Returning Injury (21 page)

Soaking in the hot tub, she looked out at the blue sky and mountains. She hadn’t seen the sky that blue since Jack surprised her for her birthday in Orlando.

Jack had to work on her birthday, but told her he would meet her at their cabana at the hotel pool for lunch. He brought a few friends from work to join them. There was some whispering going on and Rebecca knew he was up to something, but she never could have guessed. A beautiful birthday cake for dessert was brought out by the staff singing “Happy Birthday.”

What a wonderful surprise, she thought. But that wasn’t all.

Jack had hired a pilot to write “I Love You Reb” across the sky with his airplane. Rebecca cried and held onto Jack tightly while the plane created the letters. Jack’s friends took photos and video of the event. Later, Jack bought her a gorgeous blue sweater set that was the same color as the sky that day, making it a most memorable birthday. As much as Rebecca appreciated his gifts and thoughtfulness on her birthday, Jack was Rebecca’s favorite gift every day of every year.

Rebecca decided to skip the steam and headed upstairs to shower.

Wrapped in a towel, she stepped into her closet and saw that blue sweater set. She couldn’t wait for Jack to get home. She slipped into her pajamas and intended to lounge around the rest of the day. As she went down the stairs, she glanced out the window and saw a coyote in the distance on a hill far from their yard. She watched it until it disappeared into the trees. Rebecca needed to take Lily outside and dreaded it. But it had to be done, so she turned off the alarm and walked to the front door where Lily was waiting.

Rebecca stayed close to the house. Hypersensitive about the coyotes, she walked Lily around as much as she could in the small area by the front door. But Lily wanted to go for a walk, so Rebecca grabbed a few rocks and walked a little farther from the house. Lily sniffed the grass and Rebecca waited.

“Come on, Lily.”

Lily stopped everything and looked right at Rebecca.

Rebecca laughed. “Yes, I’m talking about you. Hurry up.”

Lily continued sniffing around.

Rebecca had to go to the bathroom herself, so she squatted. When finished, she pulled her pajama bottoms back up and tied the string snuggly around her waist. Lily walked over and sniffed where Rebecca had gone, then squatted and peed right on top of Rebecca’s. “My word. If I had known it could be that easy, I would have peed for you before.” Rebecca shook her head. “So, you’re going to mark on top of my marking? You think this is your territory?” Rebecca picked up Lily. “I sure love you. Let’s go watch a movie.”

Once inside with the alarm back on, she got comfortable on the couch and covered up with the throw. She turned on “American Justice” on A&E. Lily snuggled in next to her, and they both fell asleep.

About an hour later Rebecca woke up and started flipping through the channels. The movie,
A Perfect Murder
, was just getting ready to start on HBO, so she decided to skip pay-per-view. Rebecca slipped out from under the blanket trying not to wake Lily. She got a bag of microwave popcorn and poured herself a big glass of milk while waiting for the popcorn to finish popping. Then she settled in with Lily to watch the movie.

Rebecca had a great night. She didn’t work at all. She snacked, watched movies and peed outside again with Lily before they headed to bed for the night.

Rebecca woke to a dark figure hovering over her.

“Jack!” She tried to sit up but was held down.

“It’s not Jack.”

Rebecca froze. She knew that voice—it was Roy. “Jack will be home any minute.”

“Jack is out of town,” he said and leaned over to turn on the light. He was sitting next to her on the edge of the bed.

His dark hair was gone; his head was shaved bald.

Rebecca was scared but strangely at ease. Maybe he just wanted to talk, she thought.

“How did you get in here? The alarm…”

“You’re foolish,” he interrupted. “But you did well for yourself,” he said as he looked around. “It’s so funny… you thought you were so safe setting your alarm all the time.” He laughed. “I busted one of your door locks even before your prince left town. Every time you turned off your alarm, I had easy access. And once I was in, your old system was easy to jack up. Get it? Jack… up? You should have
updated your system…” He laughed. “Well, it probably wouldn’t have done any good. I still would have found a way… Your phones are down, too, so don’t even think about…”

“Why are you here? What do you want?”

“I haven’t decided yet. But, I wanted to see you again.”

“Did you cut…”

“…cut down your neighbor’s tree? Yes.”

“You’ve been in this house, haven’t you?”

“Almost daily.”

Without warning, Roy raised his arm and powerfully struck her across the left side of her face.

The pain was immediate. Her eye quickly swelled up almost to the point of being closed. Panic flooded her. Was this the end of her life? Tonight would it all end? She didn’t want to die. She had to fight. More than anything she wanted to hit him back, but she knew it would be a mistake. She had to think. “Where’s Lily?”

“Your dog? I locked him up.”

“Lily!” She yelled in panic, then heard Lily scratching at a door and crying. “Outside?”

“Your office.” Rebecca felt relieved just hearing her. As Rebecca relaxed, Roy closed his hand and hit Rebecca, again catching her at her temple and left cheekbone.

“Nice watchdog. Your husband should have gotten you a German shepherd… What a good man you have. Leaves you here alone… You told him about me, right?”

Rebecca’s face was throbbing.

“You’re a stupid fucking bitch! Do you know how much you fucked up my life?”

“You’re a stupid fucking dick! Do you know how much you’re fucking up mine?”

Roy laughed. “Feisty! I bet you don’t show your perfect husband Jack that side of you.”

Rebecca’s anger grew. How could this guy be in her house in her life after all this time? How was this even possible? Why wasn’t she strong enough, smart enough to keep this from happening?

“Maybe I’ll take what I should have had a long time ago.” He reached over and grabbed her breast.”

Rebecca punched him as hard as she could in the mouth.

Roy slapped her again in the same place across the left side of the face. When she turned back to look at him, she noticed a cut on his lip.

Rebecca’s tough eastside past was still with her. And she was thankful. Her best friends Cecilia and Rachael were right there with her, ready to fight. Vicki, Renae and Lupe were yelling at Rebecca to stay strong. Her new friends were with her, too: Angie, Leslie and Christy were in her corner. Rebecca was channeling all these incredible women into herself. She would win this and survive. Together, they would take care of Roy. He didn’t stand a chance.

Knowing this battle couldn’t be won physically, she had to use her brain. She knew she couldn’t rely on the alarm system or the telephone. What about her cell phone? Was he able to tamper with her cell phone that was on the dresser not far from her? She went over everything she learned in self-defense. What did she have for a weapon on her night stand: clock, phone, lamp, pen? Maybe she could stick the pen into his eye. If she was able to push it in far enough, she might kill him.

Surprising herself that she could even consider killing somebody. She’d never want to live with that guilt, she thought, then wondered why have compassion for somebody who continued hurting her? Was she missing a gene? Were most women missing that gene? If her friends were there, would they kill him for her? Roy might kill her… If he kills her, it would be too late for her to kill him first.

Hearing Lily whimper, Rebecca convinced herself that Lily was safe and Jack was safe, as long as he didn’t come home early. So Rebecca had one person to worry about, one person to protect– herself.

The blood started to run from Roy’s lip. He touched the drop with his fingers. “Good hit, but you’re so fucked up right now. You have no idea how bad you look. You’re so ugly, I’ll have to cover your face when I fuck you.”

Rebecca cringed.

He grabbed Rebecca’s hand and pressed it against his hard penis. “In time, my angel.”

She pulled her hand away. Should she pretend she liked him, wanted to be back with him. Should she badmouth Jack? “Remember when you sang “Blue Eyes” to me?”

“If I was going to sing it to you now, I’d have to sing “Blue Eye,” he laughed. “Get it? You only have one eye.”

“I think I’m having a bad dream. You’re not really here.”

“Yes, I am.”

“No, I don’t think so. I’ll wake up tomorrow and everything will be fine. You’ll be checking in with your parole officer.”

“You’re fucking with me.”

“No, I’m not, it’s your dream too. Why’d you dream this? What do you want?”

Lily barked, then started whimpering.

“Why would I have a stupid fuckin’ dog in my dream?” He struck her again.

His insanity scared her, but she pretended everything was fine. “Well, I’m going to get up and make some coffee. Do you want some?” She lifted the covers in hopes of getting him off her bed so she could get up and run for her cell. As she held the covers, he grabbed her arm and forced it behind her back. She was sure her shoulder would come out of the socket. He forced her back down on the bed on her stomach. He was on top of her and tried to pull down her pajama bottoms. The pajama string was tied tightly around her waist and her bottoms wouldn’t pull down. Her arm felt like it would break from him pressing against her, forcefully thrusting against her back. He kept trying to remove her pants. She could feel the burn of the fabric cutting into her hips.

He moaned and went still.

Rebecca knew he’d ejaculated but couldn’t tell if his pants were down or not. She didn’t feel anything wet. Rebecca was filled with fear, and she fought tears. He was so much stronger than she was. If her pants had come down… the thought made her nauseous. Her shoulder was throbbing, and she didn’t know if it was still in place or broken or torn.

She wasn’t sure if it was from the pain or what had just happened, but her mouth started watering and, before she knew it, she was vomiting. Roy stood up quickly and started pacing back and forth in her bedroom.

Rebecca slid her right arm down her back. The pain was excruciating. She hoped the hurting would stop. As her arm passed down the backside of her body, she felt nothing wet on her back or butt. His jeans had still been on.

“Get up!” he yelled.

She did.

He grabbed her same arm and forced it behind her back and pushed her as they walked down the hall and down the stairs. She could hear Lily whining and barking. She was now far from her cell phone.

As they got to the foot of the stairs, Rebecca saw the bookcase she had wanted to move with its two solid glass sculptures: the wolf and the bear. They were heavy, but small enough that she could lift them and possibly use one as a weapon.

But not now, not the way he had her shoulder. He told her to turn on the lights and close the blinds that faced the driveway. She did as she was told. After she set the remote down, he shoved her onto the couch. Her shoulder throbbed as her arm straightened.

“I need a drink of water,” Rebecca said, still tasting the vomit in her mouth.

Roy ignored her and sat on the edge of a chair facing her.

She could see the front of his pants were wet, and she almost vomited again. The hitting hadn’t weakened her as much as the attempted rape and his strength. She felt defeated. She knew he would try again. She started to believe he was going to kill her. One way or another, she would lose at least a part of herself if not her whole life before this was over.

“You are so fuckin’ ugly right now,” he said staring at her. “You have puke on your face.” He laughed, shaking his head. “I got beat up in prison, but I never looked as bad as you look. I think I broke your cheekbone. You’re fragile. You act tough, but you’re fragile.” He leaned in to touch her face.

Rebecca punched him on the mouth again.

Roy slapped her on the same side of her face as before.

Rebecca turned her head back to face him and started to cry. Tears were pouring from both eyes. She was broken. She was in so much pain, her shoulder, her face. Her hand hurt from hitting him and her head was pounding. The tears were stinging her eyes.