Free Hard Lovin' by Desiree Holt

Decide to show him who’s boss by walking out on the wedding? Make him beg you to come back? And I was the prize sap who just happened to be convenient?”
    She was crying in earnest now, tears rolling unheeded down her face. “I know I should have explained before, but I was just so afraid…I…”
    “Afraid? Of what? What does someone like you have to be afraid of?” Suddenly a different expression washed over his face and his eyes darkened. “Wait a minute. Erin, does this have anything to do with those scars? Did this guy hurt you? If you’d just told me from the beginning…”
    “If you’ll just listen for a minute I’ll tell you the whole story. Every bit of it. Please.”
    He tossed the newspaper aside but his posture wasn’t quite as rigid and the expression on his face had softened. “Fine. Talk. All of it. Don’t leave out one tiny detail.”
    “Some of it you’ll think is really stupid and superficial. And some of it I’m— ashamed of.”
    “I don’t care. I want it all.”
    She managed to get through her father’s over-protectiveness after her mother died.
    His efforts to control her life so nothing would ever happen to her. The raging fights they’d had every time he came to Houston to try to drag her back to the ranch.
    And then she got to the part about Cal. She couldn’t look at him while she talked about the most humiliating part of her life.
    “He was strong and wealthy and I saw him as someone who wouldn’t cave in when my father tossed out threats. I didn’t take the time to find out exactly what kind of man he was, so I guess I deserved whatever happened.”
    In a halting voice she told him about Cal’s drinking. His rages. His need for control that far exceeded Rance Braddock’s. His continued efforts to demean her. And the physical abuse.
    “That was the worst.” She stared at her hands. “His favorite thing was to tie me to the bed and rape me anally. Listen to me scream. Remind me who was in charge and what he’d do to me if I ever tried to leave him.”
    “Jesus, Erin.” Grady sounded shaken. “That’s when you should have called your father.”
    “I couldn’t.” She closed her eyes. “I was too ashamed.”
    After a long moment he asked, “So what finally happened? Obviously you’re not with him anymore.”
    She forced her eyes open. “We…got in an argument on the way home from a party one night. He stopped the car on the highway, pulled me from my seat and threw me out of the car. That’s how I got the scars. He pushed me so hard I couldn’t get up. Then he drove off. Just…drove away. I was lucky that someone stopped and called 9-1-1. I ended up in the hospital, they found my father’s number in my purse and that was that.”
    “God, Erin. I can’t imagine. How long ago was that?”
    “Eight or nine months. I’ve been seeing a counselor all this time and getting a lot better.” She still couldn’t look at him. “Really.”
    “And this guy Elliott?” Now there was an edge of anger to his tone. “Did you just have him waiting in the wings as a backup?”
    Erin sighed. None of this was easy nor had she expected it to be. “His father and mine have been friends for years. I guess I knew he loved me—although maybe not in love with me. And I was so destroyed by everything that had taken place that I just let myself be swept along with what the tide of events. He was happy, my father was happy, so I figured I should be happy.” She swiped at her wet cheeks. “I mean, here was this whole wedding-of-the-century thing going on and my father and T.J. tiptoeing around me as if I’d shatter any minute. No one saw I was getting stronger every day.”
    Another pause. “So you finally decided to kick over the traces and there I was.”
    “No, please. That’s not it at all.” She started to rise from the chair, go to him, but he held up his hand.
    “Just…keep sitting there. Please.”
    “When my friends dragged me to Smoky’s that first