Racing for Freedom - By Bec Botefuhr Page 0,47
blame?”
“You’re a monster!”
He laughs again. “Yes I am, you should know that by now. Or maybe you didn’t, because you made a mistake hitting me and I don’t tolerate mistakes.”
He brings his hand back and crashes it into my stomach. I scream so loudly my throat hurts as I feel my ribs being rammed backwards into parts of my body they’re not meant to touch. He hits me again, lower in my stomach now. My knees buckle and I beg him to stop. His fist comes down over my stomach three more times, then once over my breast and pelvis. When I’m on the floor in a heap, he looks down at me panting and seething.
“You say a word about who did this Dasha Jewel, I’ll end you and your father. Then I’ll end my son too, if you care about him or what’s good for your family, you’ll say you got bashed by a stranger walking home.”
Then he turns and disappears into the night. I sob and gasp for air. Pain radiates through me and I can’t get to my feet. I’m in too much pain. It burns. It burns so bad. Tears tumble down my cheeks as I struggle to pull myself up enough to open my car door. My phone is in there. I scream as I move, the pain is so intense. I grip the handle of my car and pull. The door opens and I stumble backwards, yelling in pain as I land on my back. I cry and grip my stomach, desperate for it to stop.
I manage to get myself back to the door and I reach in to grasp my phone from the seat. With trembling fingers, I dial Slade. I can’t dial my father or Payton, both will call the police and it’s too risky. Slade’s the only person who’ll keep this quiet. Suddenly, I know exactly how he feels and my earlier words to him haunt me. I should have never been so cold. I press the phone to my ear and wait. He doesn’t answer. I try again and again but he won’t answer. I decide to just text him and hope he sees it.
D - I’m in trouble. At the track. Come soon.
I drop the phone and slump against the car, letting darkness take me for a moment.
~*~*~*~
“Dash? Wake up!”
I feel my eyelids flutter open and a scream escape my lips as Slade shakes me awake. He doesn’t realize the pain that his shaking is causing me.
“Stop, please!” I scream.
“Dash, what are you doing on the floor? What’s wrong?”
I look up at him and tears tumble down my cheeks as the pain slowly begins creeping back in and taking over my body.
“Slade, I need…I need the hospital.”
His eyebrow knit together and then as if realizing what’s happened, he jerks my shirt up. When he sees the bruising on my stomach, ribs and hips he curses so loudly I flinch.
“He fucking hurt you, he fucking hurt you!” he roars.
“Please, Slade, I need help.”
He leans down, trembling with rage and lifts me into his arms.
“When?”
“B-b-before.”
“Jesus Dash, fuck, I never thought…I never thought he’d hurt a girl.”
“I’m so sorry Slade, for what I said before. I was so wrong.” I whisper, leaning my head against his chest.
“It doesn’t matter, we have to get you to the hospital.”
“We can’t tell them what happened, he said…”
“I know,” Slade whispers. “I know we can’t but I can assure you Dash, one day I’ll make him pay for this.”
I shudder at the ice in his voice and close my eyes again as he carries me across the track to his car. When he puts me in the front seat, I whimper and clench my eyes shut.
“I know how much it hurts baby, I’m going to get you some help.”
“All that time,” I whisper with my eyes still closed. “You were living with this pain and I never knew. All that time, you were suffering. I could have never imagined the pain…the heart ache…until now.”
Slade doesn’t say anything, he just stares at the road as he backs the car out and begins driving towards the hospital. Mid-way there, he reaches across and takes my hand, gently stroking my skin with his thumb.
“I’m so sorry Dash, for everything.”
“It’s not your fault,” I whisper. “It’s mine.”
“It’s never your fault, do you hear me?” he barks.
“I shouldn’t have hit him Slade, I knew better.”
“He’s dangerous Dash, so much more than you know.”
Oh, I think I had more of an idea