that. “He didn’t do that again for a while, grab me, that is. But he found other ways to control me, ways that I didn’t understand he was doing. At the time I thought they were sweet, him wanting me to spend all my time with him. It was slow, so slow, I missed it. I was calling my friends less and less, not seeing my family because he was always taking me somewhere or had plans for us. Then one day it dawned on me my phone hardly ever rang anymore. I figured my friends got tired of me blowing them off. But that wasn’t it.”
The bastard was textbook—alienating Addy from her friends and family. Taking away her support system. Keeping her from the very people who would see the change and make moves to end it.
“After class one day I ran into my friend Jackie. She was cool about it but I could see her feelings were hurt I hadn’t answered her calls or returned her text messages. The thing was, I hadn’t missed any calls from her and I hadn’t seen any text messages, but I lied and apologized, blaming it on school and my busy schedule. So stupid. She would’ve helped me, Jackie was a good friend. Instead, I went to my car, checked my phone, and saw that all my friends’ numbers were blocked. He was smart enough not to block my family, but none of my friends could call me.”
Jesus.
“Then I did something really stupid and I went to Keith’s place to confront him. I was so pissed, I didn’t think.”
The bile in my throat turned sour, swelling, threatening to choke me, yet I laid there perfectly still, giving her the only thing I could—making it safe for her to give me her hurt.
“He ended up being more pissed I’d confronted him. I was so mad I didn’t see it coming, I don’t even know how it happened, but we ended up on the floor. He was on top of me and I was struggling to get him off, and when I finally did and got to my feet, he punched me in the back, taking me to my knees. I was in so much pain the second and third punches didn’t register. Not until later when it hurt so bad I couldn’t breathe.”
Throughout this, my muscles were clenching tighter and tighter, but not Addy’s. Her voice was even, no emotion, completely detached like she was telling a story, not the abuse she’d experienced. And that scared the fuck out of me.
“That was it. I was done. I needed help. The next day, I was out with Quinn and I was going to tell her, make a plan to get Keith out of my life. But then she brought up how upset Mom and Dad were because something was going on with Delaney. And how Jason had finally pulled himself together and was happy with Mercy but Mom and Dad didn’t get a chance to enjoy that before a new crisis hit. I knew I couldn’t tell them,” she finished on a whisper.
Jesus fuck.
Jasper would lose his ever-loving mind if he knew that his daughter didn’t reach out for help because she didn’t want to add to his stress. Delaney would feel guilty and Hadley would…Christ, I couldn’t even think about what Hadley would feel if she ever knew Addy was on the verge of asking for help but didn’t because of their conversation.
“Baby—”
“So I lied to my sister, again. She saw my back and I continued to lie. But I couldn’t do it. Quinn was right, Mom and Dad were beside themselves with worry. I couldn’t add to it. And the more I thought about it, I knew I was doing the right thing by not telling. You know my dad, my family. They would’ve gone ballistic, and one of them would’ve ended up in trouble because of my stupidity. I couldn’t do it. I had to figure it out myself.”
The thought of my sweet Addy going at it alone ripped me to shreds.
“Then it happened. The worst of it. The very worst.”
The worst?
It got fucking worse?
“What happened?”
“It had been too easy. I should’ve known better. He’d said over and over he’d never let me go, he loved me, he’d never do it again, never yell at me, scare me. So many promises, all of them broken. So I should’ve known he wouldn’t have given up. But I thought after a week of