The Sound of You **on hold**

Chapter 16

Adelaide

I was watching TV with Stella curled up at my feet. Nathan was going to be home from work any minute and I had spaghetti sauce simmering on the stove.

When I heard him fiddling with his key in the lock, I wondered why he was having such trouble with it. I went to open the door for him and found him standing there holding up his key to the door. He slowly smiled when he looked up at my face. I turned and went into the kitchen to start boiling some noodles.

"Heyyyy, baby." He crooned.

"How was work?" I called down the hallway where he was taking off his shoes.

"I got let out early so I went for drinks with the guys." He slurred.

A shiver ran down my spine. I rested my hands on the counter and hung my head, breathing deeply, trying to plan my words carefully.

"What?" He said sharply, appearing in the kitchen doorway. My head snapped up, my whole body turning an uncomfortable hot temperature. He scoffed. "Adelaide, it's no big deal."

"I-" I stammered, "I thought we agreed-"

He closed the distance between us quickly, breathing his putrid hot breath down my neck. "You thought we agreed what?"

I swallowed hard. I had nothing I could say that would put the distance back between us, so I bit my tongue. He grabbed my wrists in his hands and brought them around his waist, planting a wet kiss on me. Too wet. And he smelled of liquor. I cringed.

He pulled away and looked at me. "What?" He spat again.

"I'm not in the mood." I tried to say gently.

"You're not in the mood?" He narrowed his eyes at me, then started yelling, "When are you ever in the mood?" He squeezed my wrists until they stung in his hands, then he threw them back at me. He backed off and grabbed the hot lid off of the spaghetti sauce and threw it against the wall, splattering sauce all over it. Then he picked up anything within reach and threw them at the wall too.

"Nathan stop it! You're scaring me!" I cried.

He stopped dead and looked at me. "Why don't you go ahead and call the police, huh?" He knew damn well I wasn't going to call the police. I didn't need my own co-workers knowing my business and judging my relationship. Trying to help me. Trying to fix me.

He picked up my phone and threw it at me. I only just barely caught it before it hit the floor and potentially cracked. I pocketed my phone, and made a move to go by him to get my keys.

"Where are you going?" He put his hand on my stomach, stopping me from moving.

"I'm going out and I'll be back when you calm down."

"Fuck you!" He yelled. "Where would you go? No one wants to see your stupid face."

I didn't grace him with an answer. Tears stinging my eyes, I pushed to get by him. He grabbed my wrists again and dragged me back into the kitchen. "You're not going anywhere!"

His bony fist collided with my cheek bone, sending me hurtling into the stove, my jaw taking the blow. I narrowly missed smacking my whole face into the pot of spaghetti, but my fingers grazed the hot burner poking out from underneath the saucepan. Stella was barking, but she didn't dare touch Nathan, having learned her own lessons from him already. He left me crying on the kitchen floor. He sat himself down on the couch and passed out in front of the TV, while I dragged myself to the bed and cried myself to sleep.