Chapter 16

"Hello Susan."

"David? What….what are you doing here?" she asked nervously, as she backed further into the closet for protection.

"Maybe I should ask you the same question." he replied with a grin, as he slowly approached her. "I kind of had a feeling that you would come back here sooner or later. I paid off that nosy old woman that lives next door and told her to call me at work if you happened to show up here again."

He stopped directly in front of her and Susan eyed him carefully, not sure what he intended to do to her.

"Where the hell have you been anyway? I've been looking all over the place for you." he asked, as he reached out and tried to stroke the side of her face.

Susan knocked his hand away before he had a chance to touch her.

"It doesn't matter where I've been. It's not like you've missed me anyway. I'm sure you're glad to have me out of your hair so you can spend time with your little whore."

"She means nothing to me baby. You're the only woman I care about. You know I love you Susan. Please come back home. Give me another chance. I promise this time I won't let you down."

"Don't lie to me David. You have no intentions of being faithful to me. You didn't mean it the first time and you don't mean it now. I'm through listening to your lies. I'm leaving you and this time it's for good. I'm not going to waste anymore time on somebody who doesn't give a damn about me!"

With that said, Susan turned her attention back to the closet so she could gather the rest of her things. Suddenly, she felt David grab her roughly by the arms and spin her around. He shoved her toward the bed, pushing her face down into the mattress as he yanked both of her arms behind her back and handcuffed them in place.

"What in the hell are you doing?" she yelled, as she struggled against him. "This is not funny David. Let me go!"

Grabbing a handful of hair, he jerked her roughly from the bed, causing her to cry out in pain. He pulled her against him so that her back was pressed firmly against his chest. He raised his hand and closed it over her throat, effectively holding her in place as he spoke to her.

"You're not going anywhere. You are my wife and this…is my baby." he stated coldly, as he rubbed his other hand across her stomach. "You both belong to me and I'm not going to let you just walk out of my life."

Susan began to struggle against him once more, only to have him tighten his grip on her throat. She wanted to scream at him and tell him that the baby wasn't his, but she figured that now would not be the best time to let that information slip. If she did, she was pretty sure that he wouldn't let her leave there alive.

"It won't do any good to fight me Susan. You're not going to get away from me. I'll keep you here by force if I have to." he growled as he tightened his grip on her even more.

Susan franticly tried to figure out how she could get away from him. She had never seen David like this before and he was frightening her. She wished now that she hadn't been so stubborn and that she had let Glen come with her. He could have handled David without any problem.

"David…please…let's talk about this. I know you're upset. We both are. But things don't have to come to this. Please let me go. I promise I won't tell anyone about this." Susan pleaded, hoping that she could convince her husband to listen to reason.

"Oh, we're going to talk alright. And you're going to start by telling me where you've been hiding these past few weeks." he threatened.

"It doesn't matter where I've been David. All that matters is that I'm here now…"

"Don't play games with me Susan." he warned, his grip on her throat becoming painfully tight. "I'm going to ask you one last time…where have you been?"

Susan continued to struggle against him as she tried to think of something to tell him. With the way he was acting now, there was no way she was going to tell him the truth. If he knew about Glen, she had no doubt that he would kill her.

Angered even more by her silence, David began to push her across the room toward the dresser.

"You'd better start talking Susan and make it fast." he warned, as he picked up one of the large pieces of glass that was laying there and brought it to her stomach. "I'd hate to have to hurt you or the baby because you didn't listen to me!"

Susan winced as she felt the sharp tip of the glass being pressed into her skin through her shirt.

"David…please stop." she pleaded, as she tried to free her hands from behind her back.

He felt her fighting him again and he pressed down even harder, grazing her skin with the razor sharp edge of the glass. Feeling the stream of blood that was beginning to run down her stomach, Susan began to struggle harder, trying desperately to free herself from his grasp before he caused her serious harm.

"Stop fighting me!" he yelled, as he tightened his hand around her throat again.

He began to apply steady pressure to her neck and Susan was finding it harder and harder to breath. She twisted her head, trying to work herself free from him, but it only served to anger him even more. He continued to increase the pressure, until he had cut off her air supply completely. Susan began to panic as she struggled to breath and she felt herself growing lightheaded and the room began to spin as she started to lose consciousness.

Right before she thought she was going to pass out, Susan felt him release his grip on her throat. She felt herself being pushed forward onto the bed and she landed awkwardly on her side as she tried to avoid falling on her stomach. Once she had regained her breath, she gathered enough strength to turn herself over and was surprised to see Glen standing over David's battered body, beating him into the ground.

"Glen?" she whispered hoarsely, as she struggled to sit up on the bed.

At the sound of her voice, Glen stopped pounding on David and turned to help her.

He helped her into a sitting position, then kneeled on the floor in front of her. He panicked when he saw the large red stain that had already formed on her shirt.

"The baby…?" he asked, immediately reaching out to protectively touch her stomach.

"The baby's fine. It's just a small cut." she replied, as she tried to free her hands, which were still cuffed behind her back.

Seeing her predicament, Glen walked back over to David's unconscious form and searched through his pockets until the found the key. Then he walked back to Susan and unlocked the cuffs, gently rubbing her bruised wrists before pulling her into a hug.

"God Susan! Are you okay?" he asked as he hugged her tight.

To shaken to speak, Susan nodded her head. Glancing at the open closet, Glen noticed Susan's bag lying on the floor.

"Did you get everything you needed?" he asked, as he helped her up from the bed.

Nodding her head again, Susan glanced nervously in David's direction as Glen left her side and went to pick up her bag.

"Come on. Let's get out of here." he said as he led her from the room.

"Will you be okay to drive?" Glen asked, as he loaded her things in her car.

"I think so." she whispered hoarsely.

"Good. I hate to make you drive, but we need to get both of these vehicles out of here. I don't want to have to come back here again. I'll follow you home, just in case anything happens. If you have any problems, pull over and I'll help you, okay?"

Susan nodded as she climbed into her car and started it. Within minutes they were headed back to Glen's house. The farther away from her house they got, the more Susan began to realize what could have happened if Glen hadn't been there to save her. She couldn't believe that David had actually tried to kill her. She had never seen his violent side before and she hoped that she never did again.

By the time she pulled into Glen's driveway, she was shaking so badly that she could barely stand. Taking note of her condition, Glen quickly rushed to her side and put his arms around her to steady her on her feet as he helped her into the house. Sitting her down on the couch, he eased down beside of her and pulled her to him as she began to cry again.

"I can't believe he tried to kill me." she sobbed as Glen held her.

'It's okay darlin'. You're safe now. He won't hurt you any more."

"I'm so sorry. I should have listened to you. I should have let you go with me. But I swear, I had no idea that he was capable of trying something like that."

"I know baby. I'm just glad I decided to check up on you this time." Glen replied.

Gently pushing her away from him, he grasped her face in his hands and forced her to look at him.

"Are you okay? Did he hit you? Does anything hurt? Do you need to go to the hospital?" he asked.

Susan shook her head. "No. Other than the cut on my stomach I'm fine. Just a little shaken up."

Grabbing her again, Glen held her tightly against him as he stroked her hair. He was so thankful that he had shown up when he had. If not, both she and the baby would likely be dead right now.

"You need to call the police Susan. You need to have him arrested before he gets a chance to come after you again." Glen finally said, knowing that she was in real danger as long as her husband was loose.

"The police? Do you really think we need to involve the police in all of this?" she asked as she sat up and looked at him.

"Susan, he almost tried to kill you. Of course we need to involve the police. If you let him get by with this then it's hard to say what he might do to you if he gets another chance. You need to talk with the police and let them know what he did."

Susan nodded her head in agreement. She knew that Glen was right…she definitely needed to press charges against him for attacking her. But she couldn't believe that she was in a position of having to have her husband arrested. She never would have imagined in a million years that she would live to see this day.

"Let's get you to the hospital and let them check you out, just to make sure that everything's alright. We'll let them call the police from there, okay?" Glen asked, still concerned about her condition.

"I don't need to go to the hospital Glen. I'm fine." Susan argued.

"Please just do this for me. I would feel better if you would just let the doctor look you over, okay?"

"Fine. I'll go." Susan relented, as she stood up and headed to the door.

"What? You're finally going to let me win an argument. I guess my threat of using tickle torture must have gotten to you." he teased as he got up and followed her.

Susan turned and flashed him a faint smile.

"That's more like it." he said, when he saw her smile at him. He approached her and wrapped his arms around her and just held her for a moment. "I'm glad you're alright darlin'. I don't know what I would've done if something had happened to you or the baby."

Susan hesitantly wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him back, grateful for the security that his arms offered her. He was the only stable thing in her life at the moment…the one thing that she looked forward to everyday. Her time with him was exciting and calming all at once. He could make her laugh and still make her feel safe at the same time. She honestly couldn't picture her life any more without him in it. And that thought frightened her greatly. She knew she was starting to develop feelings for him. Feelings that she was sure he already had for her. But she also knew that the last thing she needed right now was another relationship. At least not until things settled down quite a bit. She knew she would have to keep her feelings for him in check, because after everything that he had done to help her, the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him.

Releasing her grip on him, Susan stepped back and looked up at him.

"Are you ready to go?" she asked, trying hard to ignore the look of desire in his eyes. Her embrace had obviously had a profound effect on him

Glen smiled down at her and took her hand in his.

"After you." he replied, as he opened the door and motioned for her to walk outside.

Susan smiled and walked past him, as she headed toward his car. She turned to watch him as he locked the door, then came towards her, unlocking her door and helping her inside.

"Glen, stop fussing over me." she stated, as he tried to help her fasten the seatbelt.

"Sorry darlin'. But you ought to be used to me by now." he chuckled, before leaning in and brushing his lips gently against hers in a soft kiss.

Almost as quickly as he initiated the contact, he pulled away and Susan stared at him in shock as he closed her door and walked around to the driver's side door. She closed her eyes as she tried to regain her composure, shaken by the strong emotions that his touch elicited in her. It was just like that first night all over again. She moaned inwardly as thoughts of that night crossed her mind.

She realized that keeping her feelings for him hidden might be harder than she had ever imagined.