Rescue Me(46)

“God, Shelby. I really am scared of what his intentions are. I know he is going to try and get to Sierra and I…I just can’t let that happen.” I feel tears start to form in my eyes and I try to hold them back, but all at once they just start to pour out of me. As I sit there crying with my sister I don’t feel as tough as I am trying to convince myself and others that I am. I feel like a defenseless woman whose life is about to spin out of control.

“Are you feeling better?” Shelby asks as we walk upstairs after my breakdown.

“I’m getting there. I don’t know if I feel better, per se, but I know I won’t give up and be a coward when it comes to him anymore. I just have to take it day by day and just keep thinking of Sierra. That is all the strength I need.”

“I am so proud of you, Erin. I really am. You’re a wonderful mother and a wonderful sister. I love you so much.” She leans in and we stand at the top of the stairs embracing each other for a few minutes.

“I love you, too. Now go take that shower while I make a few calls for Adam and then I will shower. We can head over to Shayne’s so you can see their house. It’s stunning.”

I watch my sister walk down the hall and listen as she turns on the shower, then head for the kitchen to get a bottle of water. What I encounter there, I never in my wildest dreams would have expected to find.

Joel.

He is leaning up against the kitchen counter with hate in his eyes.

“Joel. How did you get in here?” I say with a sturdy voice.

“I think that’s the least of your worries right now, Erin. Don’t you?”

Faster than lightning he grips my arm, tightly pulling me into him.

“Get your hands off of me, Joel. Now, or else.”

“Or else what, you stupid bitch? You gonna scream?” He brings his face within an inch of mine. “Because if you do, I will go into that bathroom and kill your sister. Do you fucking hear me?” he growls as he grips my arm tighter.

“Y...yes. I hear you.”

“Now, the last several years of my life have been nothing but hell because of you, and you need to pay for that.”

I try to keep my head down because if I look at him I know he will see the fear in my eyes, but he’s not having any of that.

“Look at me, bitch!”

Even though I am shaking everywhere, I find the strength to lift my head. When I do, he is looking at me like a crazy madman. His eyes are dilated and bloodshot.

“Joel, if you leave now I promise not to tell anyone you were even here. You don’t want to do this. I know you don’t.”

“You don’t know shit! Do you know where I have been for the last four years, Erin? Of course not. Because while you have been here playing house with another man and MY FUCKING DAUGHTER, I have been rotting away in prison because of you.”

I soak in what he is saying about going to prison. I am in a state of shock at this sudden news. “W...what?” I stammer.

“That’s right. Prison.”

“What did you do, Joel?” I cry.

“I did what I had to do to survive since I lost my family too because of you. And what I did is none of your fucking business.”

I have never seen him as mad as he is right now.

“You took my daughter away from me; you had a restraining order filed against me. And even though I wanted to come back and beat the living shit out of you more, I stayed away. And that was my biggest mistake.”

I feel my body start to shake uncontrollably as reality starts to sink in about what Joel is truly capable of.

“I should have come back and killed you. But what did I do? I signed those damn divorce papers and skipped town. You left me with nothing, bitch, and now I am going to take away the only thing that matters to you. But before I do that, I am going to take out on you the four years of my life I can never get back.”

The next thing I see is his fist slamming right into my face.

“Shelby.” I struggle to say as his fist connects with me again and I feel myself fall to the floor. Oh, God. Help me!

“Shut the fuck up. Or I swear to God, I will kill her.”

I will not just lay here and let him beat me. I can’t, I have to get to Sierra, so I start to kick and scratch at him, and oh God, he is so much stronger than I am. He has me pinned to the floor with one of his hands around my neck and with the other hand he starts punching me in the face. I feel blood start to pour from my nose and I swear I am trying to scream but nothing is coming out. He is on top of me and his grip around my neck seems to be getting tighter. I can’t breathe- he is squeezing the life out of me.

I try and bring my hands up to loosen his grip, but he won’t budge. I am going to die right here on this kitchen floor in the house of the man I love and I am going to die by the hands of the man I hate. The last thing I remember before everything goes black is the sound of my sister’s scream.