Read Everyone Deserves a Second Chance Online
Authors: Alyssa Shannon
The day continued in much the same fashion as Lindsey drove around
the small town and looked for both work and a place to stay.
Several people in town remembered her and gave her a frigid hello
as she drove around but otherwise the time she spent in town was
uneventful.
"I'm hungry." Garrett complained as they drove back
towards Marcus's ranch.
"I know, I know. I'll make dinner as soon as we get home."
"But I wanna eat now!"
"Garrett, I said—" Lindsey turned her head for just
a second, but when she turned back she let out a scream and slammed
the breaks. Her head hit the steering wheel with a good smack, but
otherwise the long horned steer turned to look at her –
unhurt – and then walked slowly the rest of the way across
the street.
"Garrett, are you okay?" Lindsey spun around, head
pounding, to look at her child.
He nodded with large frightened eyes but otherwise seemed okay.
"Yeah." He said in a near whisper. "I'm sorry
momma."
Lindsey laughed but it sent such a pain through her head that she
stopped and winced instead, bringing her hand up to touch the
tender spot. When her fingers came away slick with blood she
groaned and wiped them on her pants.
"Are you okay momma?"
"Yeah baby, I'm fine." Lindsey turned her eyes back to
the road as she took her foot off the break pedal and drove slowly
back home. Her head continued to throb as she drove, forcing her to
go slower and slower so that she could concentrate on the stretch
of dark road ahead of her. When she spotted the gravel road and
sign that marked Marcus's ranch she sighed in relief and found
herself driving a little faster the rest of the way towards the
well-lit house.
By the time she put the car in park and turned off the engine her
temple was throbbing, making her dizzy and nauseated.
"Momma?" Garrett asked in a worried voice as she pushed
her car door open and struggled to get out.
Lindsey grabbed the doorframe for support as she tried to gather
her legs under her. When she pushed herself upright her vision spun
and her stomach heaved inside her.
"Momma are you okay?" Garrett unbuckled himself from his
seat and with some difficulty got out of the car to come to where
she stood on shaking legs.
Lindsey heard her son's concern as she tried to focus the whirling
of her vision and quiet the erratic heaving of her stomach. She
could feel her legs going to jelly underneath her as she struggled
to stay conscious of her surroundings.
"Momma!"
When her legs could hold her no longer she felt her knees hit the
dusty, dry ground. Her shoulder hit hard against the inside of the
doorframe as she lost her grip and whimpered in confusion and pain.
She heard Garrett crying and running before she could only focus on
her unsettled stomach and heavy breathing. Her head pounded so
fiercely against the inside of her skull she was afraid it would
split at any moment.
A callused hand took hold of her behind the back of her neck and
terror coursed through Lindsey's entire body. She knew he would
kill her this time, that he would be so furious there would be
nothing to hinder his drunken rage. In desperation she gathered up
what strength she had left and pushed herself away from him,
driving her elbow back into his stomach.
He yelped in pain and cursed at her as she struggled to crawl away
from him. She could feel him reaching down for her again and the
terror was so complete she screamed. When his hand came in contact
with her shoulder she turned and smacked at his face as hard as she
could. Her hand came away slick with his blood, but it did not
deter him. He jerked at her shoulder and caught at her waist as he
slowly pulled her to her feet. Screaming Lindsey brought her knee
up to his groin and fell away from him as he released his hold on
her with a shriek of pain.
Sobbing Lindsey pushed herself to her knees and then her feet.
Finding strength she didn't know she had she ran towards the house,
weaving in her dizziness. The door handle turned under her hand and
she pushed it closed and locked it as her heart tumbled in her
chest. Taking in shaky breaths she turned and hurried as quickly as
she could for the back door, grabbing hold of furniture to steady
her progress. She was several steps away from the door when it flew
open and the shadowy frame of her husband entered angry and
cussing.
Turning on her heel Lindsey raced for the stairs, taking them as
fast as her feet could carry her. The only room in the house with a
solid door was the master bedroom on the third floor. She could
hear his heavy footsteps behind her as he followed her up the first
and then second flight of stairs. Screaming Lindsey slammed the
door to the master bedroom and was trying to lock it when he banged
against it. The door flew open forcing her backwards to tumble onto
the floor.
Panicking Lindsey crawled to the window seat and pulled the seat
up, removing the double barrel shotgun from its rack underneath.
Turning she leveled it at her husband's chest. She would kill him
first.
"Don't you fucking come any closer!" She screamed between
her hysterical sobs. "I'll kill you, you lousy son of a
bitch!"
"Its not loaded." He responded with an angry growl. He
took another step closer.
Lindsey squeezed her eyes shut and pulled the trigger. The empty
sounding click brought a new flood of terror to her body.
"I told you," he said pulling the gun away from her
shaking hands. He took another step towards her and Lindsey threw
her hands over her face to protect herself from the oncoming blow.
His foot only pushed her aside as he leaned over the window seat to
put the gun back in its place.
"The next time you want to kill me," he growled pushing
the top of the window seat back down and grabbing her by the arms
to pull her to her feet until she was inches from his face. "Please
tell me about it first."
"Marcus?"
"Who the fuck else do you think it is?"
Lindsey let out a sob of relief and threw her arms around his neck,
nearly knocking him off balance.
"Oh god Marcus, I'm so sorry! I thought it was him. I could
have sworn it was him!" Suddenly her legs went weak and
Lindsey felt him picking her up into his arms before she could
fall. She felt him carry her down the stairs until they were back
on the first floor where he promptly set her down on the couch in
the living room.
"What the hell did you do to your head?" He asked as he
wet a towel and came back to press it on the cut.
Lindsey gave a shaky laugh. "I should have been wearing a
seatbelt. I nearly hit a long horn steer." She watched as he
lifted the towel and inspected the cut.
"Damn Freehill, his bull is always running loose because he
won't properly fix his corral. You should probably go to the
hospital. Its pretty deep."
"No! I won't go back there."
"Lindsey, don't be ridiculous—"
"I said no!" Her voice shook and fresh tears streamed
down her face.
"Fine." Marcus pulled the towel from her forehead and
went back to the sink. "Even my damn cattle aren't as stubborn
as you are."
"Where's Garrett?" Lindsey winced as he pressed the hot
towel back to her forehead. When Marcus didn't answer Lindsey tried
to stand. "Marcus?"
Marcus sighed and pushed her back down into the couch. "You
stay here. I'll go find him."
"Garrett?"
The little boy looked up from where he sat on the couch in the tack
room. His eyes were red again and his hands were shaking.
"Are you going to hurt me next?" The little boy asked
with a sob as Marcus came closer.
Marcus sank to his haunches and reached to touch the little boy on
the head. Garrett shrank away from him and covered his face with
his hands. Marcus caught the little boy in his arms and pulled him
into his chest. "No Garrett, no one is going to hurt you ever
again."
"But you hurt momma," the little boy sobbed into his
chest. "He always hurts me after he hurts momma."
Marcus ran his hand through the little boy's silky brown hair and
then kissed the top of it. In a way he was sad that he couldn't
call this innocent child his own. "I didn't hurt your momma
buddy. I swear I didn't. I just scared her, that's all. She's
inside right now, worried about you. Come back inside with me?"
Marcus felt the little boy nod his head against his chest and
winced when it grazed the place Lindsey had elbowed him. For such a
slight woman she sure did pack a punch. With a smile he picked
Garrett up and carried him back into the house.
Lindsey let out a sob of relief when Marcus set Garrett down and
the little boy ran into her outstretched arms. The two cuddled up
next to each other as their tears mingled and Lindsey tried to set
her son's fears aside.
"He only scared me buddy. Its okay, everything will be fine.
We're safe here, you know that." Lindsey felt her son's tears
subside and soon he was fast asleep in her arms.
She was only going to rest her eyes for a second, but when she
opened them sunlight streamed through the living room windows and a
thick wool blanket covered both her and Garrett who lay curled up
beside her.
Slowly Lindsey sat up and winced at the dull ache in her head. When
she reached up to touch the cut she found a bandage there that
hadn't been there last night. She managed to get off the couch
without disturbing Garrett and glanced at the clock on the mantel
above the fireplace. It was too early for him to be out and about
yet she decided.
On weary legs she climbed the stairs to the master bedroom. She
found the door wide-open and peeked inside to see him sprawled
across the bed. The sheets lay tangled around his legs. She
grimaced at the dark bluish purple bruise she saw spreading across
his lower muscled abdomen. One of his eyes was already swollen and
black underneath. There was cut, already starting to scab over, by
his nose.
As Lindsey took a step into the room his eyes flew open. He always
was a light sleeper. He gave her a lopsided grin before he
stretched and winced at the aches and pains he'd forgotten he had.
Lindsey smiled as she walked across the room and took a seat on the
edge of the bed.
"I just want to apologize for last night." She bit at her
lower lip as she got a closer look on the bruise across his
stomach.
"You sure as hell put up a fight." Marcus said with a
chuckle.
Lindsey folded her hands in her lap and looked down at them. "I
was so scared." She paused, gathering her courage. "I'm
only sorry that I put up with it. Never once did I fight back. Now
I wonder if I'd have fought back then maybe he'd never have come
after Garrett. Maybe he would have left me alone also." She
shuddered. "Or maybe it would have gotten worse. He's so much
stronger then I am. Maybe if I talked to him, tried to work things
out—"
"Don't you even think about going back to him Lindsey. He'll
do it again, you know he will."
Lindsey was silent as she wrung her hands together. She bit at her
bottom lip with her teeth and stared at the floor.
"Have you gone back to him before?" Marcus swore when the
silence continued. He sat up in bed and took a good long look at
her. They'd both changed since they'd last seen each other. "How
long has he been beating you? This time I want the truth."
"It doesn't really matter—"
"The hell it doesn't! Lindsey, it's not going to get any
better. Especially if you keep going back to the lousy bastard."
"But he's always better when I come back. He really is. He
tries so hard to be better Marcus, he really does."
Marcus caught her chin in his hand and turned her head so he could
look her in the face. He could see the tears welling in the corners
of her eyes. "How long has he been beating you Lindsey?"
She took a shaky breath and let it out slowly. "I told him I
was pregnant. I thought he'd be happy. Instead he smacked me across
the face and told me I was a whore. The next morning he showed up
at my front door with a ring. I married him that afternoon."
"Why the hell—"
"All I could think of at the time was what would happen if we
weren't married. That I'd change my mind again and end up single
with a newborn baby. That I'd end up living with my mother for the
rest of my life, and that every single day she'd tell me what a
disappointment I was – not once, but twice."
"You would have been okay. You're a stronger person then you
think you are."
"You think I don't regret it? The first time I left him I went
to a friends house. When he got me back home he broke my nose. I
told everyone I ran into the wall because I hadn't been paying
attention to where I was going. The second time I left him I went
to stay with my mother. After he dragged me back home he broke my
arm in three places and fractured my skull. I was in the hospital
for three weeks. He told everyone that I was carrying laundry down
to the basement of our building and slipped on the stairs. It was
nearly the truth. When they released me from the hospital I saw
fresh bruises on Garrett. He told me he'd kill me if I tried to run
again, that he'd kill us both." She gulped. "And here I
am."
The silence was so drawn out she thought he wasn't going to
continue the conversation, until finally he spoke.
"You never should have left Lindsey."
"I couldn't stay, you know that." Tears streamed down her
cheeks and pattered the bed beneath them.
"No, I don't know. Maybe you should explain it to me."
Lindsey stood abruptly and turned to leave.
"Lindsey, you walked out on me once, but I swear to God if you
do it again right now I'll drag you back into this room and get an
answer out of you."
She froze at the doorway and spun to face him. "Because
Marcus, every time I looked at you, all I could see was her."
Lindsey spun again and hurried down the stairs.