Page 33 of Nuts

“I want to ask you some questions. If you think I’m out of line, just tell me. If not, I’d appreciate an honest answer. I think we’re beyond lying to each other, aren’t we?”

“Oh, I don’t lie. What...” She looked at me. “What’s wrong?”

“Tell me what happened to your eye and your cheek. I want to know if there are bruises anywhere else, too.”

She looked across the street. After a few seconds, her eyes dropped to the drive and she let out a sigh.

“Do you really want me to tell you?”

“Yep.”

She let out a long sigh and then looked at me. “I got smacked.”

Warmth washed over me. Anger followed right behind it. My fists clenched, and I consciously struggled to keep my temper in control.

“I’m guessing it wasn’t by a door or some flying piece of debris?”

Her eyes dropped to her lap. “No.”

I turned to face her. “Was it a man?”

Her lower lip began to quiver, and she bit into it. After a moment, a tear rolled down her left cheek.

She wiped the tear with the heel of her palm and sank into her seat. “Yeah.”

Mother fucker.

My jaw clenched.

I shuffled my chair across the two feet of concrete that separated us, and wrapped my arm around her.

“I’m going to make sure this doesn’t happen to you again.” I pulled her shoulder against mine. “But I’m going to need you to do a few things for me.”

“Okay,” she muttered.

“First, I need you to tell me who he is, and where he is.”

She tilted her head toward her house. “It was him.”

I released her shoulder and stood. “Him? Your stepfather?”

“We got in an argument about me moving out.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks. “He’d been drinking. It got out of hand.”

Every muscle in my body tensed as the anger filled me. The thought of anyone hitting a woman caused my blood to boil. Her stepfather should be comforting her, supporting her, and protecting her from harm.

I took a long breath, held it, and clenched my jaw.

I exhaled through my nostrils and then looked at her. “There’s no excuse for putting a hand on a woman. None. There’s nothing you did – or could ever do – to deserve that.”

“Okay.”

“Was that the first time it happened?”

She stared at her feet.

It was all the response I needed.

His truck wasn’t in the driveway, but I asked anyway. “Is he home now?”