Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2) (45 page)

“Don’t scream you stupid
bitch! You are
mine
- don’t you understand that? I love you. I don’t want to hurt
you, can’t you see that? If you’d stop being a dumb
cunt
we could get on
friendly-like. Like we used to. It’s up to you, now isn’t
it?”

Krista was painfully lifted up by her hair.
She hit out at him, connecting with his chest and uselessly
battering him with her fists. She heard him laugh, then was blindly
flung toward the bed.

“As I was saying, I spent time in jail. A
few months, no big deal. But I shouldn’t’a been there at all.” His
voice became liquid honey as the bed compressed next to her. He
reached out toward her face. She flinched and scrambled away as far
as possible.

He chuckled darkly. He moved toward her
again. When she tried to scuttle off the bed Jim caught her by the
hair again and flung her back. He grabbed her upper thigh, keeping
her there.

Thankfully the touch wasn’t sexual. It was
still in punishment zone. It wasn’t much better.

“I got’ta work out a lot. It was easy time.
Free gym membership, basically. So I ask again, how do I look?”

Krista’s body shook so bad all she could
stammer out was a “good” to make him happy—hopefully loosen his
grip.

Her mind was whirling, trying to claw
through the cage he’d put her in. She needed to get out of this
situation. She needed to get outside. To run. She was fast. She
could run for a long time. She’d worked on it for just such an
occasion. Jim wasn’t a runner—never had been. He had long legs, but
if she could get a few paces beyond his reach, she would be gone.
She’d make it to the park and hide in the trees until she could get
to the police station.

But she had to get out of here first.

“Good? Or great?” Jim leaned over her,
punishment turning into sadistic desire. It was worse news than
what was already happening.

Krista heard herself say “great” as his
familiar smell and horrible memories clouded her brain. Tears slid
down her face, eating away her strength. It was impossible to think
she had stood up to him once. That she had ever been that strong.
Especially in the light of what would come next if she acted in any
way defiant.

“Yes, great,” he went on, feeling up the
inside of her thigh, the grip painful. “I’ve had bitches all over
me since I got out. But I have a woman, don’t I? I can fuck
anytime, but I need someone to make me babies. Carry on the legacy.
Only you can fill that role. Isn’t that right? Isn’t that what we
talked about?”

“No!” she said between clenched teeth,
ignoring his fingers digging into her leg. “I will die before I
breed for you.”

In that honeyed voice Jim said, “You act as
though you have a choice. This decision has been made.”

With that Jim uncoiled. He grabbed her neck
and lifted her from the bed and into his face. “You are coming back
to Seattle with me. Get whatever you can carry. We leave now.”

Krista scratched at his hands as they
clutched her throat. She couldn’t breathe! She tried to kick him,
or hit him in the throat, but when he extended his arm she couldn’t
reach anything but his tree trunk arm. Her strength was no match
for his and her breath was running short. He smiled at her in a
demeaning sort of way at her struggles before he, graciously, let
go.

She fell to the ground in a heap, clutching
her bruised throat, gulping for air.

“No,” she managed, panting.
It hurt to speak. “You can’t make me, Jim. It’s over. We’re
over
!”

Jim bent to her again and
grabbed her hair, painfully pulling her halfway off the ground
toward his face. “You walked out on me once, Krista. And I let you.
Do you hear me?
I let you.”
He shook her by the hair, her head bobbing, her
neck in agony.
“You-are-
mine
! Do you hear me?
Mine!
Now get your shit, and let’s go.”

So she wasn’t going to be raped just yet.
She was being taken. It became crystal clear that somewhere along
the way, Jim had lost his mind entirely. He’d always balanced
precariously on the edge of insanity, but something, possibly jail
time, or her leaving, tipped him over. If he took her, he would
probably kill her. He wouldn’t mean to, but he would lose his mind
in a fit of rage and probably strangle her to death. Or snap her
neck. Or beat her to death.

Sobbing, she knew that she just needed
enough space to run. That’s all she needed. It’s the only defense
she had. Enough space, and she could save herself.

Where the hell are the
cops
? She thought desperately. What was
Ben doing--hanging out and waiting to see what would
happen?

Krista coughed and struggled to get up. She
had to find that power again. It was an elusive thing, power. It
was like catching a trout with your hand in icy water. The fish was
just so slippery.

She felt his strong hand on her hair again
before she was lifted and flung into the closet. Some men liked to
push, some to slap. Jim had always been a fan of grabbing and
throwing—he liked to see the effects of his strength. Disgustingly,
his friends had always been impressed.

Until it was them on the other end.

Krista landed painfully in the closet,
pulling down all her clothes on top of her. Her head hit the back
wall. She stayed put for a second, dizzy, frantically searching her
mind for what she could use as a weapon.

There was a knock at the door.

Thank God!
She blindly hoped it was someone with
authority.

As she struggled to right herself, her
shoulder popping painfully, she heard the door open.

“Who are you?” Jim asked with a defensive
quality she hadn’t heard him use before. It couldn’t be the police,
then. The cops tended to love Jim. He had a way of talking to them
that made him seem like one of the boys instead of a woman beating
asshole.

“My name is Sean. I was wondering if I might
speak to Krista?”

A pure shot of adrenaline pierced Krista’s
middle. She was caught between a sense of relief and one of terror.
Sean was muscular and a good size, but Jim was a giant; raw power
in the flesh. The weights he had been lifting only increased that.
Plus, he had been in more fights then Hercules. Probably won more
than Hercules, too. Some people said only wimps picked on women.
Jim was no wimp. He beat women because he was as sexually
aggressive as he was physically aggressive. Jim picked on
everyone.

Sean didn’t need any part of this. He didn’t
need to get mixed up with someone like Jim. Jim was dangerous, and
if he felt threatened in any way, or his possessions threatened,
which was Krista, he would react. She no longer had faith that
reaction would be sane, or legal. She didn’t see a weapon, but it
didn’t mean he didn’t have one.

“Krista is busy.” Jim was coiling again.

“All the same,” Sean said pleasantly.

Krista struggled up, and then stumbled into
the middle of the room. Jim had the door mostly closed, filling the
opening with the girth of his body.

“Sean! Go on, I’m okay,” she called. Her
hoarse voice sounded weak, even to her. She tried to keep it level,
keep the tears at bay, but she failed. Miserably. She was just so
glad to hear his voice. More glad than anything she could ever
remember. And more terrified.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Sean stood in the bedroom
doorway in a house well-kept with muted, warm colors. He stood
facing a man who did not, nor would ever, belong in such a setting.
The man was a giant. He was a
monster.
He was taller than Sean.
Brawnier. Definitely stronger. Sean could see rage boiling behind
his perilous dark eyes; madness.

“Don’t worry about me,” Krista called again
from inside the room.

Fear stabbed Sean’s heart. Her voice was
strained and terrified. It sounded like it’d been damaged. And now
she was trying to send him away to keep him safe.

“You heard her,” Jim said, pushing his size
into the space he’d opened in the door.

When Krista had told Sean about her
ex-boyfriend, Sean had imagined some normal-sized guy who was
taking out his insecurities on a woman. He had imagined a guy who
would cower from someone his own size and strength. Someone who got
yelled at by the boss and went home to take it out on the wife and
kids.

He did not, in his wildest
imagination, imagine a guy like the
mammoth
who stood in front of him.
Sean had wondered why Krista hadn’t left sooner. Why she stuck it
out a year. She was a strong woman—a woman Sean couldn’t see
dealing very long with physical abuse. But under the thumb of a man
like this, a man who could probably pick Sean up and throw
him…yeah, it made more sense now. If it wasn’t for Krista, Sean
would get the hell away from this guy as soon as possible. The way
he hovered, the way he blocked the doorway so Sean couldn’t step in
and steal what he was guarding—Krista could never just walk away.
Not without this monster coming after her.

Which he apparently had.
And now Sean couldn’t walk away, either.
Wouldn’t
walk away. Not until Krista
was safe.

“May I come in, Krista?” Sean asked
politely, keeping his eyes locked with Jim’s.

Jim, having sized Sean up and found him
wanting, stepped out of the way and opened the door. Sean got his
first glimpse of what happened when a woman stood up to a man like
Jim.

She was standing on her own two feet, but
painfully. Her throat was a furious shade of red, her hair wild—it
looked like he had taken fistfuls of it—and her bare leg was
blotchy up the inner thigh, turning bruised. Her dress was ripped
and finger marks were burned into her upper arm.

Sean’s vision went red.

“
Yes!” she shouted in
return, hope lacing her words.

A sickly smile took over Jim’s face. There
was death in that smile.

He opened the door wide, watching Sean enter
with a manic light in his eyes.

~*~*~*~

Seeing Sean peer in at her, eyes thick with
determination, Krista cringed. This could be a death sentence. Sean
did not plan to leave, he planned to put himself in harm’s way for
her, regardless of what he faced. Despite that, her heart surged,
feeling like the stronger half of herself was kept with him for
safe keeping, and he was now returning it to her.

Sean walked through the door, all grace and
ease. Though he gave Jim a wide berth, he looked unconcerned.
Sean’s eyes found Krista and raked her from head to toe. He took in
everything, settling on her neck for a heartbeat too long, and
looking into her eyes with an intensity she hadn’t seen before.

“Krista, I wondered what kept you. I had
thought we were going to meet at my house for the night,” Sean said
with implied intimacy. Did he know he was poking the bear in the
nose with a stick? “But I see you have company.”

“
Krista, who is this?” Jim
asked with that honeyed voice. Danger flashed in his eyes as he
sized up Sean. His body was taut, the veins on his arms and neck
standing out.

Sean looked down at Krista, waiting for her
to answer. If he felt any fear, he didn’t show it. He gave her
small smile and a wink.

“This is my boyfriend,” she said with
renewed determination. Her hoarse voice came from a stranger, a
stranger she thought she’d left behind in Seattle.

“Is that right?” Jim took a step closer.
“Funny, I thought I was the only one with that title.”

Sean’s arm tightened fractionally, his hand
sweaty. “Yes, funny. Krista, care to enlighten your fan club?”

“
Jim, you are in violation
of the restraining order,” Krista declared with more force than she
felt.

Indignation bubbled from the depths of Jim’s
hate-filled eyes. Hate turned to rage. Rage boiled and stewed, a
cauldron with dynamite, the fuse lit. His hands balled at his sides
and his eyes never wavered from Krista’s face. She could tell he
wanted to inform her court orders didn’t matter, not where she was
concerned. It was Sean who kept him quiet. Jim didn’t quite know
how to deal with Sean just yet.

“Restraining order?” Sean said, feigning
surprise. “Well, then, it looks like Jim is an unwelcomed guest. I
suppose it might be time for that guest to leave.” Sean was still
talking in light tones, but steel crept into his voice.

“Leave?” Jim said in malevolence. “Is that
what I should do, Krista? Leave?”

“Yes, Jim. Please leave.”

“Well, then,” he stared, his voice grating
across her bones. “Maybe you would walk me to the door. Old
friends, you know?”

Krista nodded her assent, not wanting him
loitering around her house unattended, and led the way. Sean stayed
close, his body between her and Jim, making himself the first
casualty if Jim decided to get violent.

They made it to the door in a tense
progression. Jim hesitated at the threshold and raked down Krista’s
body, sparking a long-forgotten terror. With shaking legs, she
huddled closer to Sean, barely fighting the panic that threatened
to pull her under.

“
Krista, would ya mind
grabbin’ the crap you left behind in my car?” Jim asked
politely.

Krista knew very well he didn’t have
anything of hers. She took it all or threw it away when she left.
“That’s okay, Jim. Keep it.”

“And have you report I stole it? I don’t
think so.” He was standing just inside the door frame. And wasn’t
moving.

“
I’d rather not, Jim.
Please leave.”