Seven

SEVEN

Josie

My plan had gone up in smoke.

I should have known. I shouldn't have been so na?ve to assume things would work out the way I wanted them to work out. I just never thought it would come crashing down at the very definition of the last minute.

Everything had been going as I had intended.

After Huck dropped me off at home last night, I went about my evening as I normally would have. I made dinner, Kurt came home, and he was in a surprisingly decent mood.

I kept the same demeanor and routine as usual, since that always seemed to keep me from getting myself into any kind of unexpected trouble with Kurt. It was critical, especially now, for me to ensure I didn't do a single thing to tip him off about my plan to leave.

I cleaned up from dinner, and the two of us sat in the living room for a while, watching television. Or, well, Kurt watched the television. I was staring at it, but I was only half paying attention. My mind was caught up in my thoughts of Huck and the fact that I was going to be with him at that time the next day. I knew I was safe to think about Huck then. Kurt wouldn't have any real discussion for me as the evening progressed, so I zoned out.

As I sat there, curled up on the corner of the couch while Kurt lounged in the Lay-z-boy, I recalled the short time Huck and I had spent together earlier in the afternoon. My belly fluttered every time I replayed in my mind the sound of his voice and the words he said to me. The moment I felt myself getting emotional when I pictured the look in his eyes as he begged me to let him help me, I realized I had to stop thinking.

I forced myself to pay attention to the television, because I was too close to the end. I just couldn't risk ruining this opportunity to get out and be safe. Fortunately, I was successful in doing that, and before I knew it, Kurt turned off the television, stood, and said, "Time to head up."

I gave him a nod. "I'm just going to grab a glass of water. My throat's been bothering me today. Would you like me to bring you a drink?"

"No, but will you take this beer bottle and toss it for me?" he countered.

Taking the bottle, I replied, "Sure."

With that, I walked out to the kitchen as Kurt climbed the stairs. As soon as I tossed his bottle and got myself the glass of water, giving him the time to get upstairs, I grabbed my phone from my purse and sent a text to Huck.

Josie

Heading to bed now. All is good.

Once the message had been delivered, I deleted the conversation and dropped my phone back into my purse. Then I climbed the stairs and went to bed, feeling grateful that it was going to be the last time I slept beside a man who could do to me what Kurt had done over the last couple of years.

When I woke up this morning, nothing had been out of the ordinary, other than the fact I was going through my usual routine with butterflies in my belly. There were just a few hours left until freedom. I couldn't believe I was this close.

While Kurt continued to sleep until his alarm went off—I always woke before he did—I descended the stairs, made my way to the kitchen, and went about packing Kurt's lunch for work. Then I moved on to preparing breakfast.

Before I knew it, he had entered the kitchen, and the two of us were sitting down to eat together. Unsurprisingly, he had the same conversation for me as always.

"Is my lunch ready?"

"It's already by the door," I assured him.

"And you're not working today?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I tried to pick up an extra shift today, but since they gave me one yesterday, they had to give one to one of the other servers."

"Did you pick up any additional shifts for next week?" he pressed after a few beats of silence.

I finished chewing my eggs and swallowed them. Then I took a sip of my drink and said, "I was able to get two extras for next week."

He nodded his approval. "That's good. That's really good, Josie."

"Yeah, I think so, too. It's just a matter of time before we get all caught up on everything we've been hit with lately," I reasoned.

"You're really helping me out a lot here. Maybe after we get through this mess, we'll plan something special. Maybe you should start thinking about some place you'd like to take a trip. It's been a long time since we've had a vacation. It might be nice to do that."

Kurt's pleasant demeanor this morning wasn't strange. He started the conversation in his typical way, but the way he seemed to hold an edge of respect and admiration for me getting those additional shifts didn't shock me. That he was suggesting a vacation was even less odd.

This was the typical type of behavior I'd grown to expect from him after we had an incident like we did a few days ago. I never quite understood it, even if I was grateful for it. There was a sense of reassurance in the days that followed an altercation. I didn't know if it stemmed from him feeling the need to smooth things over—likely the reason I'd stuck around in the beginning—or if he simply got out his rage and felt better. Whatever it was, I always looked forward to the reprieve.

In the end, we would never take the trip, and that didn't have anything to do with me intending to leave. It was just that Kurt always said things like this, and he never followed through, because something else always came up, or he'd get mad and take his fists to me again in a couple of weeks.

"That sounds like a great idea. Maybe I'll try to come up with a few places today, since I have the day off," I suggested.

Kurt popped the last bite of toast in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. As he lifted his coffee mug to his mouth, he said, "Sounds good. We can talk about it when I get home. You know what? Why don't I pick up dinner for us on the way back? We'll reward ourselves for working hard. What do you think?"

Just keep playing along, I thought.

I smiled at him as he set his empty mug down and stood. "That sounds great, Kurt. Thank you for doing that. It'll be a nice small reward before we go for the big one with a trip, right?"

He let out a laugh. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Moving toward me, he bent at the waist, kissed my cheek, and said, "Breakfast was great. I'm going to head up and use the bathroom."

"Okay," I said softly, hating that he'd done that.

Even if I preferred when he was being nice to me over the alternative, this level of tenderness from him always made me feel uncomfortable.

Because he used to be sweet like this with me in the beginning. It was one of the things I'd loved most about our relationship. It made me fall for him, because I hadn't ever experienced that in my life. Clearly, he still had that in him. It was a shame he'd lost the man he used to be somewhere along the way.

Whenever he had moments like this with me, it always brought me back to a better time in our relationship. I'd always wonder where it went wrong. And the reality was, if I wasn't in the mindset I had been in this morning, I didn't doubt I would have been sitting here feeling hopeful this conversation would be a preview of what was to come, a promise that we could and would get back to better times.

Kurt took off out of the kitchen and walked upstairs. The moment I heard the bathroom door close, I rose from my seat and sought out my phone to send another text to Huck.

Josie

He's finished breakfast and should be out the door in the next fifteen minutes. Then I'm packing. I should easily be ready to go right around 10.

I sent off the text, confirmed it was delivered, and deleted the conversation once again. Then I got to work on cleaning up the breakfast dishes.

That's when everything took a turn.

I was standing at the sink, washing the dishes, when I heard Kurt's footsteps on the stairs. A few seconds later, I heard him in the kitchen, but I continued to work on the dishes.

"Hey, Josie?" he called.

"Yeah?" I replied, not recognizing the change in his tone from a matter of minutes ago.

"What's on your agenda today?" he asked.

My brows pulled together as I rinsed off one of the plates. We'd just discussed this. Why was he asking again?

I set the plate on the rack to dry, lifted one of the mugs in my hands to clean it, and answered, "I'm going to spend the morning cleaning up the house and doing some laundry. Then I'll do some brainstorming for ideas for a trip. Why? Did you need me to take care of something for you?"

"I don't know. I guess I'm wondering if there's a plan for this money you've been hiding in the bathroom," he fired back, his voice lethal.

Oh, God.

Oh, no.

I swallowed hard, tried not to react negatively, and put the mug in the drying rack. Then I turned off the sink, grabbed the hand towel, and dried off my hands as I slowly turned to face him.

Kurt was holding the money I'd hidden in a box of tampons under the sink. I never suspected he'd ever look inside it. Damn it.

"I'm sorry I kept some of my tip money. It's just that your birthday is coming up soon, and I wanted to save up some money to get you something special," I lied.

His eyes narrowed. "My birthday isn't for another three months."

I lifted my shoulders toward my ears. "I thought it was worth it to start planning early."

He nodded slowly, a look on his face indicating he didn't believe a word I said. That's when he reached into his back pocket, pulled out a small rectangular piece of paper, and held it up between us. "Really? So, were you planning to hire this company to do something for my birthday? Or is there something you're not telling me?"

Kurt not only found my money, but he found the Harper Security Ops business card Huck had given me. This wasn't good.

"I… I?—"

"What, Josie? What is this? Where did you get this card?" he questioned me.

Maybe it was best to be honest. "I got it at work," I confessed. "I saw a friend of mine for the first time since we graduated together from high school. He told me where he worked and gave me his card."

"He? You think it's okay to have a guy friend?" Kurt spat.

Shaking my head, my nerves built to unprecedented levels. "That's not what I meant. He was a friend in high school, Kurt. I haven't seen him in years."

Kurt shoved Huck's card and the money I'd been saving back into his pocket. Then he stepped forward, and I knew immediately what was coming. "Do you think you can leave me? Are you trying to sneak behind my back?"

"No. No, not at all," I lied again.

"You're not leaving me, Josie. I'll make sure of it."

I opened my mouth to speak, to reassure him I had no intention of leaving him, but that was as far as I got before his closed fist collided with the side of my face and sent me flying. I stumbled backward, my body twisting at an awkward angle, and my ribs screamed out in pain.

If it hadn't been for the counter behind me, I would have fallen to the floor. Truthfully, I wasn't sure if that would have been better, because as I pressed my palms into the counter to steady myself and get upright again, Kurt shoved me from behind. "You're not going anywhere. You're not leaving me."

I was still seeing stars from the punch to my face, and the shove caused me to lose my balance again, but it was the least brutal thing I was going to experience. Going through this as many times as I had, I knew there was much worse to come. I just hadn't realized how bad it could actually be.

Cautiously, I turned around. Kurt's eyes connected with mine, and it was in that moment when I felt nothing but regret. I should have listened to Huck. I should have forgotten about the money and my things and gone with him yesterday.

Because Kurt wasn't done. He was far from done.

It was all a blur, too.

For some reason, perhaps the finality of my decision, Kurt had decided he didn't want to be lazy this time. There wasn't anything he didn't do to me. I got everything from being thrown harshly into the wall and over a table to having my hair pulled and being dragged through the house.

I was punched.

I was kicked.

There wasn't a single spot on my body that wasn't screaming in agony.

Somehow, it felt like it was happening at lightning speed and a turtle's pace all at once. The physical assault on my body was unrelenting. It was one blow after another. Before I could react to a punch to my face, I was being kicked in the ribs. So, as quickly as the hits were coming, the length of time I'd gone experiencing them felt like an eternity.

Kurt pulled at my pajamas, tearing the material from my body, and shouted in my face. I struggled against him, clawing and scratching. Since I'd decided this was it, I figured it was time to fight back as best I could.

That only seemed to incense Kurt. I'd always thought I was getting the worst of it every time he abused me. But now I knew that hadn't been the case at all. Things could get worse, so much worse.

Chairs were thrown, pictures fell off the walls, and glass had shattered as stuff clattered to the ground.

I wasn't even sure how it happened, but at some point, I screamed out with the pain I felt in my shoulder. When I couldn't seem to use it any longer, I was certain it had been dislocated.

And that was the point at which my ability to fight Kurt was significantly diminished. Despite my best efforts to fight back, the harsh reality was that he was bigger and stronger. I was only ever going to be able to do so much before he got the upper hand.

All throughout, the only two thoughts that ran through my mind were that I hoped I'd survive this attack and how stupid I was for not listening to Huck.

Suddenly, finally, it stopped.

Kurt pushed his hand hard against my head and stood up. My lungs felt like they were barely functioning, struggling to get in any ragged breath they could.

"Look what you made me do to you, Josie. You're a fucking mess now. This is all your fault, you know?" His voice was eerily calm, like he hadn't just expended a massive effort to beat me to a pulp.

My eye that hadn't already swollen shut drifted close. I was tired. God, I was tired.

I vaguely heard Kurt's footsteps in the distance, and I didn't feel his presence looming over me.

Please go, I thought.

"You're lucky I have to go to work," he seethed. "I expect this place to be picked up by the time I get back."

Nothing about any of this was lucky for me, so I didn't respond.

Kurt didn't seem to care. Because a few seconds later, the front door opened and shut. He was gone, and all I wanted to do was sleep.

I was so tired. This was the worst Kurt had ever beaten me, and the fight I'd put up took everything out of me. My body was in agony. I desperately needed to see a doctor. I needed to go to the hospital. But even that didn't feel safe.

I took a moment to rest.

When I opened my eyes again, I couldn't decipher if I'd passed out briefly, or if I'd truly only rested for a few minutes.

There was no strength left in my body, so I was convinced it was sheer mental willpower that pushed me to crawl to my purse. Every inch was grueling, and I had to stop several times along the way to rest. It took an eternity, but I eventually made it there.

I found my phone and struggled to pull up Huck's contact with my trembling fingers and shaking hands. It hurt just to hold my phone, so I tapped on the button to turn on the speakerphone, and I rested my head back down on the ground.

My eyes drifted close again, and a moment later, it was as though I'd slipped into a dream, because Huck's voice surrounded me. "Hey, Josie. Are you all set?"

I took two breaths, attempting to muster up the strength to respond. Then, I told him the truth.

"My plan didn't work."