Page 27 of Twister

My eyes tracked his hands as he motioned to the bruising on his shoulder and upper arm before he drifted down to his ribs, which were hidden beneath his hospital gown.

“After he….” He flinched, his fingers curling into fists before he swallowed heavily and tried again.

“After he did what he did, he packed a suitcase and stormed out, swearing he was done with me. Once I was able to get up, I found his house key on the kitchen counter.” He turned his focus to me.

“Does it make me a bad person that I felt relief when I saw it? All the times he’d hit me…

I know that I should have left him, but I stayed because he kept apologizing and swearing that he’d never do it again. ”

Feeling my heart break for the broken man in front of me, I nodded to let him know that I understood.

“But seeing that tiny, little key sitting there on the counter….” His eyes lost focus, drowning in his memories.

“It was like….” He paused, tilting his head to the side to find the right words.

“He’d taken the decision out of my hands.

I didn’t have to worry about leaving him because he’d left me first.” His eyes refocused and snapped to mine. “Am I wrong for thinking that?”

I let out a long, shuddering breath. “No, Jackson. You’re not.” I squeezed his hand once and let him go. I didn’t want to overwhelm him. “You did what you could to survive. There’s nothing wrong or bad with that.”

Nibbling his bottom lip, he nodded slowly before he shifted to look at Daniel again. “The other night…?”

Daniel nodded encouragingly.

“He showed up with one of his work buddies. They’d been drinking.

I don’t think they knew I was going to be there because he seemed surprised to see me, you know?

” He frowned and looked down at his fingers that were fidgeting again.

“He said something to his friend, and then they both laughed and turned to go out the back, where you were.”

He was now wringing hands, and I reached over to gently maneuver one away so I could hold it.

“He must have seen you because he came storming back to me, accusing me of cheating on him with you, since we both had the audacity to be in the same restaurant at the same time.” He glanced up at me. “But how could I have been cheating on him if he’d dumped me? I don’t understand….”

Looking over to Daniel to see him shaking his head, I sighed and answered his question. “Jackson… men like Brett…? They tend to not make a ton of sense a lot of the time.”

He nodded slightly and focused on his lap again, where his free hand toyed with the blanket.

“Once he’d finished telling me off, he turned around and headed back outside to have a go at you.

I tried to stop him without making a scene, but I didn’t know how.

” He swallowed. “And then you grabbed him. He didn’t like that. ”

Daniel sucked in a breath to say something, and I shook my head at him to hold off.

I had only answered any question Jackson had given me, not wanting to interrupt the flow his speech.

Now that Jackson was talking, I wanted him to get it all out so he could start his recovery journey.

Right now, he needed us to listen, not to argue with him.

Thankfully, Daniel swallowed whatever he was about to say and let Jackson keep going.

“He was waiting for me when I got home.” He motioned at his black eye.

“As soon as I got out of my car, he started ranting about how it was all my fault he’d been slighted, and he told me that I needed to be punished for not ‘knowing my place.’ I tried to ignore him, just focused on getting the key in the front door so I could lock him out, you know? ”

Not knowing what else to do, I nodded.

“I should have stayed in the car,” he muttered, shaking his head before he let out a sarcastic huff of laughter.

“He continued his verbal tirade the entire time until I stepped through the door and tried to close it to lock him out.” He motioned to his eye.

“He punched me. Just once, but it was enough to land me on my ass. It was the first time he’d gone for somewhere I couldn’t cover. ”

“Oh, Jackson…,” Daniel murmured before deciding he couldn’t take it anymore and standing up to pace the small hospital room, his fingers threading their way through his hair as he worked his agitation out.

“He left me on the ground. I don’t know where he went.

I didn’t want to know.” Jackson watched Daniel for a moment, then turned his attention back to me to continue.

“When I woke up yesterday, I called out of work so no one would see me and ask questions. I couldn’t see more than three feet in front of me, so when the doorbell rang last night, I couldn’t see who was at the door. ”

I grimaced, anticipating what was coming.

“I could smell the alcohol as soon as I opened it. I tried to close it, but he wedged his foot in the gap, talking about how sorry he was for the night before. That this was the time we normally had dinner, and he just knew that I would have made something special for him to apologize for how I’d acted the night before.

But I couldn’t see. Even if I’d wanted to make him something, which I didn’t, I couldn’t .

” He leaned forward, gripping my hand. “Why couldn’t he understand that? I don’t understand….”

Because he wanted another reason to hurt you. I swallowed the thought down so it wouldn’t show on my face. “I don’t know, Jackson.”

The tears were flowing more freely now, even though his face remained blank.

“That’s when he lashed out. He landed one punch—” He motioned to his chest. “—and I ran. I didn’t know what else to do.

I made it to the front yard before he caught up with me.

” He waved his fingers at his throat. “That’s when I got these.

The neighbors heard him screaming at me, and they came running, tackling him away from me and calling the police. ”

“Thank God for the neighbors,” Daniel muttered.

“He was shouting at them, yelling that I deserved it and demanding to know why they were interfering with a simple household argument. When the police showed up, the neighbors told them what they’d seen and how they’d stopped him.

One of the officers looked at my throat, then started asking him questions.

” He shook his head. “Brett didn’t like that.

He hates being questioned. He took a swing at the officer, and they arrested him on the spot. ”

“Is that where he is now?” I asked.

Jackson nodded. “Held on bail. The officer who took the photos of all this—” He motioned to his bruising.

“—told me earlier that he’d been trying to find someone to front the money but was having trouble.

She said that she’d let me know if he was released, and I haven’t heard from her, so I’m assuming he’s still there. ”

The door opened, and the nurse from earlier bustled through. “Good news, Jackson. The doctor said you should be right to go in about an hour.” He looked expectantly at Daniel and me. “Will these two gentlemen be helping you?”

“Yes,” Daniel said firmly, leaving no room for argument. “If you want to stay with us, you can.”

Jackson blinked at Daniel, then looked at me.

I simply smiled at him and said, “Yup. What he said.”

A new round of tears fell from Jackson’s eyes as he took our words in. “Really?”

“Whatever you need.” I squeezed his hand, still in mine. “We’re here for you. You’re not fighting alone anymore. We’ve got you. Okay?”

“Okay,” he said in a small voice, his eyes swinging back and forth between me and Daniel, before he let out a deep sigh, his shoulders relaxing for the first time, finally letting go of the tension he’d held since we’d arrived. “Okay.”