“You never knew how to listen to anybody.” He shook me, his fingers digging painfully into my arm. “I had to teach you a lesson. And it looks like,” he skimmed a finger lightly down my jaw, “you still haven’t learned.”
“Why are you here?” I gasped around my raw throat. “Why won’t you leave me alone?” I sobbed. Didn’t I deserve a happy life? Why did Marcus have to continually ruin everything for me?
He lowered his head to my neck and inhaled my scent. “Because no one has ever felt as good as you.”
The guy had serious psychiatric problems. If I made it out of this alive, because something told me I might not, I would make sure he was put away—be it in jail or an institution, this fucker was going down.
“Get off of me,” I rasped, struggling to get loose, but he was so much stronger than me. I felt the baby move restlessly inside me. She sensed my distress and was responding.
Oh, God, please don’t let anything happen to my baby.
“You’re a sick son of a bitch,” I spat on him when he reached for my panties—easy for him to grab since I wore a dress today.
“Face it, Sutton,” he growled my name, “you like it.”
“Help!” I tried to scream again. My voice was a little louder this time, but still not enough that anyone heard me. “Help!”
He released my hands as he undid his belt buckle and started on the button and zipper of his jeans. I used his distraction to my advantage and reached around blindly for anything that might be lying on the floor. I wasn’t going down without a fight. I wasn’t the meek, scared Sutton that Marcus remembered from those endless nights where he snuck into my room. With my love for Caelan and Memphis I’d found the strength to overcome the tragedies of my past. I wasn’t crippled by fear.
Finally my fingers latched on to something. Whatever it was, was heavy enough to be used as a weapon. I swung the object at his head and it connected with a resounding thump. He fell to the side and a smidgen of blood leaked out of a cut on his forehead. He wasn’t dead, but he was knocked out.
I struggled to get to my feet and run to the door, before I made it though, it swung open. “What the hell?” Memphis dropped the empty boxes he’d been holding. He got a look at the mess and the man slumped on the ground. He took me into his arms. “Holy shit! Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay. Who is that? We need to call 911. I can’t believe this.” The words tumbled out of his mouth, one right after the other.
He was in shock and so was I. I couldn’t speak and I could barely think straight. My body hurt all over and I breathed like I’d run a marathon. Pain radiated in my abdomen and I clutched my stomach.
Memphis called 911 and spoke with the operator, reporting a break-in.
Finding my voice, I said around tears, “Tell them to send an ambulance.”
“An ambulance? Why? I mean, the guy’s knocked out but he isn’t hurt that bad.”
Flinching in pain, I gasped, “I think the baby’s coming.”
He dropped the phone and then scurried to
pick it up. He rattled off information to the operator and then stayed on the phone with them as we waited. He helped me to the couch and I sat down. The pain I felt was unlike anything I had ever experienced.
Marcus began to stir and I whimpered.
“Do you know who that is?” Memphis questioned. It was then that I realized he thought he’d walked in to a burglary.
I nodded, since I couldn’t find the words to form a response.
Memphis’ mouth fell open and realization lit his eyes. “Oh.”
It wasn’t long until the police and paramedics showed up.
“It hurts so bad,” I told Memphis, tears wetting my cheeks, “and it’s too soon. What if something happens to her?”
“It’s going to be okay,” he took my cheek in his hand. “We’re going to get through this. Don’t worry.”
I was scared out of my mind that something was wrong with my daughter. If something happened to her…I feared what I might do to Marcus.
As the paramedics helped me onto a gurney the police told me they’d need a statement once I was up for it. They handcuffed Marcus and hauled him away. He was still half-unconscious. Apparently I’d hit him harder than I thought. Was it bad that I didn’t care if he bled internally and died? I wanted the fucker to suffer like I had. Yeah, that was definitely wrong of me, especially considering I was going to be a mom, but I didn’t care.
Memphis held my hand all the way to the hospital and spoke soothing words to calm me. It did no good. I wouldn’t feel better until I knew if my daughter was okay.
A doctor looked at me immediately and discerned that the baby was in distress and needed to get out now. I’d thought if I was in labor they might be able to stop it, but that wasn’t the case.