I lived in a small town in North Carolina named Crestview it wasnt to small that every single person knew each other but it was small in a sense that there was only one big shopping center in the middle of the town. There was a bunch of little boutique type stores through out the shopping center among big chain stores like target and tj maxx there also were a couple of small business offices as well. I usually only came out here to go to target since I was on a strict allowance from James. I was given $100 for grocceries every two weeks and $25 a month for myself.
A surge of anger rushed through me again, how have I been so stupid, I let a man control me to the point where I had a $25 allowance. I am a 29 year old woman who has an allowance from a man who can barely get it up once a month for me.
The first thing that I needed to do before I started even thinking about looking aroung the shop was to see if I still had access to my cards. I had this months allowance on me in cash and I had our joint cards in my legging pockets.
I walked over to the gas station to use the atm smiling at the cashier as I walked over to the grey box that would tell me if id be able to survive or if i needed to get a job right away.
I grabbed my card my hand shaking a little as I inserted the card and entered the pin. The machine beeped and grunted as it printed out the tiny recipt. Hands still shaking I flipped over the recipt and nearly dropped.
Balance: $150,000
This had to be a mistake. I only recieved $250 dollars a month, I knew James made a decent amount of money but I did not know he made enough to have this amount in our account.
I needed to make a plan, I had nothing but $25. If i had access to this money now i had to act fast before James completly cut me off during the divorce process.
Our bank was in the same complex I couldnt use the card in case he had alerts on it to block tranactions.
I looked around the gas station for an inconspicious bag finding a wall of a knockoff handbags in the back. That would do.
I grabbed a big michael kors handbag and turned to the cashier.
"How much?"
"For you? You can take it for 10."
I smiled to myself.
The cashier rang me up trying to flirt with me as I just smiled awkwardly.
I grabbed the bag and walked over to Crestview national bank.
I had my ID and debit card out so i didn't look like a total weirdo without a wallet and a horrible knock off purse.
I waited in line,wondering if I should just call James and ask him if I could use the money.The petty side of me was screaming at me to shut up. He left us for another woman. The divorce papers werent processed yet so we were technically still married my name is on the account. I had every right to that money after 10 years.
"next" The bubbly blonde called. She must be new she was way to excited to be at work on a wednesday. The rest of the tellers wore permenant scowls on their faces and just seemed to hate their lives.
"How may I help you today maam."
"I wanted to make a withdraw from my account today, I probably should have called seeing as it is a large withdrawl." I winced when I realized my mistake.
"Its alright maam we can accept withdraws of a 100,000 or lower without a call ahead. Will that help you at all?"
"Yes,actually all I want to pull out is 100,000 dollars."
"Certainly ma'am all I need is the debit card associated as well as your ID." She smiled sweetly.
I handed her my cards and waited as she click clacked on the computer in front of her,I took in a deep breath as she was moving, hoping I didnt get in trouble or James somehow found out.
That would not be good.
"Where are you, honey?" My mom's sweet voice cooed over the phone. The lump in my throat made it harder for me to swallow and keep down the tears that are trying to break free. I haven't talked to my mom in years. James said they were embarrassing, I didn't think so though. We were a loud loving family that always wanted to be together. When we got married and had the kids that changed we stopped going over because James claimed that we needed to make our own traditions as a family. It was hard. Incredibly hard. I was close with my cousins and my aunts and uncles. I was the miracle baby, my parents had the hardest time convincing me each of my parent's siblings had buckets of children but they made the best surrogate siblings a girl could have. James took them all away from me. I'm sure they thought it was my choice to stop talking to them, but never in my life would I turn my back on my family, not by my own choice. I swallowed down the lump in my throat, trying to figure out
We finshed eating in tense silence, well the guys were tense, I was enjoying my dinner and happy to be eating in peace for once. No one was commenting on how fat I was, or the fact that I was eating to much to keep my figure. My kids weren't huffing about what I made for dinner. It was a nice break for me.When I finished, I stood up and walked over to the sink and started washing the dishes that were in the sink. In the middle of washing up a hand landed on my waist, I look up to see Derek looking down at me. "You dont have to wash the dishes." "I don't mind honeslty I need something to keep me busy."He nods and grabs a rag, and starts drying off the dishes already in the drainer. I tilt my head towards him and watch him for a second. I noticed tattoos creeping out of his shirt, feeling awkward that I dont actually know anything about these men. So i decided I needed to know more."Is he mad that im here?" Derek looks over his shoulder from the cab
It's not fair how beautful these men are, and the way they are with each other, I sit and watch them from the living room as they interact about what Liam had ordered. I watch as they push each other around. They interact the same way my cousins used to when we'd all meet up for family gatherings. I smiled at the thought that they obviously loved each other like family. Seeing as they all lived in the same house and none of them were together.They interact with such comfortability, that I find myself getting jealous. For as long as I lived in my home with James we have never had such comfortabilty. I walked around the house on what felt like constantly walking on eggshells. Even now somewhat out of his reach I still have to tip toe around afraid he will retaliate in some way.The doorbell rings, meaning dinner was here Liam walked out of the kitchen, giving me a small smile on the way headed to the door."Lorna." Jacob called out to me beckoning me
I pulled my phone out slowly and swiped the screen up to unlock it. I glanced back at Liam his hand still on my shoulder, I turned to Jacob his hands still on my knees. I took another deep breath trying to center myself. I have never showed anyone the things I am about to show these two strangers. James was only abusive physically recently but the emotional abuse started several years before. The controlling behavior started after we said "I do" but it was small changes that I began to notice a year ago. Several weeks before the incident that turned physical I had went over my budget for grocceries. James had come home upset fuming, breaking everything screaming that I was ungrateful and stupid ranting and raving and for some reason I decided to record it. I never thought of bringing it forward. I just wanted proof that he was in a sense going wild. I guess now that I think about it, it probably had to do with the fact that he was seeing Anna on the side. It probably was to much for
After the loud knock Liam and I both looked at each other. He was about to go towards the door when the door creaked open to someone popping their head in. I looked at the brown curly hair and those deep brown eyes and recognized him as the man who held me up as I fainted after the car incident. He stayed at the door awkwardly. I started to shift in the bed feeling uncomfortable myself.Liam was in the middle of the room, looking between me and the newcomer. When he finally nodded at the new comer he opened the door wider and walked into the room. "Lorna this is Detective Jacob Sanchez, he's the detective assigned to your case. He's also one of my best friends." Liam smiled softly looking back at he's friend. I could tell they had more of a brotherly relationship. I gave both of them a tight smile. My brain seems to be broken, I guess having a psychotic soon to be ex and finding myself around gorgeous guys my brain has decided to short circuit.Jacob came c
I felt a soft blanket on top of me I kept my eyes closed and snuggled closer into the beautiful blanket, I could smell something delicious in the air I could almost taste the garlic that lingered in the air. I slowly opened my eyes, half thinking I was dreaming. I was the only one that cooked so I knew that no one was actually cooking for me and my bed never felt this good. When I finally open my eyes, I realize I am not in my own house, the bedroom I currently was in was way to homey to be my house, it was warm and welcoming. The walls were painted a soft blue with a beautiful reading nook settled into a big bay window. The blankets that have now become my new favorite thing were a deep gray which matched the rest of the decor and accents around the bedroom. As I was taking in the deep beauty of this room I heard a knock on the door. "Come in." My voice came out hoarse and scratchy, there was a bit of fear in my voice because I had no idea where I was. Mr Reynolds came in s