Love Again (17 page)

“I know you have more than that in your fucking bank account Lennie!”  Justin yelled as we sped down the freeway. 

“You’re lucky they gave me that much!  Why won’t you just leave me alone now?” I was angry and scared. 

Justin reached over and wrapped his clammy hand around my thigh, “Because, you’re my wife.  How long have you been fucking that asshole?  Does reenact the fuck scenes from your books with you?”

I tried to push his hand away but he wouldn’t budge, “Why does it always come back to what I was reading?! 
YOU
are the one that has been screwing around on me Justin!  I’ve put up with so much from you over the last couple of years.  I can see now how much drugs change a person, you’re not even close to the man I fell in love with.” I said forcing myself not to cry.  “Whose car is this?”

“I’ve used drugs the entire time we’ve been together, you dumb naïve bitch, even when we were dating!” he laughed.  “I guess I see now the saying is true, once a whore always a whore.”

I wanted to scream at him, claw at his face, but he suddenly slammed on the breaks and exited the freeway.  We rode in silence for a while, I stared at him until even looking at him nauseated me.  “When’s your baby due?”

He rolled his eyes, “That problem was taken care of.”

My mouth fell open, “You didn’t make her get an abortion did you?”

“Fuck yes I did, the dumb bitch wasn’t going to trap me.”

He turned off of the highway and down a dirt road, had our situation been different I would have actually enjoyed the view.  Trees had made a beautiful green overhang, wildflowers swayed in the breeze, the road winded down and a small lake came into view.  My nerves caused me to start shaking, was he going to kill me and throw me in the lake?  After driving a few more miles over a short bumpy path he parked in front of a run down log cabin. 

He looked at me like he wanted to say something but instead he turned and got out of the vehicle.  I glanced down at the ignition, the keys were still in it.  His back was toward me so I frantically climbed across the console and twisted the key.  My hands were shaking so bad I could barely grab the shifter, in such a hurry I went right past reverse to neutral, then up to Reverse again.  Just as I was about to press down on the gas he pulled the door open and pointed his pistol at me, the click of the safety stopped me from doing anything else. 

“If you have any fucking brain cells at all you’ll put it in Park and get the fuck out.” He reached past me and slammed it in Park.  “Get the fuck out!” Justin grabbed me by my hair and yanked.  I fell out of the SUV and stumbled as he pulled me toward the cabin.  “Why the fuck do you have to do everything in your power to piss me off?” He yelled and shoved me inside the cabin. 

“WHY THE FUCK DID YOU BRING ME HERE?” I yelled.  “If you’re going to kill me just do it!”

He laughed hard, “Lennie, Lennie, Lennie…” he shook his head, “I can’t kill you or I’ll go to prison.  Right now the cops are probably searching your house, they’ve got no way to track us.  It’ll be twenty-four hours before they even consider you a missing person.  As far as they know, we are reconciling our marriage so we don’t get divorced.”  He pushed me onto the itchy brown sofa, “So you have twenty four hours to get me more of your money.”

I shook my head, “You have two million!  How much more do you want!?”

He shrugged, “How much do you have?”

“Four.” I lied.

“I want three more.”

“For drugs?  I’m not going to…”

He slapped me so hard I fell on my side, the stench of dust and urine along with the blood that filled my mouth caused me to gag.  Justin rolled me over to my back and straddled me at the waist, “Look what you’ve done!  You’ve turned me into a monster.” He clamped his hand around my throat and stared into my eyes.  Black dots spotted my vision, his breathing was coming out faster and harsher…he was going to kill me.  “Now you’re going to call the bank and have them transfer the money to the account I have set up.  Do you understand?”

I was barely able to nod my head, but when I did he release his hold on me.  I gasped and coughed trying to fill my lungs with air.  Justin pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to me, “Make it quick.” He threw the phone at me.  “Oh and Lennie, don’t try to call anybody else.” He told me as he walked out of the room into the small dingy kitchen.

When the teller answered I struggled not to scream for help, instead I calmly gave her my account information.  Justin walked over to me and handed me a piece of paper with his account information on it.  “Ma’am Corrina called and froze your account earlier.  Please hold.”

“I can’t…” the sound of wait music interrupted me. 

“Mrs. Ericson, this is Detective Basen, you’re wanting to transfer money to that account, correct?”

“Yes, three million please.” I said with a shaky voice.  Justin glared at me.  I needed to sound as normal as I could in.  I cleared my throat, “I have the account number ready.”  I gave the detective the numbers and waited for him to talk.

“Is he standing right there?” the detective asked.

“Yes that is correct.”

“Do you feel that your life is in danger?”

I fake laughed, “Yes, it sure is a beautiful day out.”

“The bank is transferring the money, stay on here as long as you can.”

I put my hand over the receiver, “The computer’s are lagging.” I told Justin. 

“Whatever.” He left the room and went down the short hallway.

“Go north down the freeway about twenty miles, take the first exit east, down the highway and look for the road that has a tunnel of greenery.” I rushed out in a whisper.

“Just a few more seconds to get the ping.”

Justin walked back in the room and started to reach for the phone, “He is a wonderful husband,” I laughed, “I sure am lucky.  Okay, thank you.”

“Got it.” The detective said and I ended the call. 

“It should be in there within the next few hours.” I smiled politely at him.  He nodded his head then went into the kitchen.  “Can I use the bathroom?”

“Yep, down the hall on the right.”

I should have known he wouldn’t let me go to the bathroom in peace, he kicked the door open as I was washing my hands.  I cupped water in my hands and splashed my face, there was no mirror but I could feel that my cheek and lips were swollen.  “All done.” I told him.

He stepped out of the way so I could walk out, before I knew what was happening he grabbed me by my hair again and yanked back so hard I stumbled to catch my footing.  He kicked a door open then slung me onto the bed.  “I’m going to prove to you that Dominique fucking Hastings can’t fuck you as good as I can.” He started cutting at my clothes with a massive butcher knife. 

“Stop, stop!” I pleaded, the tip of the knife dug into my rib cage then I felt warm blood trickle down my side.

“You read about kinky shit all the time, I’m just giving you what you want.” He growled out.  I tried to kick him off of me but the very second he pressed the knife to my throat I froze.  The sound of his zipper going down made me want to throw up.  With his dick barely even hard he pushed inside of me, while holding the knife against my throat.  “Never could figure out what I ever saw in a piece of white trash like you other than your pussy is enough to make a man go crazy.”  He breathed out as he thrust in and out. 

“Please just stop…stop it Justin!” I pulled my hips away so it would be harder for him to enter me again. 

His eyes took on the most satanic look I had ever seen, he pulled the knife away from my throat and pointed the tip over my heart.  I waited for the pain, I would have welcomed the darkness.  Then he resituated himself and thrust back inside of me.  The burning pain from being dry caused my eyes to water, I clenched my jaw tightly—hopefully he would be done soon. 

I woke up in the cold dark room, my teeth were chattering as I sat up o the bed, I was still naked.  My muscles ached and so did my face. 

“Justin!” I called out, “JUSTIN!” but he didn’t answer, only the eerie silence filled the space.  The more I shivered the more my muscles ached, it was freezing cold inside the cabin and mixed with my fear I couldn’t relax long enough to stop my muscles from contracting.  The moonlight shone through the bare windows as I tiptoed through the small space, I expected Justin to jump out at me but he was nowhere to be found.  I ran over to the door and pulled it open, the SUV was gone.  He had left.  Unsure if he was going to come back or not, on shaky legs I hurried to the bedroom to put my clothes on, I looked around when I didn’t find them I crawled on the floor trying to find them.  Even my shoes were gone, I spun around and looked at the windows again.  The only curtain hanging was a sheer white one that was partially ripped.  I yanked it down, the fabric so old it felt like sandpaper that crumbled against my skin. 

I knew that I couldn’t stay inside, if he showed back up I didn’t know what else he would do to me.  Outside the air was humid and cold, I started running.  The cold sharp gravel cutting into the bottom of my feet, wild animals screamed and growled in the distance.  For a split second I thought about turning around and going back.  The greenery that I thought was beautiful earlier now blocked the moonlight and created a dark tunnel.  My lungs were burning, I was cold, and my body felt like it wanted to shut down.  I slowed down to a walking pace, I stopped in the middle of the road and looked back.  I could no longer see the cabin and when I looked ahead of me all I could see was darkness.  I dropped to my knees and started crying, I prayed for God to send my mom to get me.  I couldn’t keep going.  The sound of tires speeding down the road in the distance made me jump from where I was and run to the side of the road.  I slid down the embankment far enough that I was out of sight and hiding behind the not so beautiful wild flowers.  The vehicle headlights cast a dim light from the distance, I lowered my head more, if it was Justin I sure as hell wasn’t going to let him find me. As the light on the road got brighter I held my breath waiting for the vehicle to hurry up and pass by me.  Bugs started biting at my legs and ankles, I gritted my teeth together so that I wouldn’t jump out and be seen.  The vehicle slowed down, this was it, Justin had spotted me—I just knew that my night was going to get even worse.  Then a spotlight turned on, illuminating the opposite side of the road.  I was shivering so hard I struggled to see clearly, when I squinted my eyes I seen the bar of lights across the top of the car.  Clawing at the dirt and grass I pulled myself out of the ditch and crawled to the edge of the road.  With one hand tightly grasping the fabric wrapped around me, I raised my other hand and tried to scream for help.  It seemed like it took the car forever to finally spot me.  The car skidded to as stop, “Eleven eighty this is six hundred, I’ve located the victim.” The female officer rushed out into her radio on her shoulder.  “Lennie, I’m officer Staley.” She knelt down in front of me.  “Let’s get you in the car, we’ll meet the ambulance.” She helped me stand up.  “I’ve got a blanket in the trunk.”

I sat down in the passenger seat of the cop car, still shivering even though the heat was on.  Officer Staley opened the door causing me to scream.  “It’s just me.” She spoke softly trying to calm me down.  “This will keep you warm.” She tucked the blanket around me before gently shutting the door. 

“Thank you.” I stuttered out. 

Officer Staley patted my leg and I jerked it away the pain was too much.  I threw the blanket off and looked at my leg.  On the top of my thigh was a heart with J & L carved out in my skin.   The officer reached over and pulled the blanket over me, “We’re almost to the ambulance.” She said softly.  By the time we reached the intersection where the ambulance was waiting, I was sobbing and on the verge of being sick to my stomach. 

“Where’s Justin?” I asked between sobs.

“We don’t know for sure, we are trying to track him.” She gave me a sympathetic look and before she got out of the car she grabbed my hand.  “I’m sorry this happened to you, I’ll leave my name cell phone number for you at the hospital.  I’ve been through this before.” Her eyes filled with tears but she blinked them away.  “I’m here for you.”

The passenger side door opened, the cool night air hit my face and a paramedic bent down, “I’ll carry you.” He spoke softly.  I started shaking my head in protest because I didn’t want him to touch me.  “I’m not going to hurt you, I’m just going to carry you to the stretcher.” His voice was deep but soothing.