Escape To Him

Uninvited Guest

Charlotte spent the day cleaning around the house as her pain would allow, and trying not to catch a glance of herself in the mirror. Her new neighbour kept drawing her attention, he had been walking to and from a van with boxes most of the day. He was wearing a plain t-shirt and it had it half tucked into and old pair of jeans, the material was thin allowing anyone to see his lean muscle underneath. Charlotte was worried he had seen more than just her damaged lip and that he might choose to break her cover at any moment. But she knew this was irrational, and he just kept diligently carrying boxes into his new home. As the time Michael would be arriving home grew nearer, Charlotte found all she could do was sit and watch the clock on the wall. Then came the sound of the keys opening the front door.

"Hello" Michael called from the hallway throwing the keys on to the table with a clatter.
Charlotte took a last deep breath, "Hey" she replied entering the hallway, "How was work today?"
"Ah let's not talk about that," he said with a smile "let's talk about what I've got us for dinner" he said lifting a shopping bag in air, "actually on second thoughts it's a surprise". He walked over and kissed her forehead, wrapping an arm lightly around her waist, "why don't you take a nice relaxing bath whilst I get it ready".
"Sure, I'm looking forward to it" she lied, looking up at him. She got away from him and headed upstairs to the bathroom locking the door behind her.

Charlotte thought a bath was probably what she needed to help her relax into the evening. She wanted to try and enjoy it and to move on from what happened, but she just couldn't get in the right headspace. A few weeks ago this behaviour from Michael would have made her giddy with excitement, now it just felt forced. She slipped into the silky warm water and let it envelope her. She felt soothed and her body ached less, but too soon she heard Michael shout upstairs that dinner was almost ready. She climbed out of the tub and dried herself off, her make up had worn of a little in the steam and the bruises were now more visible underneath. She didn't have time to fix it so she just got changed and headed downstairs.

As she entered the downstairs hallway she could see candlelight glowing from the dinning room. She walked further into the room to see a fresh bouquet of white roses in the centre of the table. At that moment Michael entered from the kitchen, a big grin across his face, he slung a tea towel over his shoulder as he leaned against the door frame, "Are you ready?" Charlotte nodded in response. "It's good to see you smile" he said and returned to the kitchen. Charlotte hadn't even noticed she was smiling.

Charlotte settled in to a seat at the far end of the table. Michael re-entered placing a plate in front of her and sitting down with a serving for himself. He was still wearing the shirt he wore to work but had ditched the blazer and tie, and had undone the top buttons. The shirt was tight over his stocky physique.
"Green Thai curry," announced Michael " not sure it'll be as good as the one we had in Koh Tao but hopefully it's similar enough."
"That was a great trip" she responded tucking in and trying a mouthful "mmm it's delicious!" she said enthusiastically.
Michael smiled "you know that trip was were I realised you were the one I wanted forever, after having this dish in fact, when we were walking along that beach in the moonlight, you looked so beautiful."
Charlotte blushed and couldn't help smiling, "and it's when I realised that your sense of direction was beyond help, you know we were never supposed be on that beach" I giggled.
"Oh I knew what I was doing" he said with a lopsided grin.

Just at that moment a knock came at the front door. Michael looked down at his watch "it's nearly 8 o'clock" he said "who is this going to be", he stood up and made his way to the front door. Charlotte stayed behind and continued eating her curry, until she heard a familiar voice at the door, it was Ryan. She got up from her chair and moved closer to the hallway making sure to stay out of sight.
"Well thank you that is very thoughtful," she heard Michael say, "you really needn't do this I'm sure you must be exhausted from the moving process."
"Ah no to be honest moving boxes is the relaxing part, dealing with lawyers was much more taxing" Ryan joked.
"Yes we can be" Michael replied plainly.
"Oh I really put my foot in it there huh" said Ryan still sounding upbeat, "don't sue me!" Ryan said cheerfully.
Michael let out a breathy half laugh, "I'd invite you in but my partner, isn't feeling too well at the moment."
"Oh really I'm sorry to hear that, we'll have to get properly acquainted another time then" said Ryan.
"Yes indeed, I'm sure we'll see you around, have a good evening" replied Michael.
"Tell Charlotte to get well soon" said Ryan.

Michael stood at the open door for a moment before closing it, Charlotte quickly snuck back into her seat at the table. "Who was that?" she asked casually. Michael leaned over her slowly placing a wine bottle down on the table, before settling back into his chair.
"That was our new neighbour, Ryan" said Michael in a serious tone. The playful atmosphere of their dinner broken. "When were you going to tell me that you'd meet him today?" He asked abruptly.
"He said that?" she asked nervously.
"He knew your name, unless he's a professional psychic I think you are keeping secrets from me" Michael said looking at her sternly.
"There really isn't much to say, we barely said hello, we just bumped into each other when I went to take the bins out" she replied with a little more control, trying to sound casual.
Michael slammed his fist down onto the table, the shock wave sent a spoon clattering to the floor, Charlotte reflexively straightened her spine, sitting to attention and then froze in her seat.
"I thought I told you to stay in the house today, in fact I think you promised me that you would" he said, no longer containing the anger in his voice.
"I thought you meant not going in to town, you're blowing this way out of proportion, and it was only for a second-" Charlotte cut herself off at the dark look in his eyes.
After a moment, Michael looked away staring off into the corner room, "are you trying to humiliate me?" He said, calmer this time.
"I don't know what you mean" Charlotte responded in hushed voice, not wishing to agitate him.
Suddenly he was up from his chair, so quickly she didn't have time to react, he grabbed her jaw roughly with his hand, his fingers jammed into her neck. "I go to work to provide for you, all I ask is that you stay inside for one fucking day" he shouts, spit hitting her face. Charlotte tries to pull his hand away but his grip is too strong. "Instead" Michael continues "you run straight to the new man next door, looking like this", he squeezed her face harder briefly before letting her go with a shove that set her chair on two legs momentarily. He slowly sat back down, Charlotte was stunned and didn't move. Michael blew out a long slow breath. "It's like you want me to become that one mistake, I mean look at how riled up you get me". He looked down to his lap at his own large hands clamped together, and they sat in silence for what felt like hours until Michael finally spoke again, "I don't want to behave like this Charlotte, but you make things really difficult sometimes. This was a complete betrayal of trust".
"It was an accident Michael, I didn't even know he was out there" Charlotte said softly.
Michael let out a pained laugh "the man is moving in, he must have been out there all day, of course you knew, and if I had really been innocent like you say then you would have told me straight away", with that he stood up and left the room.

Charlotte stayed sitting at the dining table, unsure of what to do next. She heard the TV click on in the next room. She couldn't believe how heated the situation had become, she was ashamed for letting him bully her like that. She hadn't realised it would make him that upset just to hear that she had spoken to Ryan. She knew she needed to give him a chance to calm down so she cleared away the dinner and started to clean the kitchen.