What the fuck does it look like, Saige?” He throws the magazine at me. “Because to me it looks like you've been screwing Hendrix behind my fucking back.”
I back up with every step he takes toward me, but he's not stopping, and there isn't anywhere else for me to go.
“I haven't. I swear.”
“So, now you're going to lie to my face?” he snarls, his fist tightly clenched. “Fuck you.”
The first blow is a knee to my stomach. The second, a punch to the face. There's nothing I can do to stop him, and opt to try to cover my face. I'm careful not to scream, because if Brenna comes down while he's this angry, who knows what he'll do to her. That's not something I'm willing to risk.
I'm not sure when the beating stops, but when it finally does, I'm a bleeding mess on the floor. Topher spits on me and walks away.
“Maybe next time you'll think before being such a whore.”
I hide my sobs behind my sleeve, wincing with every breath I take. There's a burning pain all over my body, and the metallic taste in my mouth tells me my lip split open. I don't move until I hear Topher go upstairs and shut our bedroom door. Once the coast is clear, I push through the pain and get up, muffling my scream of brutal agony.
What am I going to do?
LYING ON THE COUCH, I watch as the sun begins to peak through the windows. I don't know how much time has passed. All I know is that I didn't get a single second of sleep. Maybe it's because I was afraid Topher would come down and finish the job he started. Maybe I was afraid he would go for Brenna next. Whatever the reason, I still don't feel tired.
I tip-toe upstairs and sneak into my bathroom to grab my makeup bag. When I get out of there without waking Topher, I go into the downstairs bathroom and get to work on covering up the bruises and making myself look a little less like a train wreck.
I'm just finishing up when Brenna comes downstairs. She looks adorable in her nightgown as she rubs her eye with her fist.
“Mommy, can we have pancakes?”
I force a smile on my face and hope she can't see through it. “Of course, princess.”
“You’re the best mom ever!”
She wraps her little arms around me before I can brace myself, and I wince as she accidentally presses against one of my many bruises. She pulls away with concern etched across your face. Her eyes widen when she notices the purplish skin on my abdomen from where my shirt rode up.
“Are you okay?”
I fix my shirt quickly to cover it. “I’m fine, baby. Mommy just had to fight a monster last night. That’s all.”
She frowns. “Is he going to come back?”
Probably. “Not a chance. I took care of it.”
Thankfully, she buys the excuse, and the two of us go into the kitchen. She sits on one of the barstools while I get the mix out of the pantry. It's the simple just-add-water kind, but Brenna watches anyway. Cooking and baking of any kind is something she loves to do. She always tells me one day she's going to be a chef.
As I flip the first batch, Topher's voice booms through the room, and I jump, my heart in my throat.
“Wow, that smells great, babe.”
He goes to kiss my forehead, but I flinch out of instinct. My whole body tightens as I look up at him with pure terror in my eyes. He swallows down a lump in his throat and backs away.
“I, uh...forgot something upstairs,” he says and quickly exits the room after saying good morning to Brenna.
I put a couple pancakes on a plate and cut them up before handing them to her. She smiles happily and digs in, but I can't seem to get the look on Topher's face out of my mind.
“I'll be right back,” I tell her. “Don't touch the griddle.”
I go upstairs to find him, but the second I open my bedroom door, I stop short. Topher is sitting on our bed, with lines of white powder on his nightstand and tears rushing down his face. His eyes meet mine, and it only makes him sob harder.
“I need help, Saige.”
12
COLBY
The party swirls around me, with the whole team celebrating our win. This is always the best part of the night, when the stress is off and we can relax for a