Lion Alpha's Broken Mate

Chapter 5

She unlocked the bolt and swung the door open. She let the girls walk through first. They stood just outside the door and just gaped at what they saw. The back porch was as long as the house and wide enough to put several chairs under the protection of the roof. There was a porch swing on the far end of the porch were you could just rock and gaze at the surroundings. The house sat at the end of the street so the back yard was huge. A large privacy fence all the way around it protected it from any onlookers. It had to be six feet tall and there was no way that anyone could see in unless they were taller, which ruled out her parents, or used a step stool. They were both shorter than five feet six inches. There was a gate in the back in case someone needed to slip out without anyone on the street knowing. It had a lock and she had the only key.

The yard itself was beautiful. The grass was a healthy shade of green. There was a path that led to the left of the yard. A fountain was bubbling just left of the gate door in the back and when Lindsey flipped a switch just inside the house, walkway lights illuminated the stone path leading to it and the lights installed inside the fountain also cut on. It wasn’t the stone fountain that you would find in most peoples’ yard. It had plants surrounding it and would have looked right at home in the middle of the forest. The stone path kept going past the gate and wound around to the right side of the yard. A large willow tree stood in the corner. There was a comfortable bench underneath it so you could sit and just watch the wind blow through the branches.

There were flowers that surrounded the bench on three sides and on the other side of the walkway across from the bench. The stone walkway ended there at the bench but flowerbeds continued to run down the right side of the fence and kept going around until they reached the right side of the back porch. This was Lindsey’s private oasis. There was just something about the ambiance of the place. This was the one place that she would always be able to come and relax. She could come out here and just let the stress that seemed a constant part of her life to just float away with the wind.

Lindsey looked over at her three friends and burst out laughing with joy. They were all standing on her back porch with their mouths hanging open in shock. Her laughter seemed to jar them out of their stupor. Sara was the first to comment. “This is absolutely beautiful, Lindsey. How did you find this?”

“You would never believe this was here just looking at the front of the house,” Camille said in wonderment. “This is amazing!”

Amy looked stunned. “Lindsey, I am so moving in with you. We don’t even have something like this at my house.” It was really hard to shock Amy so when it happened, they had all learned to appreciate it.

Lindsey couldn’t help but laugh again at their reactions. “I told you. Larry helped me find this place. He’s a really good friend.” Her eyes dared Camille to start up the Larry disagreement again. Camille wisely kept her mouth shut and held her hands up to let her know that she wasn’t going to start another argument.

Sara actually jumped up and down clapping her hands before leaning over excitedly and giving Lindsey a hug. “I’m so excited for you. This is awesome! You know that we are going to be over here a lot, right?” As she leaned back she waved her hand in the general direction of herself, Camille and Amy.

“You guys are welcome here anytime you want to come over. You know that.” Lindsey gave her a look that said she should have known better than to ask something like that. “In fact, I fully expect you all to be here a lot. I’ll get lonely if you don’t.”

“Okay, why don’t we go in and make a list of everything you need so we can get it and have you ready to move in on your birthday?” Sara was already walking into the house without looking to see if anyone was following her.

After everyone had filed back into the house, Lindsey flipped the switch again to cut off the outside lights and shut and locked the back door. She grabbed her purse and pulled out a notebook as the four of them sat around the living room and made a list of everything she would need. When they were finished, Amy looked at her watch and gasped. It was nine forty-five. Her head whipped back up to look at Lindsey, clearly worried. Lindsey didn’t need to ask her why. They all knew what time her parents always expected her to be at home.

“One of us needs to go home with you,” Amy stated matter-of-factly. She knew that it wasn’t going to be pretty when Lindsey got home.

Lindsey shook her head adamantly. “No. It’s better if no one has to see what’s going to happen. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be able to sneak in without them seeing me.” That was wishful thinking on her part. They all knew it would never happen. It was already humiliating enough knowing that they knew at least some of what happened at her house. She didn’t need any more witnesses and she would do anything to protect her friends. Her father had steadily been getting worse and she hadn’t told any of them about it. Her first priority was to make sure that no one else was caught in the crossfire. “Camille, would you mind taking Amy home?”

Camille was already nodding her head in the affirmative. They all got up and gathered their belongings before heading towards the door. They were standing on the porch without the porch light on while Lindsey set the alarm and locked everything up. “Are you sure you don’t want anyone to come with you? We can come up with an excuse for one of us to stay the night with you. Or better yet for you to stay with one of us. We could call and tell them that the tutoring lesson went over and it was just better if you stayed the night. Or we can tell them that your car broke down or something.” It was a flimsy excuse and they all knew it.

Lindsey quickly shook her head before she realized that Camille couldn’t see her in the dark. “No,” she said aloud. “I don’t want anyone else exposed to this. It’s bad enough that I have to be.” Camille walked with her to her car and as Lindsey unlocked the door, Camille put her hand on her shoulder.

“Okay but if you need anything, you call me. My phone will be right by my bed.” Lindsey opened her car door and this time Camille saw her nod her head that she would. “I mean it, Lindsey. Anything, even if it’s just a shoulder to cry on, you call me. If I don’t hear from you in the morning I’m coming over.” It was the only threat that she could make that she knew would get a response out of her. Camille had seen the aftermath of a few of her father’s tantrums.

“I’ll call you in the morning. I promise.” Everyone would worry until she called them on her way to work. Sometimes it was a relief just knowing that someone would be there. “Amy, you need to get your bags from the trunk. If Dad finds something like that in my car, who knows what he’ll do.” All three girls rushed to unload the bags.

Promising to call her first thing seemed to pacify Camille a small bit but Lindsey could tell that she was still worried. She waited until they had driven off before getting into her own car. After shutting the door and starting the engine, she sat just looking at her house, trying to draw courage from the fact that she only had to do this a few more weeks. It solidified her just a little. Knowing that her future would soon be changing for the better gave her the courage to put the car in gear and back out of the drive. Taking a deep breath, she thought about the plans for her house. Everything that she would have the freedom to do once she was in it, the small things that would mean so much to her. She suddenly felt sad that one of those things was the ability to feel safe.

Heaving a great sigh, she turned the car in the direction of her parents’ house.

Lindsey pulled up to the curb in front of her parents’ house and couldn’t help but notice that the lights inside were still on. It was not at all strange for them to be up this late but apprehension filled her. She turned off her car, left her purse in the glove compartment as usual but made sure that her cell phone was in her pocket. One of the promises that her friends had made her swear to was that she would always keep her phone close, just in case.

She stepped out of the car. Grimacing as she closed the door behind her, she almost turned and got back in. She should get back in. The commotion going on inside the house could clearly be heard even here at the curb. This is going to be a bad one, she thought to herself. It was a wonder that the neighbors hadn’t called the police yet. Sending up a silent prayer that she had convinced her friends not to come, she turned the alarm on to her car using the remote attached to the keychain.

Turning toward the house, she took a deep, steadying breath, trying to get up the courage to actually walk into the house. Knowing that prolonging it would only make it worse, she went up the steps, turned the knob on the door and opened it as quietly as possible. As soon as the door opened, she was blasted with noise of the argument going on in the living room. Her parents were standing facing each other, in each other’s faces, yelling and threatening each other with one thing or another. From what she could make out in between the swearing and cursing, her mother, Martha, had apparently gone somewhere after work without letting her father, Steven, know. They hadn’t gotten to the part of her not being home yet. That or hopefully it had already passed. Somehow she didn’t think she was that lucky.

Control. It always came down to control with him. When he didn’t have it he got violent.

Lindsey stood just inside the front door, trying to decide what her chances were of making it up the stairs just to her left and into her room without either of them noticing she were there. They weren’t good. Her father always seemed to see everything. She decided to chance it anyway. She leapt for the stairs and made it half way up before an angry voice stopped her in her tracks.

“Lindsey, you get your ass down here now!” Her father was in rare form tonight and it didn’t look like there was any way of getting out of this situation without a confrontation. It didn’t help that he had already gotten started with her mother earlier so he was already angry. Definitely not a good way to start.

Gripping the railing until her knuckles turned white, trying to control the fear racing down her spine, she slid sideways on the stairs to face him but didn’t go down. Every ounce of self-preservation she had was shouting at her to keep her distance. “Yes?” Her voice shook slightly so she cleared her throat.

“Don’t you ‘yes’ me,” he said in a loud, mean voice. He was so angry that he was breathing hard. His face was so red it was almost purple from his rage and his fists opened and closed as if he was just holding himself back from doing real damage. She didn’t see any way out of this without someone getting hurt and it was usually her or her mother. He had the same wavy brown hair she did but his face was a mask of hatred right now. He was larger than her and muscular as he worked out regularly to stay fit for his job as a security guard. If they only knew how unstable he was.

“I said get your ass down here.” The last statement was said through his clinched teeth, annunciating each word as though she were stupid, as he pointed to the floor next to him to indicate where he wanted her.

Wanting to keep the safety of the railing between them, she tried one last time to avoid dealing with him like this. When he was this mad he was always unpredictable. “Look,” she said as calmly as she could, “it’s been a long day. Camille had an unexpected emergency and I had to take her to her grandparents’ house. I’d rather just go on up to bed. Can’t we just wait until morning to talk?” She was proud of herself for sounding so calm but inside she was quaking. She didn’t like lying but she knew that Camille would back her up if asked.

Her mother was recoiling in the corner of the living room now. She always did that if Lindsey came home in the middle of an argument. The last time she had tried to intervene to get Lindsey away from him, it had landed her in the hospital and Lindsey with broken ribs. She was fine to argue when Lindsey wasn’t home but her father knew that the way to get her mother to cooperate and get him what he wanted was through her.

Lindsey had thought she was safe behind the stair railing but she should have known better. Steven moved so fast she didn’t have time to back away from the railing. He gripped her arm in both hands and tried to pull her over the railing. He jerked her arm so hard that she felt it rip from her socket. When she was about half way over the railing he realized that he couldn’t pull her over the top of it so dragged her down and tried to pull her around. The balustrade at the bottom of the railing was rammed into her chest. Pulling her around it, he practically threw her into the opposite wall. The breath left her body and she heard the sickening snap as her arm broke. The pictures on the wall behind her fell and crashed to the floor, the glass breaking into a million pieces. When her head slammed into the wall she saw stars and lights flash before her eyes.

It took a minute to get her equilibrium back but when she did she wished she hadn’t. She looked around and realized that she must have slid down the wall after hitting it because he jerked her up by her shirt front and slammed her into the wall again, this time holding her up. Pain knifed through her has her arm hit the wall. Martha made a vain attempt to get him off her but he just backhanded her across the face. From the corner of her eye she watched her mother hit the floor. She didn’t get back up. Not that she had expected the help. It shocked her that she had even tried.

Steven got right up in her face until he was nose-to-nose with her. “When I tell you to do something you do it, is that clear? Whether it’s moving your ass to a different room or being home at a certain time. I am your father and you will obey me.”

She didn’t even see it coming but felt his fist slam into her cheek and it felt as though her eye exploded. Going into shock, Lindsey couldn’t answer him, couldn’t find her voice long enough to form words. All she could do was nod her head as she felt tears streak down her face.

Steven’s hands went from her shirtfront to around her neck at the sight of her tears. She knew she was in trouble when he started to squeeze. He was so much stronger than she was that she knew there was no way she could get him off of her. She brought her unbroken arm up in a reflex action to try to pry his fingers open and that just made him angrier. “There is no crying in this house, you little b***h. You will stand there and take everything that I give you without complaint.” He emphasized each word he said by shaking her. His slap landed across her jaw and then he continued to shake her.

The more he shook her, the faster the tears fell. She couldn’t control them. “Did you hear what I said?” he demanded. Assuming that the slap didn’t get his point across, his fist smashed into her jaw again. She instinctively raised her good arm to block him but he just smacked it out of the way and punched her. “Don’t you block me when I punish you!” he screamed. From what little she could see from her rapidly swelling eyes, the manic insanity shining from his face made her realize that she wasn’t going to live through this one.

He raised his fist again but just before he could bring it back down there was a loud ‘whack’ and his eyes rolled back into his head as he collapsed to the floor.

Not having him there to hold her up, Lindsey slid to the floor. Unable to move with the injuries that she had, she was still in too much shock, incapable of really comprehending what had just happened. Her mother stood over him with a skillet in her hand. Lindsey could see the bruise already forming on her face and knew that she didn’t look much better, probably worse.

Lindsey lay on the floor and just stared at him, powerless to turn her head away from the sight of him still so close to her, terrified that he would wake up and finish what he had started. He had never gone this far before, not with her anyway. Her mother had taken several beatings before but the only reason Lindsey had gotten hurt was because she had jumped in front of her mother trying to protect her and gotten in the way. She could feel the tears running down her face and she couldn’t seem to pull herself together enough to get up from the floor. That confused her more than anything else.

Martha bent down close to her, trying to inspect the damage but Lindsey jerked away from her, or tried to. She didn’t want anyone touching her. “Lindsey,” Martha said softly, “you need to go to the hospital. It looks like your arm is broken.” She could tell that her mother’s hands were shaking but that was the only sign that she was affected at all by what had just transpired. “You need to get out of here before he wakes up again.”

That got her attention and seemed to break the trance she was in. As the shock wore off slightly the pain slammed through her and she suddenly realized why she hadn’t wanted to move before. Very slowly Lindsey eased herself up into a sitting position against the wall. Ignoring the pain knifing through her, she reached into her back pocket for her cell phone, thankful she had put it in her right pocket instead of her left this time. With her arm broken she didn’t think she could have gotten it out. She tapped the button, debating on who would be the best person to call. After a split-second decision, she called Camille. She lived closer than Sara and Amy didn’t have a car. It was the most logical choice. Plus, Jason would be there to help too.

Lindsey pressed the speed dial for Camille and listened to the ring, waiting for her to pick up. In what seemed like forever but was actually only two rings, Camille answered in a sleepy voice. “Hello?” Lindsey almost laughed hysterically. Camille could fall asleep faster than anyone she knew.

“Camille?” Her lips must already be swelling because her name came out more of a mumble than an actual word. It must have tipped her off because when she answered she sounded much more alert.

“Lindsey? How bad is it?” There was a short pause. “You know what? Don’t answer that. I’ll be right over. Jason!!!” The phone clicked off as Camille was screaming for her brother and Lindsey felt fresh tears leak from her eyes. Her friends had gotten her through so much and she didn’t know what she would have done without them. Feeling too weak to remain upright, she collapsed back to the floor. The jarring pain when she hit just mingled with the pain that she was already feeling.

As she lay there, she watched in silent disbelief as Martha sat on the floor opposite of her and started to lovingly caress Steven’s hair as he lay still unconscious on the floor. She acted as though he hadn’t just beaten her daughter within an inch of her life and she hadn’t just nailed him with the skillet. How her mother could still care about him after everything that he had done to her was beyond her understanding.

Not wanting to watch anymore and not wanting to be here in case he woke up before Camille got here, Lindsey closed her eyes and drew into herself. That safe place inside her mind that was always comforting in the face of her problems.

It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes and Camille came bursting through the door without knocking. Lindsey could hear Jason yelling at her to slow down. Camille’s cry of dismay could be heard through the now silent house. Stepping carefully over the broken glass, she knelt down next to Lindsey and cautiously pulled the hair from her face. “Lindsey, we called nine-one-one on the way over here. They’ll be here soon.” Even as she said it the sound of sirens began to get louder.

Lindsey heard curses coming from just behind Camille and tried to draw back against the wall, fearing that her father was waking up. Jason came into view on the other side of Camille, hand up trying to calm her. “Lindsey, Honey, it‘s just me. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Camille came up behind her so she could see that her father was still comatose and continued to stroke her hair back. She was bending down whispering reassurances in her ear. From the wobbling of her voice Lindsey realized that she was crying. Not knowing where all of her injuries were, Jason brought his hand up and tenderly brushed her bangs from her forehead, trying to see how much damage had been done. She grimaced as he touched her and he drew back, not wanting to hurt her further. He settled for just holding her good hand since the other arm was obviously broken.

Lindsey did her best to smile at him. “It’s okay,” she mumbled. “Could’ve been worse.” She could barely get the words out through her scratchy throat.

“Honey, I don’t think you know what you look like right now. Any worse and you’d probably be dead.” He had meant it as a joke but Jason’s voice was grim. That was when she realized just how bad this really was.

Right at that moment, three policemen walked in with guns drawn. Giving a once over of everything going on in the hall, they waved the paramedics in. They instantly went to Lindsey, deciding that she had the most need out of the three lying on the floor. They pushed Jason and Camille out of the way and went to work on her.

Not wanting to see or feel what she knew they would have to do she drew back into herself.

Camille stood back next to Jason in the corner as the paramedics worked on Lindsey. She had never seen Lindsey this bad after one of her father's 'episodes', as Lindsey liked to call them. She watched as they secured her to a stretcher and wheeled her out the front door. Looking down, she noticed that Lindsey's phone was still on the ground where she had dropped it after calling her. Picking it up, she realized that there was a call in progress. Without looking to see who it was to, she ended the call and followed Lindsey out the door.