Courage Under Duress (SYTYCW)

Chapter 3

A week later, I was released from the hospital.  I hadn't seen or heard from Thomas during that week.

"Honey, I'm home!" I heard from my bent over position in the kitchen fridge, followed by the rustling of bags being laid on the countertop directly behind me.

I stood up and bumped my head on the inside edge of the fridge as I realized that it hadn't been Dominic's voice.  "Son of a b-"

"Language!"

I twirled around quick enough that my peripheral began to blur with dark spots and dizziness invaded my head.  I leaned back on the fridge and to rub the back of my head in an attempt to ease the pain.

"Tom, what are you doing here?"

"I was hoping for hello or it's nice to see you again but I guess that'll do.  Let me see."  He turned me around by the shoulders and began to inspect my scalp.

"I'm sorry.  Where's Dominic?"

"Somewhere behind me, I suppose.  He had a few things to handle at work before he could leave so I picked up a few things for dinner and headed over.  I hope you don't mind."

I shook my head.  "Not at all."

"It'll give us more time to talk."

"About?"

His face grew dark and serious; his eyes stern but not like Dominic's.  He wasn't angry, well, not with me.  Thomas Clarke looked haunted.  "About you getting out of here."

In order to offset the deer in the headlights feeling I was overwhelmed with, I headed toward the grocery bags.  It looked like we were having a barbecue.

"It's not like I can just leave, Tom," I said as I set the three steaks on a shelf inside the fridge.

"Who's leaving?"  Dominic walked in.  Thomas and I looked at each other and I prayed that my husband hadn't heard the whole conversation.

"Uh-"

"About me taking that job the boss man pitched at us today," he said.

Does the man lie that easily all the time?

"Good luck with that, buddy.  I put in for it before I left."

"You what?"  I asked.

"Relax, Erica.  It's a week-long thing.  I'll be back before you know it."

"Do you think it wise to leave your wife in her state for so long?" Thomas asked.

"She'll be fine," Dominic said without giving me a second look.

"No worry some handsome devil will drop in and scoop her away?"  Thomas chuckled and clapped him on the shoulder.  Something in the way he did that made it seem different from all the other times.  "After all, I thought that's why you never stayed behind with me."

"She married me.  I love her and missed her.  I had to come back.  Besides, I doubt that any son of a bitch would have any luck at stealing her away.  Anyone we know, knows what I'm capable of."

I shivered at my husband's words.

"I pity the fool," Tom said dryly as he turned his back on his friend and seemed to beg me with his eyes to take him up on his offer.

Dominic walked up to me and pressed his lips hard to mine.  When he tried to pry my mouth open with his tongue, I pushed him away only.  He pulled me forward, causing the pain in my ribs to flare up.  I tried to stifle my wince but it escaped regardless.

"We have a visitor, babe," I said and gave him a sweet smile.

I could have sworn I heard Thomas groan beside me.  "Have at 'er," he said, turned and dug out the six-pack of Bud Light he had brought along with him.

"Feeling deprived?"  Dominic let go of me and I stepped back.

"Uh...yeah," the man said and turned to look at me over his best friend's shoulder and smirked.  "Can I borrow yours for the time being?"

My body went rigid at Tom's line but I knew he was playing as he had so many times in the past.

"I think I've ruined her for anyone else, buddy.  You should have called her when we first saw her.  She might have been yours," Dominic said.  I gave Thomas an inquiring look to which he only shook his head in a dismissive gesture.

Tom chuckled.  "I guess that's a no?" he said as the men headed toward the patio.

I left the boys to their own devices while I got to work on the salad and a few side dishes.  By the time dinner rolled around, I noticed that there seemed to be a bit of tension in the dining-room.

Not much had been said until after dinner and when Thomas left a few hours later, I didn't expect the handful of hair that yanked my head back so forcefully that it made me lose my balance.

"What did you do?"

My head throbbed.  "What?"

He let go of my hair as I crumpled to the floor, my back to the kitchen cabinet doors.  I tried to make myself as small as possible, protecting my still healing injuries from any blow.

Oh this isn't good.  This really isn't good.

My husband towered above me, his eyes ablaze with rage.  For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what I had done wrong.  I cleaned the house, cooked what I was asked, in his precise preference no less.  I allowed him his precious time with his friend, which I had no complaints about because it meant he wasn't in the same room as me.  The more I ran through the list of reasons, the more I grew desperate for the answer as to how I had wronged him again.

"You told him!" he yelled.

"I didn't!"  I threw my arms up to block the potential hit to the head.  "I swear I didn't."

"Then why did he ask if I hit you?"  My arms dropped and I looked at him in panic.  He chose that moment to kick me in the stomach.  "You're worthless!  You're a complete idiot!  Here you are, parading around the house, wearing clothes that expose every fucking bump and bruise.  No wonder my best friend thinks what he does!  You're putting it out there for the whole world to see!"

I didn't know what to say.  I doubted that he'd believe anything I said, anyhow.  I was backed into a corner with nowhere else to go.  My only salvation was to take it as I always have—without a noise or a word.  My only hope to escape this beating had walked out the door fifteen minutes before.

His feet and fists made repeated contact with my stomach, hips, thighs and legs.  Pain overwhelmed me.  After the fifth punch, everything went black.