Where You Least Expect It...

Chapter 3

Day 103

He shouldn't have let her go back. He should have sent someone. Or gone with her. But Lizzie never should have gone back to her apartment by herself. He leaned back in his chair, eyes tracking her every move. Her eyes were red, like she'd been crying. And there was a bruise peeking out from under the sleeve of her sweater. Wasn't there that morning. Wasn't there when the three of them went to the doctor, either.

"You can stop watching me like that. It's nothing."

But it wasn't nothing. She'd been living on his property for almost three and a half months. He'd sat at this table and had dinner with her more times than he cared to count. They'd talked. He'd seen bits and pieces of her. She'd seen bits and pieces of him. And even if none of that had happened, she was carrying his fucking child.

And some prick had laid hands on her.

Turning from the cabinet, Lizzie brought over a glass of whiskey and sat down. She didn't give it to him. She kept the glass cradled between her hands, like holding it together was holding her together. He watched her tilt the glass one way, then the other. It should have bothered him that he knew what it meant. He shouldn't know that was what she did when her head was in a dark place. There was a lot he shouldn't know about Lizzie Stark.

"He was just mad." Tommy's fist tightened against his leg. "Doesn't like to lose. Guess he thought..." Tommy knew what he'd thought. He'd thought that since she'd come back by herself, no one would care what happened to her. He'd thought that the rich man with the guards had found another cunt to fill. "Doesn't matter. Not the first sore wrist I've had in my life."

He hated that she said shit like that. Like it was her due because she'd lived it before. "He's been dealt with. Won't bother you again." Her eyes finally left the whiskey and met his. A crease formed between her brows and her lips dipped into a frown. "Stop thinking. He got what he deserved. That's the end of it." It wasn't. He still had to pay the judge, and talk to the warden. But it was the end of it for Lizzie.

She slid the glass to him. He took it, tilted it one way then the other. Watched Lizzie's eyes follow the movement of the liquor. "My mom...She'd always dig her nails in. Real deep, like she wanted my blood." He forced himself to keep the glass moving. "She was always hissing at me. 'Fucking useless, Lizbeth'. 'Should have got rid of you like I wanted'. And always, her nails would be digging in."

He watched her leave him. Watched her slip back into the past, watched her become that girl from before. And he found himself talking- trying to bring her back to him. "Arthur Sr. hit Ada for breathing too loud, once. She was sick, couldn't breathe through her nose. It pissed him off. So he hauled off at smacked her." He could still see the shocked look on his sister's face. Could still remember how still the room had gotten. "I went to help her off the floor. He had me by the throat before I got to her. 'Fuck you're doing? I put her on the floor, she stays on the fucking floor'." He remembered how John, twelve years old, had stuck his thumb in his mouth. "Had rings around my neck for a week. The rest of my bruises you couldn't see."

Lizzie's eyes found his. The green in them was dull in a way he wasn't used to. But she was with him. She was there in his guest house with him. Her hand slid across the table. She tapped her finger against the back of his hand. There and then gone. "Shit way to grow up." He nodded. She leaned back in her seat, hand falling to her stomach- still mostly flat. "This one won't grow up like that. This kid'll get bruises from tripping over untied shoes and shit. Yeah?"

"Yeah. No fucking beatings and no sharp fucking nails." Her eyes were watery, but Tommy knew she wouldn't cry. Not in front of him. Not because of this. She was tough, Lizzie. She was tough and she was good. He picked up his glass and tossed back his drink. It burned going down, but he liked the burn. A pain of his choosing. His phone beeped. It was time for him to meet Grace. "You know what to do. Ice it, don't use it too much." Lizzie rolled her eyes, but there was a smile playing at her lips.