Renee walked out to the kitchen and began to fix dinner as Jesse would be back from work soon enough. She felt terrible. She’d been having Braxton Hicks for a few weeks. She was having an appointment once a week now. Jesse didn’t know she was now 39 weeks. He thought she was at 36 weeks. Today had been one of the worst days. The cramps had been so bad that she had barely been able to stand up. Every time she moved, she felt pain.  She started taking everything out and setting it on the table when she had a huge cramp shoot through her stomach and into her back. She gasped and grabbed the chair. It felt like she had peed on herself and she looked at the floor. There was a puddle on the floor. Had her wat

Renee sat back in the chair, shocked. Was he talking about catching bees with honey over vinegar? Was he actually trying to catch her? It had been a little over a year since he kidnapped her and she still cringed at his touch. She still hated it when he kissed her or hugged her. She felt like she was being suffocated when he wrapped her up in his arms and fell asleep. These were all things she had done with Kevin, but she had loved Kevin. She had been in a relationship with Kevin. She wasn’t in a relationship with Jesse and there was no way she was ever going to love him. How could he think she would even like him, let alone love him? For the better part of the year that he had her, he had beat on her and raped her!  Being nice now wasn’t changing that fact. “What do you mean by you like me? I’ve done nothing but be a bitch to you. I’ve fought you tooth and

“Open your eyes, Renee. I want you to see me while I take you. I want you to know that I’m not going to hurt you. I told you that you can tell me to stop at any point,” Jesse said. Renee shook her head no. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him as he claimed her body and hurt her yet again. He was lying when he said he wasn’t going to hurt her. He always hurt her. She felt his hand on her chin, gripping it, stopping her from moving her head back and forth. He kissed her lips and then moved back slightly. She opened her eyes up and looked at him, waiting for him to take her. Her body was starting to ache from being tensed up. Jesse moved himself against her and started to push himself inside of her just a little bit. Renee closed her eyes and he stopped, waiting for her to open them again. When she fin

Renee finished getting dressed and walked out of the room. She should not have taunted Jesse. She knew better than to do that. He could do whatever he wanted, but she couldn’t. He could say he was just teasing, but she knew his threats. As long as she was complacent, she was fine, but the minute she wasn’t, he would get angry and go back to the way he was before. He had relapsed a few times with his anger. He had not hit her again, but there were several instances when he had been too rough with the sex and it had hurt her. She picked Christian up and put him in his car seat. Then, she picked up his bag and headed out to the car. Jesse came out right behind her and saw her basically just going through the motions. He had just ruined a perfectly good evening. He drove them to the park where the ladies he had spoken to had set up the party for Christian. When Renee got out and saw everyone, she plastered her fake smile on her face. Jesse hated it. He came around to take Christian so t

The next morning when Jesse woke up to Christian crying, he felt the bed beside him. Renee wasn’t there. His head was pounding. He hadn’t drunk like that in a long time. He slowly got up and threw his boxers on. He went into Christian’s room and got him out of his crib. He changed him and then took him to the kitchen. He had yet to see Renee. Where was she? Had she run away? He felt anger take him over. He couldn’t remember last night beyond where she had taken the keys from him.  He walked into the bedroom and still didn’t see her. He noticed the light was on in the bathroom. He walked over and saw her laying on the floor, naked. He frowned. Why in the hell was she on the floor naked? He set Christian down and went to shake Renee. When he did, he started seeing the bite marks and bruises on her. Shit. What had he done last night?