HIS: Book 1 in the HIS trilogy Read online

  "If it makes any of this any better and even if it don't... you looked sexy as hell in those lacy panties." he smiled at her and stepped out of the bathroom.

  The door was just about to close behind him when Winifred heard him say.

  "She looked even better naked." this was obviously not meant for her to hear but it made Winifred's heart race.

  She felt a strange heat form between her thighs and she was tingling all over.

  Jax had seen her naked and he liked it, he had watched her strip out of that town and put on those indecent undies and he never said a word, he never made a noise.

  Winifred knew she should feel outraged but all she could think was how amazing that made her feel.

  She liked that Jax saw her that way she just didn't know how to react to that knowledge.

  She was a virgin and happy to stay that way for now, she liked that Jax saw her naked and liked it, but what if that was how he meant to have her repay him... what if that was the entertainment he spoke of.

  Winnie might have been excited by him but she was far from the point where she would feel good about him obtaining her virginity.

  He was after all still a stranger.

  At a quarter to nine Jax received a call and left.

  He hadn't explained his need to leave, in fact he hadn't said a word since the bathroom scene earlier he had just sat in the damn chair reading his magazine.

  Winifred admitted to feeling his absence far too much.

  It was like the minute he left he took her peace with him.

  Her anxiety came back as soon as the door shut behind him.

  Sitting in her bed three hours later Winifred was watching cartoons on the TV when the door opened again.

  Turning to see who it was and half expecting to see Jax she felt her stomach quail at the sight of her mother.

  Standing there in all her perfected glory hair and clothes all perfectly quaffed and straight carrying a bag at her side.

  "Hello dear, I have your things." her mother's voice was damn near chipper; something was up.

  "I see you won't be needing these after all... who brought you the clothes Winifred?" she asked.

  "I had a shower earlier and there was nothing in here for me to wear so Jax got me these." Winnie said to explain.

  Her mother sat the mini travel bag down by the door and walked into the room and over to Winifred's bedside.

  She grabbed the remote off the tray table where Winnie had laid it and switched the TV to the news; her actions were much the same as at home.

  Winifred was not allowed a TV at home and she had no say on the TV in the den only Mark could change the channel and he never watched anything but football and the news.

  Feeling peeved at this unconscious act Winifred grabbed the remote and switched it back to the cartoon she had been watching before her mother's arrival.

  Looking at her daughter with annoyance in her features, her mother change the channel back and then she tossed the remote on the pull out couch far enough away and low enough down Winnie would not attempt to even try and retrieve it.

  Glaring and her mother Winifred asked her why she was there; it was not like she had made any attempts to come and see her the entire time she had been here with the exception of the first night of course.

  Her smile returning her mother answered, "Your being released today and we get to leave this dreadful place... all of us. It will be so nice to be in our home and our beds won't it dear."

  She hadn't been asking she had just been making a statement but her words made Winifred cringe.

  "All..of..us?" Winifred asked, a slight tremble in her words; "Were all going home. Mark to?"

  Smiling as she looked absently around the barren room her mother shook her head yes.

  "It will be so nice to be home." as her words trailed off Winifred felt the walls closing in.

  She was going home with Mark and her mother.

  Jax was not here to stop them.

  Mark would take his revenge; it might not be up to his usual standards but he would make sure Winnie paid some how.

  "How is that possible I am supposed to be here another night I know?" she asked her mom.

  Gathering up all the things she found in the top draw where Winifred had placed the items Jaxxon brought her; her mother began stuffing these items into a small drawstring bag the hospital supplied for the patients to take their stuff home in.

  "Mom I asked you why is the hospital sending me home today they said I was not to be released until tomorrow?" Winifred practically yelled at her mom.

  She was not normally so forceful but the fear of things to come had her lashing out.

  Her mother finally looked her in the eyes, the expression on her mother's face was one of barley restrained intolerance.

  "Well Winifred Marie, Mark was being sent home today and I don't have the time to run around after you; I have to be there for Mark he needs me." finishing her task she dropped the bag by the door near the one she had brought in with her.

  "So I spoke with the doctor and while he didn't exactly agree with my choice he signed your release papers." Looking back at Winifred, She stood in the doorway with her hands clasped together in front of her.

  "Well don't just sit there, let's get a move on. Mark is waiting at the front desk and he is very impatient to get out of here."

  Fear like ice ran up her spine, she wished Jax was here.

  Standing up she walked behind her mother and headed out of the room.

  Rounding the last curve in the hallway Winifred saw the front desk and Mark in his wheelchair looking for all the world like a wounded victim.

  Her mother stopped at the front desk to ask one last time if she had signed all the necessary paperwork.

  Winifred stood there off to the side doing her best at being invisible.

  She was doing a pretty good job to until Laura came out of a patients room looking dog tired and a bit sad.

  When she saw Winifred she immediately smile in hello but then frowned at the sight of Winifred fully dress and getting ready to leave.

  Making her way over to Winifred's side she asked.

  "What's going on and why are you preparing to leave?" Laura looked from Winifred to her mother and then to Mark who was now staring at Winifred.

  "I was under the impression Dr. Polanski was keeping you until tomorrow at five." Laura continued.

  Winifred's mother walked over and held her hand out for Laura to shake; Laura hesitated for a second the held her own out to receive the shake offered.

  "I am Winifred's mother Elaine Johnson, I have already spoken with the doctor and he has agreed that due to the circumstance surrounding us all being here and seeing as how Winifred is doing so good she could go home today."

  Laura didn't look happy or convinced she also didn't say anything to Elaine either.

  Turning to Winifred she asked, "Are you sure you feel good enough to be going home, last night your boyfriend literally had to turn you over in bed and in less than twelve hours later your preparing to head home."

  Winifred felt indecision crawl through her brain, she knew she was not ready both physically and mentally to be going home but if she refused and let Laura make a mockery of her mother's power play, then when she went home Mark might successfully kill her in a rage.

  Shaking her head she pasted on a fake smile and made it as bright as she could.

  "Yes I will be fine Laura, I have the pain prescription and the sleeping pills." Laura eased up a little and looked again at Elaine like she wanted to say something.

  "I must admit I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed to." Winifred added successfully quailing anything Laura might have been about to say.

  Shaking her head like she didn't really agree but was willing to concede the argument Laura said.

  "Okay but if you feel like it's just too much and you need to come back don't hesitate... besides I am going to miss getting a look at that handsome young man of yours, girl he is
one fine specimen of male flesh." Laura said that last part in Winifred's ear as she had leaned in for a hug mid sentence.

  Winifred released a small laugh and hugged Laura back; she was going to miss Laura so much.

  Walking out to the car felt wrong, it felt like there was another force inside her body forcing her limbs to make the movements that lead her to the cars door.

  It was like a horror movie, you knew something terrible was about to happen so you screamed at the screen and begged the character to go back or run the other direction but you sat there as the spooky music plays in the background and watched them walk to their doom.

  Winifred knew getting into that car and letting them drive her home was a bad choice but she didn't see any other option.

  She felt her stomach flip a little as she buckled into the seat it was like she was accepting her fate, like she was helping it along.

  It was a sicking notion; she was helping them secure her body for transport to her own personal torture session.

  That feeling intensified when she looked up feeling eyes on her and saw Mark glaring pure hatred at her in the review mirror.

  He looked like he wished he could kill her, no worse than that he looked like he wished he could obliterate her meager existence and erase her completely.

  When they arrived home Winifred jumped out of the back seat, her body had stiffened with pain during the ride from the hospital to her house but she dare not tarry too long in fear of Mark and his dark looks.

  She had just made it inside and was preparing to make her way up the stairs to her room when Mark's voice stopped her.

  "I don't know where you think you're fucking going girl but you had better bring your ass back down the steps."

  Winifred froze; her fear was so much that her bones literally shook inside her skin.

  Turning on the stairway she eased back down the stairs and came to a stop and the bottom one... right in front of Mark.

  Mark look terrible, if Winifred thought her face was a sight she had been wrong.

  Marks left eye was swollen shut his right eye was so swollen and puffy he just barely had it opened to see.

  His once perfect nose now was crooked, his lips were chapped and busted and his cheekbones were a myriad of color.

  She didn't wince or feel sympathy for him she felt a sense of justice when she looked at him he finally knew what it was like to be Winnie he had finally been on the receiving end of a beating.

  She wondered if he had cried or begged when Jaxxon was beating the shit out of him, she wished she could have seen it.

  "You have no idea what the hell I am going to do to you, you can't even imagine the kind of hurt your going to suffer for this." Mark looked at her a mixture of eagerness and lust in his eyes.

  "Not right now you stupid girl but tonight I am going to break you in a way that will leave you scarred for life."

  Turning Mark limped into his and Elaine's room off the den leaving Winifred on the last step staring off into space.

  He was going to rape her.

  He had threatened to do it often enough in the past but had never actually laid a sexual hand on her; but his words and the look he gave her just now told Winifred what his words didn't.

  This time he really was going to do it he was going to rape her.

  Would her mother even care?

  Chapter 6

  Winifred sat in the middle of her bed; knees drawn up to her chest arms circling knees.

  Her hair hang in a long damp mess around her like a veil, she wore only a pair of pale pink night shorts and a white camisole top.

  She was exhausted and hurting but mentally unable to sleep.

  She may not physically stand a chance against Marks strength but she was for sure not about to just lay there and take it; when he came he would have a fight.

  The digital clock display said it was one forty five in the morning and the sound of the neighbors dog barking at passing traffic was driving her bonkers.

  Winifred was drifting in and out of awareness as her body fought her for rest when she heard the sound of her bedroom window being opened right before she heard the sound of a body falling to her floor.

  Panic consumed her; she never locked the window.

  Besides the fact that her room was located on the side of the house with no trees nearby there was also the fact that in order to reach her window you would have to scale the wall with absolutely not footholds.

  The shadow figure of a man soon emerged from the floor to stand in the moonlight that was flooding through her window.

  Winifred knew it couldn't be Mark because he was in no condition the be crawling on rooftops.

  If he did come for her he was just downstairs and would simply climb the stairs to get to her.

  So who in the hell was in her room?

  "Calm down luv. It's just me." That voice belong to Jaxxon and that voice was all it took to sooth Winifred's ragged nerves.

  "What are you doing here Jax?" Winifred asked her tone a bit tense.

  She didn't want him to know just how much she had come to rely on him for a sense of safety.

  "If you want me to leave just say the words I got more important shit to do than to sit here and babysit you." the words were sharp and the tone was one of lost patients.

  Winifred didn't understand this man at all.

  One minute he was looking at her like she was the scum of the earth and then bam he becomes her defender, her protector, her white knight and now he was back to acting like she was dirt on his boots.

  "I didn't ask you to come here and I don't need a babysitter so feel free to head back out that window whenever the mood strikes you." Winifred didn't want him to leave but she be silly to beg him to stay.

  Moving from his spot in front of her window Jax walked over to her bed before he sitting down on the foot of it.

  After setting down he began to unstrap his boots before he pulled them off and removed his socks.

  Placing his socks inside the boots he stood back up and moved to place the boots on the floor below her window.

  Coming back he shoots her over to make space for himself on her full sized bed.

  He climbed in and pulled her over tight against his side.

  He moved his right arm up over his head and his left was wrapped around her body holding her close to him.

  It was close to five minutes before he said anything.

  "I had a guy posted outside the window he was told to keep tabs on you and to make sure that your stepfather didn't try anything...about an hour ago he reported to me you were not sleeping and that you seemed almost zombie like in your room so I left in the middle of something really important to come over here and to hold your hand while you sleep."

  His words were sweet and hurtful; he was watching over her to protect her but he almost seemed to resent it.

  Winifred was preparing to tell him to just leave when sleep over came her and she was out.

  Her alarm clock started blaring in her room at six ten a.m.

  Crap I forgot to turn off the alarm; Winifred thought.

  Reaching over to her night table she slapped her hand down on the snooze bar and groaned as she sat up looking around her now deserted room.

  Jax was gone, he must have left not long after she fell asleep.

  Winifred got up from her bed, she walked to her closet threw on the first thing she saw which was a baggy sweatshirt and a pair of extremely old extremely comfortable jeans.

  Pulling her hair up in a messy bun because she could do nothing with the frizz without putting in about an hour of time in the bathroom, an hour she didn't want to lose at this moment.

  Walking down the stairs and doing her best to not make a noise Winifred creep-ed into the kitchen and fixed a bowl of cereal for herself.

  Captain crunch had been her favorite cereal since she was a little girl and it was one of the few things her mother still indulged her with.

  She was sitting on the counter holding her cere
al and thumbing through a teen magazine she had borrowed from Amanda when Mark strolled in.

  He was looking even worse today than yesterday.

  He was standing in the doorway to the kitchen glaring at her; his eyes filled with pure hatred.

  Winifred felt frozen and like a statue she felt powerless to move or even breath under those cold... icy eyes.