Free Unbearable by Sherry Gammon

clicked shut after them. I pulled in deep breaths, again and again. It didn’t help. I stared hard at the file he’d placed there, knowing not to open it. But like a moth to a flame, I couldn’t stop myself.
    Pictures of Hillary lay on top, each showing angry black and purple bruises, fresh bruises. These had to have been taken right after the beating. Blood covered her mouth and shirt, and her hair was everywhere. The pictures shook violently in my hand as I relived my final beating from Garen. I struggled to breathe, as if my head were being shoved . . . I pinched my eyes shut, wincing at the pain of every kick, every blow—each feeling as real as they did four years ago.
    Warm hands wrapped around my shoulders.
    “Tess, you’re safe now.” The pictures of Hillary were pulled from my hand. I jumped as something touched my cheeks.
    “ It’s just tissue, Tess.” My eyes flew to Booker as he wiped my face. I was crying and didn’t realize it. Only then did I realize my arms were wrapped tightly around me as I rocked back and forth. The photos were wrinkled in the corner from my grip.
    Humiliation washed over me. I was going to lose this job, too.
    “I’m so . . . sorry.” The words jerked in my chest. “I . . . I . . .” I couldn’t speak. I took the tissue from him and wiped the fresh tears coming down.
    “Does he live around here?” Booker asked softly. He knelt at my side, concern etched on his face. I thought of lying, blaming my reaction on my struggles with blood, but I didn’t.
    “No,” I whispered.
    “I’m so sorry, Tess. If I’d known I would ’ve arranged to meet her after hours.” He took the folder and filed it in the cabinet.
    “Please don’t fire me,” I pleaded as my strength slowly seeped back. “I . . . I need . . . this job. It won’t . . . happen again.”
    “I’m not going to fire you, Tess. You’re a fantastic secretary. Besides, it’s not as if we handle cases like this all the time. I only took this as a favor for Maggie,” Booker assured me. He crossed the room and poured me a cup of water from the cooler.
    “Here, drink this.” He handed it to me. I downed it quickly and then tossed the paper cup in the trashcan below my desk.
    “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked. I shook my head and he nodded. “If you ever do, I’m here.”
    “Thank you,” I whispered.
    An hour later he left for a meeting across town, insisting he’d cancel if I needed him to. “I’m fine, I swear.”
    After his car pulled away, I sat in the bathroom and wept. I didn’t want to be scared anymore. I wanted my life back.

 
    Chapter 7
    6 years ago
     
    The pressure from Garen’s job had him on edge more often than not. His boss, Senator Graft, had a mess on his hands after an alleged illegal deal with an upstart cell phone provider was leaked to the press. Garen ran himself ragged doing damage control. While Garen hadn’t hit me again, he regularly berated me for things I’d done wrong. He loved order and demanded our townhome be immaculate at all times. The canned goods were lined up in the pantry perfectly, tallest to shortest based on label color, and the boxed foods were arranged in descending order. The towels were aligned in the linen closet with equal spacing around each stack, per Garen’s orders. When I joked about his anal-retentive tendencies, he went crazy on me, pressing me up against the wall, screaming in my face.
    “I’m working hard to make a life for us, Terese. Is it too much to ask that you keep a neat home?” I shrank tight against the wall as he yelled. “I’m sorry you want to live like a pig, but this is my home and you ’ll keep it orderly! Understood?” I nodded, afraid of saying something to upset him and he’d strike me.
    “If you’d think of someone besides yourself,” he said, calming himself and pulling back, “I wouldn’t get so upset. I’m beginning to believe you enjoy provoking me.” He tugged a strand of my hair. I assumed he