No. Meggie bit into her wrist, barely feeling the injury but tasting metallic blood.
“No,” Dinah echoed through tears. “She’s a virgin.”
“No. She’s not,” Thomas sneered. “I should know.”
Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Meggie stared at her bite mark, oozing red, and shook her head in denial.
Silence met Thomas’s lie and he took advantage of the stunning insinuation by taunting, “she’s been coming on to me for months. I thought it best to keep it in the family.”
“Wh-what?”
Meggie wasn’t sure if she wanted her mother to believe Thomas or not. Dinah was too broken to attempt to defend her. She hadn’t even allowed the police to haul Thomas away, a week ago, when Meggie had called 911. Instead, she’d blamed her injuries on something asinine and stupid. For Meggie’s attempt to defend Dinah that night, she’d gotten her bedroom door removed.
“You lying bastard,” Dinah screamed.
Meggie drew in a sharp breath, her already aggravated pulse and heart rate throbbing in her ears. She spread her blood over her skin, attempting to refocus.
Thomas yelped and, for a few blessed moments, it sounded as if Dinah asserted herself and inflicted serious damage.
“You fucking bitch!” he snarled. “I’m going to kill you.”
“Big Joe is coming for her,” Dinah persisted in a wild, unrecognizable tone. “I called him! And I’m going to tell him. I’m going to tell him you’ve violated his baby. I’m going to tell him and he’s going to kill you. He’s going to chop your dick off and feed it to pigs.”
Meggie cheered at the thought. Her daddy was coming. She’d been trying to reach him for weeks. Left so many messages, it surprised her his voicemail wasn’t filled to capacity. She knew how busy he was, so the fact he hadn’t answered wasn’t real surprising. Sometimes, it took her months to get a response from him. Before, he’d just blaze into town on his bike, the noise of his Harley pipes rumbling in the quiet suburb blocks away. He took a lot of trips, something he called runs.
Ever since Dinah had barred him from visiting at Thomas’s insistence, two years ago, Meggie always imagined going on the road with him and his boys.
“You know how hard your fighting makes me, huh, baby?” Thomas crooned.
“Y-yes.”
“I’m not letting Megan live with him. When he comes, tell him she’s not interested in going with him.” He groaned and gasped. “Tell him she doesn’t want to see him. Ever again.”
Dinah moaned. “Right there, Thomas. Harder.”
Meggie’s cheeks burned and her stomach churned at Thomas’s filthy response. And so the cycle continued, she thought, humiliated. She stretched to her pillow and retrieved the little knife she kept hidden under it. Pressing the sharp blade against her forearm, she sliced down, sucking in a breath at the brief burn and pain. Blood rushed from the wound and her tension and fear seeped away with it. The respite lasted a moment. The satisfaction dwindled in the amount of time it took the pain to recede.
Sniffling, she tightened her mouth and slashed again. Meggie swiped her tears once more and slashed at the wrist she’d bitten.
“Ah, God!” She’d gone deeper than she intended and had to grab the sheet to staunch the flow of blood, the sounds from the den both sickening and infuriating. She wasn’t sure if her mother truly liked Thomas’s attention or if she just accepted it. In the end, no matter what Thomas said or did, Dinah gave him sex. Meggie didn’t want to see her mother as a weak, pathetic woman because it went deeper than that.
Dinah had tried to run in the early days of their marriage. Both times Thomas had found her and beaten her to a bloody pulp before using his fists on Meggie. Her mother had just given up and given in. She knew her mother refused to risk Meggie being hurt again because of her escape attempts.
“Meggie?”
She raised her gaze at the sound of her mother’s whimper. Dinah stood in the doorway, her face swollen and bloody, bruises covering her naked body. She clutched the wood molding, trembling.
The sight tore through Meggie and she shoved her knife under the bloody sheet. She stood and swallowed; her chin wobbled. Both she and her mother were wrecks but she couldn’t add any stress by allowing her injuries to show. She stepped forward, arms behind her back. “Momma.”
Dinah went sprawling and Meggie hurried to the door. Thomas stood inches away, naked, too, and smelling of sweat and alcohol. Unable to stop it, Meggie glared at him, her cheeks burning at the sight of his flaccid penis and hairy testicles. Not that she hadn’t seen him nude before but the sight always repulsed her.
The back of his hand shot out. Meggie didn’t jump out of reach fast enough. Stars danced in front of her eyes at the slap.