Second Chances (24 page)

Mark had the nerve to chuckle. “Oh, baby, you’re just too sweet. See, I knew it was gonna be hard to keep Dustin away from you forever, so I figured if you just had my baby then he couldn’t try to make any claims on you. You had to ruin it though by talking to my wife and breaking things off. I’m willing to forgive you for it. I may even forgive you for letting that motherfucker put his cock in you.” He reached out a finger and trailed it from her neck down in between her breasts. She cringed and tried get as close to the wall as she could.

“What are you talking about? What part of condoms don’t you get? Please just go.” She pleaded with him.

“Condoms don’t work if you poke holes in them.” Her face must’ve shown shock because he smiled. “Yep, every single condom in your nightstand is full of holes.”

Stacy felt like she was in a tunnel and couldn’t get out. She was going to be sick. What would Dustin say if knew? She’d lose him and he’d tell her goodbye.

“You know what, Mark? If I am pregnant with your baby, I’ll get rid of—” Mark backhanded her so hard her head snapped back and hit the wall. She’d been lying when she said she’d get rid of the baby. Something dawned on her as she tried to clear the ringing in her ears. “Well, I hate to break it to you, but Dustin and I have used almost all of the condoms, so if I am it could very well be his baby.”

She cried out when Mark’s fist connected with her face. “You stupid slut!” He grabbed Stacy by her hair and half drug half carried her further into the living room. Mark pushed her to the ground and got on top of her. “Don’t fight me or I’ll make sure Dustin never gets out of jail.”

Stacy started sobbing, the tears stinging spots on her face where the skin must’ve been broken. Her shirt tore as he tried to wrestle her out of it. Stacy fought him harder. Her legs kicked out as hard they could and caught him in the groin. Mark buckled, so Stacy got up and went running for the phone. He tackled her before she could reach it. Mark flipped her to her back and wrapped a hand around her throat.

“Do you really think he loves you? After you guys quit messing with each other last year he was out nailing anything with a pussy. You think he’s loved you this whole time?” He must’ve seen it in her eyes. “You do. Wow, that’s sad. Don’t worry, you’ll have me. If it’s his baby, you’re going to get rid of it, though. I’m not willing to take care of his bastard.”

Stacy took a deep breath to prepare herself for the acting job she was going to do. “You’re—you’re right, Mark. He doesn’t love me like you do.” She felt her stomach clench. “I’ll go with you. But we don’t know if I’m pregnant. It might not have worked.” Stacy didn’t feel any different.

Mark gave her a slow smile and slowly peeled himself off of her. “I bought a couple of tests on my way here. You can take them before we go.” He helped her off the floor and kissed where he’d slapped and punched her. With all her strength, Stacy held herself still and didn’t flinch at his touch. She let Mark lead her to the bathroom. He pulled two sticks out of his back pockets and handed them to her. “Just pee on the end under the cap. The results should show up in a couple of minutes.” Mark leaned down and kissed her lips. “You’ll see, baby. This is a good thing.” He rested his hand over her lower stomach and rubbed his thumb over the area.

Stacy backed away from him with the fakest smile she could muster up and went into the bathroom. She did her business and sat the sticks on the side of the bathtub. Stacy washed her hands and then winced when she saw her face in the mirror. Her eye was almost completely swollen shut. What little of her eye she could see looked bloody. Her cheek was swollen where he slapped her.

When she dried them off she went to the bathtub and grabbed both sticks in her hand. Stacy took a deep breath and looked down…One said pregnant and one said not. “Oh no!” She cried, but covered her mouth so Mark wouldn’t hear her. Stacy had no clue if false negatives were more common or false positives. Right at that moment she prayed for a false positive. She’d never have that man’s baby, but she wasn’t going to worry until there was definitely something to worry about.

A knock on the door pulled Stacy out of her thoughts. “What’s the verdict, baby?”

“H-hang on—hang on a second I’ll be right out.” She turned the faucet on and splashed water on her face. Stacy looked up at the bathroom mirror and decided she needed to get out of there. Who knew what he was going to do. There was a greater chance if there was a baby that it wasn’t his baby more than he probably realized. She opened the cabinet and found her scissors on the top shelf. Stacy pulled them down and stuck them in her shorts, her shirt pulled down over them.

Stacy took a deep breath and opened the door. Mark was leaning against the wall, waiting for her. He held out his hand and she reluctantly slapped the tests in his hand. She watched him look down at them and then up at her, his face unreadable.

“Well, I want to be excited, but until I know it’s not his, I can’t. Why’d you have to fuck him?” he shouted. “I saw the two of you last night. I saw when he fucked you against the wall.” Her eyes widened at his admission. “Yep, Dustin almost caught me, too. I’d just cleared the backyard when I heard the back door open. I should’ve just popped his ass right then and there.”

Mark was becoming agitated again. They both turned at the sound of her home phone ringing. Neither of them moved until the voice came through the speaker. It was Dustin. She could hear the panic in his voice and before thinking better of it, she bolted for the phone.

He grabbed her from behind and slammed her into the counter so hard it knocked the wind out of her. “You’re done with him! You hear me, stupid bitch?”

Stacy coughed and sputtered as she tried to catch her breath. Mark jerked her back by her hair. She couldn’t stop the cry that left her lips. “Please don’t do this, Mark. Just let me go. I promise I’ll tell you if it’s your baby.” Stacy was lying through her teeth, but she had to give him something.

“I’m not letting you go! What part of ‘you’re mine’ aren’t you getting?” Mark picked her up and slammed her down on her table. “I’m taking what’s mine!” he shouted before he started reaching for her shorts.

Through Stacy’s cries, she fought him with everything she had. If he got her shorts off, she knew what Mark was going to do and she couldn’t let him do that to her.

“Hold still, Stacy!” he barked. Mark was pinning her to the table with his upper body. She couldn’t stop fighting him. His hand slid under her shirt and he froze. Stacy felt the cold metal of the scissors slide up her stomach. “Well, what do we have here? Were you going to hurt me, baby?”

Stacy flinched when he jabbed the scissors into the table by her head. Her body hurt, as well as her face. She didn’t have much fight left in her. Mark’s weight on top of her made it hard to breathe.

He stared down at her, his expression blank. His eyes were almost black. Stacy swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to hold in the cries that wanted to escape.

“Answer me, you stupid cunt! Were you going to hurt me?” Mark’s face was so close to Stacy’s that she could smell the liquor on his breath.

“Yes, you asshole!” she screamed. Without thinking, Stacy spat right in his face.

Mark grabbed her by her hair and slammed her head down to the table. Stacy’s vision went blurry and her stomach rolled. She tried to clear her head as she felt him ripping down her shorts. “No, please stop. Mark, don’t do this, please,” she sobbed. His eyes were wild as he continued to try and open her legs.

Out of the corner of her eye, Stacy saw the scissors by her head. She swallowed when she realized what she needed to do. He’d never stop coming after her. If there was a baby and it was his, she’d never tell him because there was no way in hell Mark would ever be a part of her baby’s life. If Dustin was the father, she didn’t know what would happen. He hadn’t signed up for any of the drama that seemed to surround her. Everything was spiraling out of control.

Mark stopped for a minute and seemed to be studying her stomach and her legs. She didn’t dare move because she was afraid she’d pull him out of his self-imposed trance. His arm was resting on the table next to her body, so she grabbed them and with one swift move brought the scissors down, sending the blades right through his hand. A horrid sounding howl left his lips. Mark brought his free hand up and backhanded her right off the table. She watched as he pulled the bloody scissors out of his hand. Mark lunged for Stacy as she scrambled across the floor.

He slipped on his own blood as he tried to grab at her. Pounding on the door caused them both to freeze. “Stacy! Stacy, are you in there?” It was Dylan.

Stacy looked right into Mark’s eyes and screamed at the top of her lungs. He dove for her and knocked her to the ground. Stacy felt his good hand wrap around her throat and start to squeeze. As Stacy faded into unconsciousness and Mark eased off of her throat she heard the sirens in the distance “It shouldn’t have ended like this,” Mark whispered.

Chapter 18

Dylan and Luke were silent all the way to Stacy’s house. What a mess, Dylan thought. He and Luke had run into his mom and sister as they were leaving. They both looked like they had been crying. Bellamy stopped Dylan with a hand on his arm. “Where are you guys going?”

“We’ve got to check something out real quick. I promise we’ll be back soon,” Dylan said and then quickly kissed her forehead. He did the same to his mom. Dylan grabbed Luke and they took off. They ran by the office first and no one had seen Stacy, so they decided to go by her house. Luke read off the address to him as they raced through town. Dustin had looked really freaked out when he asked Dylan to go check on his girl. He’d do anything for his brother. Dylan never got all mushy, but without Dustin they’d be two incomplete halves. They needed each other. Dustin brought out a more carefree side of Dylan and Dylan made Dustin man up and be serious every once in a while.

They pulled up in front of Stacy’s house and both got out. “Let’s try the front door first,” Dylan said. They knew she was there since her truck was in the driveway. Dylan knocked but nobody answered. He swore he heard someone banging around in there. Maybe Stacy was cooking something. Just as he was about to knock again, Dylan heard what sounded like a wounded animal howling from inside and then a loud crash. He pounded on the door and he shouted that he was there and to open up. Luke was on the phone with the police.

The high-pitched scream of Stacy’s had Dylan trying to kick the door in but it was an older house with thick doors. “Stacy!” he shouted, but didn’t hear a response. In the distance he could hear the sirens. “Mark, if you’re in there, goddammit, you better not have hurt her.”

Luke was trying to look in the front window to see if he could see anything, but he turned to Dylan and shook his head.

The shot that rang out from inside the house had both Dylan and Luke dropping to the ground. They quickly got up and in silent communication, went around back. Dylan was getting ready to smash the window with his elbow when Luke stopped him.

“Dude, what are you doing? We should wait for the police.” The sirens were really close now.

“If that was Bell in there, would you wait?” Dylan asked him point blank.

Luke just nodded at him. Dylan threw his elbow into the glass and it shattered on impact. He reached in and unlocked the door. When they cleared the door, Dylan signaled for Luke to stay behind him. The house was quiet except for music playing in the other room.

Dylan froze when he saw Stacy’s kitchen table. There was a whole lot of blood on it and her shorts were on the floor. The blood triggered flashbacks from his last tour. Images started flashing through his mind at rapid speed. His heart was pounding, he broke into a cold sweat and he was having trouble breathing. Dylan kept trying to pull himself out of it, but he couldn’t. He could hear Luke whispering his name over and over. Finally when he heard Luke say that Stacy needed them, he finally snapped out of it.

“Are you okay?” Luke whispered.

“I’m fine,” Dylan said as they followed the trail of blood into the living room. “Holy shit!” Dylan exclaimed as he ran over to Stacy.

It was like some fucked up nightmare come to life. Stacy was sprawled out on the floor covered in blood. Half of her face was swollen, her shirt was torn and Mark was draped over her legs with an obvious self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Luke came up behind him. “Christ! Is she breathing?”

Dylan dropped down on the floor next to Stacy as Luke went out the front door to wave down the police and called for an ambulance. Dylan placed an ear to her chest. Her heart rate was very rapid, but weak. She was breathing, but it was shallow. Dylan didn’t want to move Stacy, but he didn’t want her coming to with Mark’s dead body on hers, either.

Luke came in the door with several officers behind him, including Scott, Zach’s older brother. The paramedics were right behind them. Dylan refused to leave Stacy’s side until they got her on the gurney. He looked up at Luke as they loaded her into the ambulance. “Can you start making calls? Have my mom call her parents. Take my truck—I’m riding with her.”

No one stopped Dylan from jumping in the back of the ambulance. He grabbed her free hand and held it the entire ride to the hospital

***

Dylan was standing in the waiting room when the doors burst open and Stacy’s parents came running in, his parents trailing right behind them. It hurt deep inside when he didn’t see his brother with the others.

“Where’s my baby? What did that bastard do to her?” Renée cried. Gary enfolded her in his arm as they looked to Dylan for answers.

Dylan rubbed a hand through his hair. “I don’t know anything for sure yet. They sent me out here when they unloaded her. She’s in shock and unconscious right now. Mark hurt her bad. Her face was all swollen and she’s covered in bruises. Uh, he tried to choke her right before he shot himself in the head. Luke and I found him lying over her body.