Lockwood Creek Book Two - This can be read as a stand-a-lone.
A Why Choose Story.
Maddy Lockwood was the Perfect Daughter and to save the Lockwood family she agreed to a marriage she did not want, but now she will learn the hard way that no matter...
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~ ~ Maddy ~ ~
Swiping my hand across my damp cheek, hands still shaking, I tried to focus on the road whilst blinking back more tears.
My phone buzzed on the seat next to me but I couldn't answer it. I was in no fit state to talk to anyone.
Heaving a shaky breath, I worried the inside of the soft tissue of my cheek as I passed a road sign telling me the interstate was thirteen kilometres away.
A crazy idea took shape as I eased up on the gas. I keep driving. Never come back. I gripped the steering wheel as if my life depended on it, caught within a swirling mess of indecision, reducing to a shattered accumulation of nervous energy.
Could I?
No. The bubble of hope left as quick as it had arrived.
He would most likely report his car as stolen and have me arrested. Why had I let him get rid of my car? Well, to be fair I hadn't. It vanished the day this one arrived.
And I had no money to my name either. Cooper gave me an allowance for food and he paid for everything else.
All I was supposed to do was be the perfect wife.
But this morning changed all that. The event was soldered to my brain when Cooper had played one of his sick mind games on me, crushing a little more of my battered soul.
I couldn't take this any longer. He was becoming unpredictable in his moods, becoming worse since he'd found out I'd been to visit Riley Jo. It triggered whatever crazy he hid from everyone else.
And not now satisfied with his ritual of humiliation or the degrading acts he inflicted. I'd become one of those insects you see kids torturing with a magnifying glass. Helpless. Weak.
And my mind was at breaking point.
My day had started like any other. Golden sunrays had slipped between the shutters and from the open window. Nature greeted me.
And today, being the bicentennial of Lockwood Creek, I hoped it would put Cooper in a good mood and I made my way downstairs with a spring in my step.
But that all went south as my foot touched the last step.
Cooper was on the phone to his father and I froze when I heard something smash. No doubt like the spoiled child he was, he had thrown something at the wall out of frustration.
Picking up my steps, I made my way to the kitchen and got busy preparing breakfast. And with knotted shoulders, I waited, fully expecting him to come through to the kitchen and take his anger out of me.
But he hadn't, and breakfast had been a quiet affair with me all alone. Forcing myself to eat, each mouthful weighed heavy in my guts. Even my morning coffee was bitter and offered none of its usual enjoyment.
