“Because I'm over it Lauren, how do you think it makes me feel, coming home from work to find you crying over things he's said, I’m not sitting back and doing nothing, so I told him to back the fuck off, else he would have me to deal with”
“Thanks Gabe but I can fight my own battles”
He moves towards me and puts his arms around me and puts his hands on the cheeks of my arse and pulls me to him.
“I’m under no illusions that you can look after yourself, I saw how you dealt with Jackie and like you felt the need to tell her how you felt, I needed to do the same with Jason. Please let me take your photo?”
What can I say? I can't be a hypocrite and not let him speak to Jay after I told Jackie her fortune on Saturday.
“Not from the front, just from behind” I say with a smile. I don’t know why I’m smiling; I actually can’t believe I’ve just agreed to do this!
“Done” He grabs his phone. I stand with my legs open, I pull at his tie with my left hand, my right on my hip, I turn just my head to face him and wink. That's one, then I go into his office, I sit on his desk, cross my legs and my arms so that my boobs squeeze together and turn around and smile at him, that's two.
“That’s your lot, no more, now go and shower, I'm starving” I order!
“Just one more, please, bend over the desk for me, let me take a picture of your arse cocked in the air for me, please Lauren?”
“You show these to anyone and I will kill you Gabe, I swear”
“Lauren, why would I let anyone else see these? They’re for me baby, just for me. You look fucking amazing”
Oh well, if it makes him happy.
~
He showers while I pull on some jarmies. Gabe pulls on his trackies and a hoodie, grabs his keys and asks “What we eating baby, your call?”
“Errrrrmmm. Fish and Chips please, can you go down to Main Street and get it from the English Chippie? I really fancy curry sauce and a saveloy, please”
“So do you want fish and chips or a saveloy and curry sauce?”
“Yeah, all of it”
“All of it?”
“Yes. Fish, chips, a saveloy, and curry sauce, I'm starving and you said I looked scrawny”
“I said no such thing, I said. Oh don't worry about it, I won't be long”
He heads out the door and I go into the kitchen to get out some plates and salt and vinegar, just as I spot his wallet on the bench top, I hear him bang at the front door. I run down the stairs with his wallet and as I approach the front door I shout out to him,
“I’m the old one; I'm the one who's supposed to forget shit”
I start to pull the door open and bang, it’s kicked so hard it knocks me backwards, I feel a sharp crack under my jaw, my feet go from under me and my head hits the tiles.
I get this image of a boxer in a ring, they've been almost knocked out, but instinct makes them keep trying to get up, I think that's what I'm doing, I think I'm trying to lift my head, I think I'm trying to stand, the room is spinning and everything is coming in and out of focus, I have a rushing sound in my ears, I can see a light in the distance, I think it’s the street light out on the road. Or it could be the moon, I don’t know, the street light, it looks like it’s up in the sky, why’s it up in the sky? My thoughts are blurred and confused and I have a pain somewhere but I can’t pinpoint exactly which part of my body it’s coming from. And then I hear a voice and quite literally, my blood runs cold.
“I warned you, I fucking warned you but you wouldn't listen, who the fuck do you think you are, you cunt, don't you ever get your fucking boyfriend on the phone telling me that your his, who is he ehh? Fucking prick. Well I'm telling you, you will be mine, there's no part of you that's not mine, I own all of you and the only bits of you he can have are the bits I chose to let him have. I'll fucking show you and I'll show him, you fucking shit on me you slut and I’ll, I'll fucking shit on you... Na, you know what? I wouldn't even waste my shit on you, you’re not fucking worthy, this is all you’re worth, this and don't you ever forget it”
And as I lay there, trying to drag myself back to consciousness, I'm even more confused, what is that, is he throwing water over me to bring me round, to try and wake me up? And just as I hear the gates opening on the drive, I realise what he's doing, I'm not worth shiting on he said, so he has pissed all over me instead, while I'm lying there on the floor, he has urinated all over my body, over my face and in my hair.
“Just tell the cunt from me, your marked, your mine, every time he breaths in the air around you, he will smell me, because I fucking own you”
He's gone. Out the door and he's gone, I can see the headlights stop on the drive, I have a ringing sound in my ears, is it a ringing sound, or is it a screaming sound? It is a screaming sound and as I see Gabe jump out of the Ute and run towards me, I realise the screaming sound is coming from me, it’s me, screaming as loud as I can!
CHAPTER SIXTEEN