Skin to Skin (Skin Deep #3)

I gulped, knowing things had just taken a turn for the worst.

“Let’s play tonight, shall we?” he asked. He tapped his finger to his chin as I stood, mutely, at the side of the table. “How about you be my little whore tonight, huh? Dress you up like a fuckin’ hooker and make you do every dirty thing I can think of…maybe I’ll call Amber up and make her sit on your face while I fuck you?”

His eyes glazed over, breath beginning to come in pants, and his hand slid down to rub against the bulge behind his zipper. “Yeah…but first, I wanna fuck your face and I want to see your whorish mouth painted red while I do it. Give me your purse.”

“Wha—what?” I stuttered in shock. The blood in my veins froze when I realized my mistake.

His face turned a mottled red and purple with rage. “You fuckin’ questioning me? I told you to do something, you bitch, and you have the nerve to question it?” he roared.

“N-n-no, Greg, I wasn’t quest-questioning you…I swear! I just-I don’t have any lipstick in my purse!” The words were tripping off my tongue and the panic was swelling like a tsunami inside me, threatening to crash down and drown me under the tide.

“I’ll check for myself, bitch. I know you’re lying to me…you always lie!” he screamed, jumping to his feet so quickly that the chair he was in tipped back and crashed to the floor.

He jumped toward the end of the counter and grabbed my purse, unzipping it and unceremoniously dumping the contents across the kitchen table. He started rifling through it, picking up my lip gloss and shaking it in my direction.

“See? You did lie, you stupid bitch. And you’ll pay for--” his words cut off as his breath caught sharply. He gingerly picked something up off the table and, whispering, said, “What is this?”

He turned to me, rage growing in his eyes, making them widen and darken. In his hand was the pregnancy test that I’d taken two days ago…and it clearly indicated a positive result.

“You’re pregnant?” he roared.

I could only nod my head…

“Chloe?” my mom said, softly.

I started, realizing that I’d stopped speaking as the memories played like a movie through my mind. I swallowed thickly, taking a moment to gather my courage to tell them my dirty secret. To tell them how I failed my unborn child…

“What happened, Chloe?”

Brandon asked that question, his voice raw but gentle. I blinked at him owlishly for a second, then blurted, “He made sure I wasn’t pregnant anymore.” I stood up slowly and raised my shirt, tucking it just under the edge of my bra as I pushed my pants down just enough to show them the scars marring my lower abdomen.

I heard my mom’s shocked cry ring out, along with gasps and varying swears from everyone else as they put two and two together.

With a steadying breath, the rest of the story came out. “He went crazy, telling me that I ruined his life, that I had cheated because there was no way he’d gotten me pregnant. Of course, he used other words, but…you get the idea. He-” my voice cracked; I cleared my throat and tried again.

“He said he couldn’t stand a bastard child, so he grabbed the butcher knife from the block on the counter and stabbed me twice in the stomach and once in the thigh. He cut me open and then he beat me. He left to go get drunk because I pissed him off and I was able to call the squad, but just barely. He managed to miss anything vital, with the exception of my uterus. Of course, I lost the baby…I stayed in the hospital for four days and then checked myself out against doctor’s orders because I just couldn’t stay there anymore, came to Ohio, and the rest was history.”

Allie spoke up, her voice thick with tears and pain. “So when you came here, you hid most of your injuries from us, didn’t you.” It was a statement, not a question. She knew the answer. She gave a soft sob and clutched at my brother, who was sitting there like stone, literally vibrating with fury.

I nodded. “I had fifty-two stitches in my stomach total, and thirteen more in my upper thigh where he buried the knife to the hilt, before he left. He left me bleeding out on the floor, and he killed my baby. I was about eight weeks along, as far as they could tell. They found him at the bar down the street, actually passed out in the bathroom stall with a needle in his arm and arrested him.” I shrugged and spread my hands out in front of me, indicating that that was it.

My story was done. It was finally out, all of it.

They were all staring at me, horrified. But it was actually cathartic to get it all out, finally, to quit hiding the hell I lived for too long.

“My babygirl,” Mom whispered. She reached out and pulled me into her arms, cradling me like I was a little girl once more. She kissed my head and sobbed into my hair until I heard shuffling.

She squeezed me again and then, suddenly, I was airborne, crushed against my brother’s chest. He hugged me tightly, apologizing repeatedly to me, though he had nothing to apologize for. Tears were still streaming down my cheeks but I felt lighter, freer.

A gruff voice said, “Jacks,” and I was passed into Luke’s arms. He did the same as Jackson, holding me, kissing me on my forehead, and then…

There was Brandon. He held me to him, kissing the top of my head gently, and then sat me back on my feet, steadying me briefly before he turned on his heel and barreled out the door. I heard him calling for the dogs just as the girls converged on me.

After a while, Allie sent Jackson out to get a couple buckets of chicken, which was her new craving, for all of us. The mood had finally lightened after everyone had bombarded me with questions, initially. Brandon still hadn’t come back inside, but he was still here because his Expedition was in the driveway.

Luke eventually went out to check on him; he paused beside me, his hand cupping my cheek as he whispered, “We’ve got you. Always. Got it?”

I gave him a shaky smile and nodded before he walked outside.

Chapter 11

Brandon was silent on the way home when we finally left.

We’d eaten chicken and laughed our asses off when Doug absconded with a chicken strip box that was, unfortunately, placed too close to the edge of the table.

There was only two strips left in the box, thankfully, but I think the thing that made it the most comical was the fact that Doug took so long getting himself settled that the puppies had managed to duck their heads in the box and each scarf down a strip. When poor Doug finally poked his head in for his stolen treat, he got nothing but crumbs stuck to the end of his nose.

Before we left, Allie had pulled me aside, Emma and Leah hot on her heels, and asked me what had happened with Brandon. I just told them that we were trying to figure things out. I just didn’t feel like going into details right then, and plus, they were talking about having a girls’ night soon, so I figured I’d be forced to spill then.

We pulled into the driveway and sat in the darkness, which seemed to be a thing with us. I leaned my head back against the headrest and waited him out, knowing that he was working things through in his mind.

Finally, the silence was broken by his words, low and throaty with emotion.

“I’m trying so hard to hold on to my sanity, right now. All I keep seeing is your face and the way you were holding yourself the day you showed up at the house. We should have seen it, we should have been there for you, Chloe.”