Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 70779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 354(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 354(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
He turned for the door, but my ex still lingered. He was staring at me as though he was fixing me in his mind—making sure he didn’t forget again.
“This isn’t over, babe,” he said.
“Yes, it is. We’re divorced,” I snapped. “Now please leave.”
I knew the moment the words were out of my mouth they were a mistake. Carlo had always hated “mouthy women”—which meant any woman who disagreed with him.
“I don’t think so!” He stepped closer to me and grabbed my face in one big hand, pinching hard enough to really hurt. “I’ll leave when I’m Goddamned good and ready—not before. You got that, babe?”
Oh Goddess! Now my heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was trying to break right through my ribcage. I was having waves of flashbacks—horrible memories crowded my mind like bile. All the times he had hit me, beaten me, belittled me—it all came back like a wave of putrid water trying to drown me. I felt sick—like I might faint or throw up. My mind was a blur of panic.
“Josh!” I gasped, appealing to his partner. Sometimes he could rein Carlo in—not that he tried very often, I thought resentfully.
“Carlo, come on.” His partner came over and put a hand on my ex’s shoulder. “We need to get going—that little fucker could be anywhere!”
Carlo ignored him.
“You know, for the life of me I can’t remember why I let you go,” he said, glaring into my eyes. “You were a pretty good fuck and I always liked your cooking—when you bothered to do it right. You’ve let yourself get fat but you could lose the weight—with the right motivation.”
To my shame, it was all I could do not to beg him to leave me alone. I hated to admit that he reduced me to blind panic but the way he was hurting me was bringing back so many bad memories!
Somehow, I managed not to beg.
“You’re hurting me,” I said instead, my voice coming out high and tight. His fingers and thumb were digging into the flesh of my cheeks—I was sure he was going to leave bruises on my pale skin.
“Carlo…” Josh said warningly. “You know what the Captain said—we need to avoid any incidents—at least for a while.”
A surge of anger went through me almost eclipsing the panic—why was it that men like Carlo were allowed to keep on being assholes and nobody stopped them? Why did he keep getting away with it?
“Let me go!” I said in a low, trembling voice, somehow managing to get the words out. “I’m not your wife anymore.”
“Yeah? Well, we’ll see about that.” Carlo let me go at last and took a step back, but that appraising look was back in his eyes. “Seems to me that you and I have some unfinished business, babe.”
I didn’t say anything, just stared at him as he and Josh finally left the store, the bell tinkling to announce their departure. Trouble…this meant nothing but trouble, I was sure of it. Carlo had remembered me and now that Pop-pop was gone, whatever spell or curse he had cast on him was clearly wearing off. I had a really bad feeling that I hadn’t seen the last of my ex—not by a long shot.
I put up my hand to touch the place where he had grabbed me and my fingers came away wet. Damn it, was I crying? I swiped at my eyes and took in a trembling breath that was more than half sob. It seemed that I was, though there was no way I ought to be crying over my asshole ex.
But the awful memories from my marriage—memories I had tried really hard to bury and forget—were now uppermost in my mind. They made me feel sick and sad and scared all at once. Carlo was the reason I was never, ever going to trust any man ever again. He was also the reason I never wanted to have any kind of sexual intimacy because he always made sure sex hurt. He—
“Hey, lady—is it safe to come out?” a little voice asked and someone tugged on my skirt.
“Oh!” I looked down in surprise. In the wave of awful memories that was crowding my brain, I had completely forgotten about the boy who had been crouching behind the counter all this time, doing his best to be invisible.
“Yes—it’s safe,” I told him, swiping at my eyes again. “Though you’d probably better leave by the back way, just to be sure.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “I really didn’t take anything,” he said, looking at me earnestly. “I mean, I picked up something but I put it right back. I wouldn’t never steal—my Mama would beat my ass if I did!”
I smothered a watery smile.
“I believe you. Here…” I went to the praline display and grabbed a few of the plastic wrapped candies to give to him. “Just go home and be safe, okay?” I told him.