Chapter 9

I had successfully been hiding from him for the last week. Like most nights I was sleeping in Trev's bed because, despite my anger, I missed him terribly. Also, because my stupid father never thought to look for me in there, but it was not my father that found me; it was one of his buddies that was just as drunk as he was. I remember waking up as soon as the door opened and hid under the covers as his voice came to me from the dark.

"Hey, purdy lady. How’s about you come out from under that cover, and we'll talk. Yer daddy’s downstairs passed out drunk and I'm getting bored," he said as he sat on the edge of the bed.

He smelled of urine, vomit, and whiskey and I had to try hard not to throw up as his stench seemed to surround me. I gripped the blanket tighter and tried to sink into the bed hoping that if I did not make any noise, he might leave me alone and I would be safe. Instead, he ripped the blanket off me with a triumphant laugh.

"Oh, you are purdy. Why don't you come sit on my lap?" he sneered grabbing my arm and pulling me to him.

I struggled harshly, kicking, and punching at him, but he just kept laughing until he pulled me on his lap beginning to grope savagely at my breasts and pulling at my shirt obviously hoping it would rip off. My vision turned red and the next thing I saw was my fist, balled up perfectly like Trev had taught me, going into his nose which broke with a sickening crunch. Ignoring the pain radiating up my arm as he dropped me on the floor so his hand could grab his blood-spewing nose I jumped up and ran without hesitation. I raced downstairs to where my father had passed out in the chair and slapped his face to bring him out of his drunken stupor.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, you little bitch?" he screamed at me.

High on adrenaline, I found my caution was thrown to the wind.

"Your buddy just tried to rape me!" I screamed back at him.

"Bullshit! Frank's a good man!" my father shouted back.

My mouth dropped in disbelief. All I could do was just stare at him trying to figure out if he were serious or if he was really just that stupid, I was quite sure it was the latter. As my mind was still trying to figure it out, Frank stumbled down the stairs still holding his nose and groaning in pain. Pride welled in my chest at the knowledge I had indeed broken his nose. Hopefully, I shattered it, came a vindictive thought.

"Your slut of a daughter came on to me, Steve. And when I refused to screw her, she broke my fucking nose," Frank said.

His drunken slur was nasal, and his hand never left his nose even while the blood trickled through his fingers.

"Don't shock me none, Frank. She's just like her mother, a little whore. Maybe I oughtta start making people pay for it," Steve said with a belly chuckle that jiggled his bulging stomach.

I grew dizzy which was always the first sign of a panic attack coming on. They had been a frequent visitor for so long now that I had gotten good at learning the symptoms.

Filled with desperation and frustrating hopelessness, I picked up the nearest lamp and chucked it at them with all my strength. The cord ripped out of the wall and barely scraped my father's face, but the lamp itself slammed right into Frank's head knocking him out cold and I ran. The pounding of my feet barely drowned out the sound of my father screaming obscenities and the crash of things breaking. I did not stop running until I passed out on the street.

When I awoke, I was surrounded by the paramedics. They had bandaged up my hand and told me to come by the hospital later and get it splinted since it was broken. When they asked where home was, I gave them Mia's address in hopes they would take me there. I knew that her mother was a nurse, and her father was a well-respected lawyer and if anyone could help me it was them.

I had to give Mia a great deal of credit, when she saw me pull up in the ambulance, she didn't even bat an eye as she said “Yes, she lives here.”

When they pulled away, I began to spew out my story as fast as I could. Mia immediately went to action calling both the cops and her parents.

I can recall a brief encounter with my father a few nights later. He apparently had stumbled to their front door and was yelling at them, warning them that I was a drug addict, a whore, and would corrupt their daughter. I had hid in Mia's bed trying to calm yet another panic attack until he left.

At the custody meeting, my father had a cast on and two black eyes. So, I could guess from Tomas' bloody knuckles what had happened. Once we left the courtroom, I hugged Tomas as tightly as I could.

Ever since that day I had done my best to make the Johnson's proud of me and to put that bastard out of my mind as well as my life.

"SO, LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU FUCKING DRUNK ASS PIECE OF SHIT!" I screamed to the sky.

As soon as the words were out of my mouth my memories came to a halt and I felt like a million tons of weight lifted off my shoulders leaving me able to breathe once again.

It was getting dark by the time I made it back to the cabin and I quickly went in and built up a fire. I got caught up in the colors of the flames as they danced through the darkened house. I decided to sit in front of it leaving the lights off. I laid down on the couch, staring at it for a while not really thinking about anything, just letting my tired mind relax. Of course, being the traitor that it is, it brought up Jordan and Jack making my heartache and wondering what they were doing and if they missed me too.

I sighed in frustration calling myself a million kinds of an idiot for missing them both as well and threw my arm over my eyes trying hard to block out the images of their faces. My mind did not stop there, it brought up the memory of the first night I had ever seen Jordan.

I could not believe this was happening, I hadn't meant for this to happen. It was her birthday and I had wanted her to wear this sexy little corset I had never been able to fill out properly and this cute little mini that showed off her assets to the max. The end-all had been a set of stilettos that had been held together with a few dinky straps. I should have known better than to make her wear them, Mia had never been coordinated or graceful and I had made her wear the worst possible shoes.