knew I couldn't stay and raise a baby that way, so Gina and I made a plan to escape. Before we could put it into place, my early pregnancy symptoms were becoming more clear. He was so happy I was pregnant he didn't lay a hand on me, until I slept too late one afternoon when I was about 15 weeks pregnant. He came home drunk and hungry. He put me in the hospital, and I lost the baby. He was so upset I lost it I thought he would kill me.

Instead he turned sweet, overly sweet. He stayed that way for months. He said he wanted a baby with me so bad. He wined and dined me, like back in the good days. I thought that loosing the baby fixed something in him. Things had been great until a few days ago. He lost his job at the firm. He was become too eratic and it was bringing down the firm's reputation. I was late for my next period. I hadn't tested, but I just knew. And when I work up and he was gone I had knew I had to leave. I called Gina, she confirmed everything was still in place from last time, and I ran." I finished, and could feel the tears running down my face. Oliver pulled my seat away from the table and scooped me up and took me back to the clinic space. He sat on a bed and curled up with me while I just sobbed.

Everything I had been holding in was let out and Oliver just held me close while I did so. Finally, I was hiccuping and the sobbing had stopped. My eyes drifted shut, and I heard him mumble something from behind me as I drifted to sleep.

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter