Free For Everything by Rae Spencer Page B

advantage of my grief to steal from me.” She took a deep breath.
    “I agree,” his fingers stroked her shoulder, “you were seventeen, your parents had just died. What happened next?”
    Her body shuddered. “They arrested him, but he made bail and came looking for me. He dragged me back to my parent’s house.”
    “What happened there?” He pulled her tighter against his side.
    “The house was empty. It was unusual I knew he was going to hurt me.” She cleared her throat rubbing her head. She hated remembering.
    “He did!” He traced the scars on her breasts.
    “He told me I had to drop the charges. He wasn’t going to jail because of me.” She took another deep breath. “He hit me and I fell. I must have hit my head or something, because when I woke up my hands were tied to my bed, and I was naked.”
    His eyes widened, his fingers clenching beneath his ear where he leaned on it, the color receding from them. “Did he have sex with you?”
    She shook her head no.
    “He did this to you.” His hand brushed over the scars by her nipples.
    “He said no man wanted me, this was my punishment for trying to leave him - no one gets out, no one leaves.” She gulped, her eyes closing. “He cut me with his knife.”
    “Cut you?” Clay asked.
    “He sliced my skin, laughed as I bled. When I tried to fight back he hit me,” she whispered.
    He watched her face as she spoke, his fingers shaking with his anger as they brushed over her nipples.
    “When I came to I was on my stomach, he was cutting my back. He joked about how pretty my skin looked with my blood dripping down it.” She shifted again, turning her head away from him, trying to hide her tears.
    He stopped her, brushing his hand over her cheek  catching her tears. “And?”
    “I tried to fight back, so he cut me deeper,” she whispered.
    He skimmed his hand down her body spreading her legs he traced the scars on the sides of her pussy. “Here,” Clay whispered.
    Lily nodded.
    He lowered his mouth, brushing her stomach with his lips.
    She watched him. “I don’t know how long I was there, but it was dark, there was a terrible storm. I managed to slide my hands loose, tried to sneak out.”
    “What happened next?” he whispered.
    “I made it to the stairs, but he caught me. He punched me. Knocked me down the stairs. He followed,” she hesitated, gasping for breath as the images ran across her mind. She glanced up at the ceiling. “I kicked him, he laughed… came at me, and I… I…,”
    “You what?” Clay asked.
    Her fingers clenched tightly, eyes closing she whispered, “I grabbed the knife he dropped and stabbed him.”
    “Where?” His fingers stroked her breast.
    She shuddered, “In the chest. He fell and I ran, someone called the police, they came.”
    “Was he arrested?” he slid his fingers to her hand, gently unclenching her fist.
    “Yes,” she said, “but he made bail.”
    He closed his eyes, squeezing tightly. “Then what?”
    “I went to a motel, my parents had money. The money was mine.” She watched him entwine his finger with hers.
    “And,” he prompted, pulling her hand onto her abdomen, entangled with his.
    “Two days before the trial he found me, said if I testified against him, he would kill me,” Lily murmured, her voice cracking as her fingers gripped his.
    His head shot up, his eyes dark, glowing with anger.
    She met his eyes. “I went to my trustees the next day, asked for an advance so I could get my life together, they gave me $10,000, I packed what I had and left town.”
    “You left?” he asked, picking her hand up and kissing her fingers.
    “I ran away.” She turned her head, staring out the window again.
    “What happened to the trial?” he asked.
    “I am not sure,” she whispered.
    “Who was it Lily?” Clay sucked the tip of her finger into his mouth.
    She squeezed her eyes closed. “I can’t tell you.”
    He leaned down, brushing her lips with his. “Why not? I want to