Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 125(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 125(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
January.
I couldn’t live like this until fucking January. My mental health was already in the shitter. What would it be like by the time January ninth rolled around?
Zac had already raped my body, and now, without even being around, he was raping my fucking sanity just as brutally.
Chapter Sixteen
Trinity
After Officer Wilcox’s call, I spent the day zoning out and dissociating. I cried for a good hour on the living room floor wrapped in Jimmie’s arms, and once I was out of tears, we moved to the bed, and I wasn’t sure I spoke more than five words the rest of the day.
I knew Jimmie was worried about me, but he let me be. He just stayed by my side, and we watched random shows and movies that didn’t require much brain power. And while I knew he wanted me to eat, he didn’t push me to do so. At some point, I ate half a pop tart when my hunger got too bad to ignore, but that had gone down about as well as I imagined swallowing battery acid would.
I fell asleep a little after nine the night before wrapped around Jimmie. I’d spent most of the day practically on top of him, but I knew he didn’t mind. He would just clutch me close and run his fingers up and down my back and my arm while his chin rested on top of my head.
While I fell apart, he kept all my pieces in his hands so he could piece me back together at a later date. When that day came, I knew he would have super glue ready and a road map of my soul and heart to make sure all my pieces were put back together properly.
Slowly, I peeled my eyes open, staring at the wall across from me. The room was dark, which meant it was still dark outside. Jimmie didn’t keep blackout drapes over his windows since he enjoyed the daylight, and he was usually up before daybreak anyway to get a head start on his day.
“You good, baby?” Jimmie rasped, his voice husky with sleep. He combed his fingers through my hair. “You were sleeping peacefully.”
“I don’t know what woke me,” I muttered, snuggling back into his chest. He pulled the blankets up higher, then wound his arm back around me. His lips pressed to the top of my head.
“Go back to sleep,” he whispered. “I won’t leave. I promise.”
Pursing my lips, I kissed his bare chest, then wound my arm over his torso, shutting my eyes. I was almost dozing back off, his steady heartbeat and slow, deep breathing lulling me back to sleep when my phone vibrated. Frowning, I sat up and reached over Jimmie to grab it.
I had a voicemail from an unknown number. Jimmie leaned up on his elbow and rubbed his eyes with his other hand, yawning as he did so. “What is it?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I muttered. My phone hadn’t yet transcribed the message, so I typed in my voicemail password and pressed play on the latest message.
Zac’s voice filled the quiet room, chilling the blood in my veins.
“You know, I was going to leave you the fuck alone,” he slurred. Jimmie pulled me between his spread legs, pressing my back to his chest, then wound his arms tight around me. My heart was thudding so hard in my chest, it hurt. “But you just couldn’t leave me the fuck alone, could you? I let you run off with him. You thought I could never tell that you wanted him? I chose to ignore it because I thought you’d never allow yourself to be with him. Should’ve known the moment things went fucking sideways, you’d call him. Hell, maybe you were talking to him the entire time. Maybe you’d been planning to use me to become a doctor, and then, you were going to chase his dick.”
None of this made any sense. Jimmie and I had been nothing but friends. But of course, after Zac attacked me, I was going to call him. Zac had raised his hand to our son. Why wouldn’t I have called Jimmie? And did he really think Jimmie wouldn’t find out what happened and just not come get me? Jimmie had never been that kind of man, and he never would be.
“You’ve ruined everything, Trinity,” Zac growled, his words only becoming more heavily slurred the angrier he became. “I had to get this cheap ass phone since you blocked my number to be able to tell you just how much you’ve fucked up my life. I lost my job at the hospital. I’m losing everything. You pressed fucking charges. And my attorney is telling me I should just plead guilty at my court hearing to get a lesser sentence because there’s too much evidence against me. Are you fucking happy with yourself? My entire life is fucking ruined!” he shouted.