Scarred for Love

Prologue

Addison Parker looked back and groaned internally. As she turned around and started walking, she couldn’t help but feel like she was instantly free. Free of all things and people detrimental to the life she was striving for. Most importantly, free of Carter.

Carter Wanewright was quite the charmer but he had a dark side that no one would know about until it was much too late, especially Addison. Addison frowned in disgust with herself for not seeing it sooner, but mostly, because she didn't follow her gut.

Think again. She thought to herself. They started dating her freshman year in college at Brown. After about a year and a half, Addison realized that she didn’t feel the same way for Carter as she once felt. The handsome defenseman for the Brown Bears didn’t take her leaving him well at all. He couldn’t leave her alone. He had convinced himself that he could make her love him; that she was his and his only.

One night, in one of his drunken delusional states, he came knocking on Addison’s parent’s house door. Carter wanted to talk. What Addison didn’t know was how dangerous this talk was about to get...

“Carter. What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be here.” She told him.

“I know. I need to talk to you, Ads.” Carter announced.

“I told you... I’ve said all I had to say.” She continued. “It’s over Carter. I don’t love you the way you want me to and that will never change. You need to move on. Stop calling… Stop coming over uninvited... Hell… Just stop it all! We've tried to talk but you just don't listen.” At this point, she was practically yelling. Some time soon, hopefully tonight, she was going to make her point incredibly clear. She wondered why he persisted even after she had put a restraining order on him. A restraining order that clearly wasn't effective, particularly at that moment. Sure it was unfortunate that she realized she no longer really loved him by the time he was ready and chose to propose but could this seriously be really happening? If anything, he should have appreciated her honesty in the situation.

“Ads, I can’t live without you.” He persisted. Addison shook her head with a 'here we go again' expression and proceeded to try and shut the door on him so she could call the police when he forcefully pushed the door in and grabbed her by the throat. Although athletic as she was, there was no way her five foot five height and one hundred and twenty-five pounds were any match for his six foot two and two hundred and twenty-five pounds of nearly pure muscled frame. Her hands immediately reached up and clawed at the hand that was wrapped around her neck in an effort to loosen his grip. His free hand was reaching to wrap itself around her waist. He kicked the door shut behind him and pushed her hard to the wall opposite the door as he smirked to the look of terror strewn across Addison's face. He began to forcefully kiss her lips while he pushed his hips into hers, grinding. Addison had tried her best to fight him off. She realized she was no match for him. She gave up the fight and let him kiss her until her rage got the better of her and she bit his lip which made him scream and distracted him only slightly.

“Well, I didn’t know you could be this feisty, Sweetie.” He cracked a wicked smirk.

She spat the blood out in his face at which point he turned on her and punched her in the face. Addison blacked out.

When she came to, her vision was blurred, she was bound to her four poster bed and felt something warm and sticky when she moved against her restraints. She had a massive headache and she was shivering. Aside from the gaping wound on the right side of her head where he punched her, she realized that the stickiness was coming from the blood seeping out of her abdomen and pooling under her. After looking down at herself, she realized that her shirt had been ripped at the front and that she was naked from the waist down.

A whistling tune was heard and Carter made an appearance in the doorway of her bedroom.

“Honey, you're awake!” He exclaimed in a low bemused voice. “I was beginning to think that you'd sleep through your first time.” He was referring to her virginity.

“Go fuck yourself!” Addison spat.

“Oh Ads. You know, if you simply had said yes, we would be doing this under entirely different circumstances right now. I would have been good for you.” He told her. Addison gave him a look that wished him dead with ten times the pain that he had already inflicted upon her. Her head felt like it was about to explode and her abdomen felt like it was on fire.

“Perhaps you can let me go and I'll think it through again.” Addison realized that hostility wasn't the best method of conversing with him at this point. She figured that she had nothing to lose in trying a new tactic. Carter appeared like he was juggling her words in his head. Maybe the tactic of telling him everything he'd ever wanted to hear was the best approach. She knew there was a slim chance of that working.

“Hmmm...” He mumbled pensively. “Tempting but you're lying through your teeth Ads.. Frankly, I'm not really here to talk about having you back. It was a ruse to get you to open your door long enough for me to get inside; to get to you and teach you a lesson.”

Addison's eyes widened. At that moment, she feared for her life. Carter approached the bed and slowly crawled to make his way between her bound legs. He took out an army switchblade and ran its cool steal up the length of her right leg and down the length of the left. Addison recoiled from the sensation. Tears of fear were welling up in her eyes and sliding down her face as she let out a whimper.

“What are you going to do?” She asked him. Carter's deranged smile widened.

“Addison, if I can't have you, no one can.” At that moment, she heard a car outside of the house. She felt a slight tinge of relief. Her parents had gone for dinner with friends of theirs. They'd been gone for a few hours already. She hoped she had heard right and that they were finally home. She finally saw the first sign of fear in Carter's eyes. He became incredibly frantic and jumped off the bed to see who it was out of Addison's bedroom window. Addison couldn't hold it in any longer. She screamed like her life depended on it.

“Promise me that you will call every day.” Her mother demanded with her hand upon her daughter’s cheek.

“I will Mom. I love you both.” Addison looked at both her parents.

After some teary goodbyes, Addison jumped in her Mazda 3 and drove off. She had a two day's drive to get to Stanford. After Carter's attack, things were never the same for her at home or at Brown. She had always dreamed about being a Brown graduate like her mother and father had been. Despite that, she was now forced to go elsewhere thanks to him. She could no longer stand the looks, the whispers, the rumors so that’s when she, with the support of her parents, had decided that a change in scenery would be a good option. She followed through with the plan and applied for a transfer to Stanford and miraculously got in. It wasn’t Brown but it was her next best choice despite the distance.

Carter had been sentenced to 25 years on assault and battery with an attempted murder in the first degree, with no possibility of parole. Unfortunately, it never took away the emotional and physical scars that he left her with. They constantly reminded her of his intent to take away the opportunity to ever be happy with another man or to trust anyone new that came into her life.

She seriously hoped that leaving Providence, Rhode Island entirely would help her change her outlook on her life. Her life, her career, her entire livelihood was on the line. She was quite excited to see her new home. She had decided to rent a home not too far off the Half Moon Bay Beach. That way, she was less than a half an hour’s drive away from campus and she had a little piece of heaven nearby. It was a win-win for her. Slightly quiet surroundings where she’d be able to re-invent herself, study and maybe, just maybe, make some new friends.