14 Days (BWWM) √

Chapter 31

"Checkmate." Leo said with a wide smile and I flared my nose in annoyance.

"You cheated." Was all I could mutter and he let out a mock gasp while pressing his hand to his chest. I was annoyed because I hate losing at chess and I hate it more when I lose carelessly.

"What?! Honey, you wound me." He replied and stuck out his tongue at me when Amari placed her DIY glittering paper crown which had WINNER boldly written on it on his head. "I told you I'll win." Well, he did win only because I wasn't as sharp as I expected and so missed a move and he checkmated my king.

How the hell did I miss something so obvious? I thought and shivered when a dark voice I hadn't heard in a long time whisper Same way you missed obvious signs when you were with Dear old Tom, same way you're missing obvious signs with this current one.

I shook my head in shock. What the ....? I shook my head again to clear the negative thoughts and tried to focus on the man currently singing I win. You lose.

"God. You're insufferable when you win. " I muttered under my breath and he flinched like I'd slapped him and lost his smile.

"Well. I didn't pin you as a sore loser." He replied with a frown and I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not a sore loser." I replied with a bite that wasn't supposed to be there. I didn't understand what was wrong with me and why I was being nasty to him.

"I..." I began apologising but he cut me off.

"It seems I have overstayed my welcome."

" Wait. I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. I don't know what came over me. I'm sorry." I said again and he really looked at me.

"Are you okay? " He asked and I nodded but shifted my gaze from his, afraid that he'd see the darkness suddenly stirring within me. I quickly excused myself and disappeared into my room to calm myself. I hadn't heard that dark negative voice in so long and so I concluded that I was actually okay, that I was free, that I'd made so much progress. I began tidying up my room so as to occupy my mind with something else. My mum knocked 7 minutes later to know if all was fine and I told her yes, that I just wanted to put things back in their places before leaving and she looked at me for some seconds and then nodded before closing the door. I sat on the bed and ran my fingers down my face.

You know it's not true. Leo is not even remotely close to being the same as Tom my subconscious said firmly and I tried to believe her.

I saw the album I'd pulled out to give Leo a picture of Martha and picked it up from where I'd carelessly thrown it aside on the floor. I opened it and the more I flipped through the pictures, the more horrible memories swam around in my head. Tommy. Beautiful, charming Tommy. There was no way you'd look at him and know that he had been capable of doing the things he did, of drawing blood from another without remorse.

I slammed the album shut and threw it up the wardrobe as memories of being beaten with a belt assaulted me. It wouldn't have been as bad if he had used the normal leather part of it. If he had used the normal part, it wouldn't have haunted me so much but that night did haunt me because he chose to use the buckle end because sluts who flirt and talk with strange men while their husbands weren't far away deserve to be punished.

Every time I remembered the number of times and methods with which Tom drew my blood and abused me, I shivered and hated him all over again.

I shivered again and ran my hands up and down my arm as images of that night and other nights flew into my head. I had begged and cried out until my throat was raw that night. The pain, the blood...