Hurt Me (3 page)

I took my shirt off and threw it on the floor. I lay down in bed and just stared at the ceiling fan thinking about Evangeline. Her perfect pouty lips and soft skin, her long hair that I just wanted to run my fingers through, and those eyes. I finally gave into sleep with Evangeline being the last thing I thought about.

Chapter Six

   Walking home I replayed the conversation with Allen in my head. I wanted so bad to give in to coffee with him but I couldn’t risk it. Plus I’m married. That’s a big factor in this. I mean it was obvious that Allen was interested right? You don’t just ask anyone for coffee. I was over analyzing way too much about this and I knew it. I finally got home and paused before going up the steps. I felt the urge to cry. I hated my life. I could hear Lee in the house playing poker with his buddies. Maybe at least he will leave me alone tonight.

I walked through the front door and started to take off my shoes. “Hey babe, go get us some beer.
We’re running out.” Lee demanded instead of asking. It wasn’t surprising to me but some of his buddies looked shocked. I looked up at him “Come on Lee, I just got off work.” He put his cards down and stormed up to me he grabbed me by my hair and punched me twice on the left side of my face.  “You think just because we have company you can talk back to me?” he yelled. All 3 of his buddies came running and pulled Lee off of me. I crumpled to the floor. I started to feel a warm trickle below my nose and down my mouth. I wiped my nose with my hand and saw blood. I forced myself up and started for the kitchen. One of Lee’s friends looked at me and his eyes bulged. “Oh my God you’re bleeding.” I shrugged my shoulders to kind of say yeah, no shit. He sat me on the couch and ran to get me a towel. I could hear Lee and the other 2 guys arguing outside.

  
What felt like a few minutes passed and Lee’s friend was running back with a towel and a bag of ice. “Thanks” I looked up and gave him a weak smile.

“Are you alright?” He asked with concern
etched all around his face.

“Oh I’m
fine; it’s just a small nose bleed.” I folded the towel over to a clean side and put it back on my nose. Just about that time Lee came storming in. “Rob, you need to get out now.” He demanded. Rob stood his ground but before things could escalade I chimed in. “Thanks for the help Rob but I’m fine, really.” I didn’t know if I was trying to convince him or myself. Rob looked at the ground then back at me. He nodded and gave me a small smile then left. I felt my heart ache at the sound of the door closing behind him.

   Lee gave me this evil smile. I knew what was about to happen but I was still in shock that Lee actually hit me in front of his friends.
He started walking towards me and he grabbed me by my arm. “Get the fuck up” he growled at me. I stood up and I could feel myself start to tremble. I hadn’t seen him this mad in a long time. He dragged me into the bathroom and started to fill up the bathtub. “Why do you have to be such a bitch Evangeline?” he grabbed me by my shoulders and shook me. “Why do you make me do this to you?”

“I’m sorry
, Lee.” I begged and pleaded for him to calm down but he was seeing red. When the bathtub filled up Lee grabbed me by my hair and forced my head underwater. I was trying not to fall in so I could still have some leverage and possibly fight back if I had to. I was running out of air and finally he pulled my head out of the water. “You’re just a fucking slut aren’t you?” He asked me. I tried to shake my head no. “Is it Rob? You wanna fuck him?”

“No baby, please just calm down.” I cried. He forced my head under water again. I felt like my lungs were going to explode when he finally let me back up. I thought I was going to pass out. He slammed my head against the side of the tub.

“Stand up and take your clothes off!” He yelled at me.

I slowly stood and with shaking hands I tried to undo the buttons going down the front of my uniform. I could feel blood coming from my nose again and now from a cut on my head.

“I said now!” he was becoming very impatient.

As I fumbled with the last button Lee ripped my dress off. He went to grab my hips and I stepped back with silent tears running down my face. He shoved me against the wall and put his hand around my throat
, choking me. “You will give me what I want, Evangeline”.

After spitting in my face he leaned me over the sink and sunk himself into me. I wanted to fight back but every time I moved he would pull my hair tighter. When he finished he threw me into the tub and pulled the plug. He then turned
the cold water on the shower. “Don’t you move an inch until I come back or I’ll break your neck!” He warned. He looked like he would do it to. “And don’t forget to clean yourself up, you look disgusting.”

   I sat in the bathtub with the cold water hitting my naked body. It felt like an eternity. My teeth were chattering and my lips were
turning blue. Lee still hadn’t come back. It had been at least an hour I thought. I didn’t hear him moving or anything. I finally got out but left the shower on just in case. I peeked into the bedroom to see Lee passed out on the bed. I shut the water off to the shower and started to dry off. I have never hated a man so much in my life. I changed into some warm clothes and crawled into bed since I wasn’t allowed to sleep on the couch. Teeth chattering I made my blanket barrier and fell asleep.

   I woke up and went to rub my eyes and felt pain shoot through my face as I did it. I went to look in the mirror and my left eye was black, my nose swollen, and the left part of my upper lip
was busted. I pulled my hair back and saw the gash on the side of my head from the tub. I started to sob. How am I going to cover this up for work I thought to myself? I looked at the clock and realized I had to be there in a few hours. I was working the late shift again and glad that I wouldn’t have to spend the day with Lee. I went to the kitchen to make something to eat and realized there was no sign of Lee here. I felt like a weight lifted off my shoulders. I ate a bowl of oatmeal then took a hot shower. The memory of last night kept playing in my head. My body started shaking after thinking of the hour I spent in the cold shower. I got out dried off and started on my cover up for work. I hid concealer in the bathroom for this reason. Lee seemed to be okay with this just as long as it was only to cover up his dirty work. I did the best I could. You could still see the damage but it didn’t look as bad as before. My coworkers were used to seeing the bruises by now anyway.

   I made it in to the diner and got everything ready and set up for my shift. I just sat a nice looking couple down in a corner booth. I was jealous of the way he seemed to respect the woman he was with. He held her
hand and kissed her cheek. I sighed and went to take their order. The diner was pretty busy when all of a sudden Allen walked in. He took one look at me and I knew he saw through my concealer.

Chapter Seven

   I needed to get some fresh air after thinking about Evangeline all night. I walked all around this town and a few hours later I caught myself walking towards the diner. I don’t know what it was about her but there was something that just made you want to be around her, made you want to know her
. I wanted her in my life even if it meant just friends. She seemed so reserved like she was holding something back and I wanted to know what it was.

   I walked into the diner and found Evangeline immediately. She was kind of hard to miss, she was so beautiful and I could hear her laughter. It was the sweetest sound in the world. She must have heard the door jingle because she turned and looked right at me when I opened the door. I felt sick all of a sudden when I saw the marks underneath her make-up. Her lip was busted with a swollen nose and black eye. I felt the anger boiling up in my stomach. I clenched my fists down at my sides and tried to take deep breaths. Eve saw me and she had to have known I noticed her face because
when she looked at me she headed straight for the back of the diner. I went and sat myself at my regular booth because there was no way I was going to let her get away without telling me what happened.

A young girl walked up to me, she was petite with blonde hair. She had a dancer’s body. She was a beautiful girl but it was all artificial, nothing compared to Eve. Evangeline was a natural beauty.

“Hi I’m Jenny. I’ll be your waitress today. What can I get yah Hun?”

“Just a cup o
f coffee will be fine, thanks.” I knew Evangeline was going to ignore me but I’m willing to sit here until closing if I have to. Jenny came back with my coffee and set it down in front of me. She gave me a flirty smile. Girls like Jenny are the kind that I usually chased after because they were easy and came back to me even though they knew I was using them.

“Anything else I can get
ya?”

“Is Evangeline okay?” I asked. I thought maybe she might talk to Jenny or something since they work together.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Why?” She asked full of curiosity.

I cleared my throat. “Well the bruising on her face and all…”

Jenny lowered her voice. “Oh honey she comes in looking beat up like that every now and then. She always has an excuse. I heard it was her old man though. I mean he is kind of an asshole. He won’t even come get her after work; he makes her walk home alone in the dark.”

“Wow.” I whispered, as I tried to control my temper.

I heard ringing in my ears and felt my blood starting to boil. I was seething with anger and could hardly contain it. She gave me an odd look and turned to leave. I watched her as she walked away and I wanted to just scream. How could no one do anything to help Evangeline? Or better yet, how long has this been going on? Eve finally came out but she wouldn’t make eye contact with me. I felt this need to go to her and wrap her up in my arms and keep her safe. It was obvious this wasn’t an accident; someone had to of hit her. I know what it looks like when a fist comes in contact with a face.

The diner seemed to be slowing down; I looked down at my watch and realized it was 4 in the afternoon. I’ve been here nearly 3 hours waiting to talk to her and she still refused to come within 10 feet of my table.

   When I noticed her section empty I got up and started walking towards her. She wasn’t looking at me and I had snuck up on her so she couldn’t run. I gently grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around. I took a moment to take in the terrified look in her eyes. I looked at the deep blue and purple color around her eye and the swelling of her nose. I studied her busted lip and I felt myself getting angry all over again. My stomach became full of knots and I wanted to throw up when I saw the gash on the side of her head. I reached towards her face and she flinched like before but this time I didn’t stop. I ran my fingers over her wounds just so I could make sure this was real. “Who did this to you Eve?” I growled. She looked scared but she held her head high.

“No one did this to me. I fell down the stairs on my porch.” She looked me directly in my eyes begging me to believe her.

“Don’t lie to me, Eve.”

“Why is it your business anyway? You don’t even know me
, Allen. Why are you even here? I told you last night that you should just leave me alone”. She turned to walk away and I grabbed her shoulder again.

“I can’t just leave you alone”. I admitted to her. I felt ashamed
for saying this to a married woman, but from what I can see it wasn’t a very happy marriage.

“Well you need to.” And on that note she turned and stormed into the back.

I felt like I was going to explode. I left money on my table and walked out. I lit a cigarette and paced in front of the diner. This woman was driving me crazy but I can’t just leave her after seeing her face. Taking in a drag and blowing it back out I thought about how her skin felt underneath my fingers. She seemed so fragile but so strong at the same time. I felt like I was going crazy ever since I had met her. I needed this woman but she was out of reach, for now at least.

   I waited for what seemed like an eternity outside the diner for her to get off work. She came out finally took one look at me and rolled her eyes and started walking home.