Secret Deception (Jonathan Black's Love Story)

Chapter 45: Jonathan

*I am so lucky to have had Deception2550 to bounce ideas off of for this chapter. She came up with the idea for the flashback scene and I love how it came out.*
When I woke up Jonathan sat in the armchair staring out the window.
"Jonny?" I said his name softly but firmly.
"Hey, beautiful." He said absently.
"Come back to bed, sweetheart."
Slowly he got up out of the chair and came back over to the bed.
"Why did he make me go last?"
He crawled into bed right into my arms.
"Honestly, there's two reasons. One: you got the worst from Sebastian when we were younger..."
"I beg to differ." He hissed seemingly thinking about what his father did to me.
"Two: you're the one that they took two months ago."
"I hate waiting." He whined.
"I know, my love. The wait's almost over. Try to sleep, baby. I have you."
Jonny held me tight as his heartrate began to slow and his breathing steadied as I gently rubbed his back.
Slowly I drifted back to sleep.
Jonathan sat on the stand fiddling with his fingers while he waited for Oscar to approach him.
"Will you state your full name for the record?"
"Jonathan Christopher Davis Black"
"Mr. Black, I'd like to start with the same question I asked Cameron, what is the first memory you have of your father?"
"I was three or four maybe. It was the first time he took me to the basement. I can't even remember why he was mad at me. He dragged me down the stairs by my hair and chained me up. He punched me in the face. I cried and that upset him so he punched me in the stomach and started choking me. My vision started getting blurry and the next thing I remember I woke up in my bed with a handprint bruise around my throat."
My heart broke as I listened to my husband testify. That first memory so similar to my own with my father.
"Mr. Black, can you tell us the worst thing you remember your father doing to you?"
"Those two years when Alexia came into the house were probably the hardest. He let me stay with her while she was in the hospital but when he brought us back to the house and she fell asleep he ripped me away from her and threw me into the basement. He chained me to the wall and covered my mouth with duct tape. He punched me hard in the stomach and warned me not to get too close to her.
"He left me alone down there for days at a time. Lexa would sneak food down to me as often as she could." Jonathan stopped mid sentence.
I glanced over at Sebastian and saw that same look he'd given me before attacking me.
I sat on the floor with Lexa playing Life when my father stormed in. My first instinct was to push Lexa behind me to make sure he didn't touch her but he came right at me. His blue eyes, normally like mine looked black as he glared at me. He grabbed me by my throat and slammed me into the wall.
"What did I tell you, you son of bitch? All you're allowed to do; all you're EVER allowed to do is work on your escapes and illusions!" My father screamed into my face.
"Please. Please. It was my fault. I begged him to play with me." Lexa's voice came from behind him.
My father released me and turned to look at her. Quick as lightning, he spun around and punched me in the face, knocking me down. He got really close to her but she didn't flinch away from him.
"You remember this the next time you're bored." He hissed.
"I'll beat him every time I find him not working on his illusions. Do you understand?"
"Yes." She said still looking right at him.
"Jonathan? Jonathan?" I said against my better judgment.
The judge looked at me but didn't stop me. Jonathan was trembling on the stand when he turned to look at me.
"Mr. Black, are you alright?" Oscar asked.
"Yes. Yes. Sorry. After my father 'died' I was diagnosed with anxiety. Sometimes it hits me hard."
"Are you alright to continue?"
"Yes.
"Alexia would make her way down to me every night and curl up near me. After she'd go upstairs to breakfast with Cameron, our father would come down and beat me. Normally with his fists but sometimes he'd pull off his belt to hit me with or he'd pull the whip out. I knew he was doing it because he didn't want her down there with me but I did. I wanted her to feel safe and if that was sleeping next to me as I hung from my wrists in the basement, I'd take every beating he gave me." His voice broke as the tears streamed down his face and mine as my heart broke again.
"The chains cut into the skin on my wrists and as they healed my skin tried to heal over the metal. I had to keep pulling against the chains so they wouldn't become a permanent part of my wrists. I almost lost my mind down there. If Alexia hadn't come down and talked to me every night I wouldn't have made it. I knew he'd hurt Cameron and I never blamed him for staying away.
"After the two years were up and he let me back upstairs I did everything I could to provoke him when Cameron or Alexia upset him so he'd come after me.
May I give you another?"
"Of course you may. Tell the jury whatever you feel you need to."
"Cameron knows about this but Alexia doesn't. When Alexia was abducted when she was 13 I lost it. I knew my father had hurt her and I went after him. I hit him and he pulled out a knife and stabbed me almost directly in the center of my stomach. Then he just left. Cameron stitched me up and we continued to look for her."
"Mr. Black, can you tell us what happened two months ago?"
"Alexia found my father living in Virginia Beach. I was angry and I snapped at her. I walked outside to get some air and was attacked from behind. I was tased and thrown into a trunk where I passed out.
"When I came to I was chained by my wrists in the cabin. They'd duct taped my fingers together, I imagine because they know I can pick those locks. He punched me hard in the face causing me to sway. I glanced up and found the chains attached to the ceiling. He pulled out the old whip and cracked it across my cheek."
All I could do was watch as my husband buried his face in his hands. Cameron cried as he wrapped his arms around me as I cried too.
"It felt like hours that he beat me before my wife called my cellphone. He mentioned how beautiful our kids are and I yelled at him earning me a punch to my stomach.
I tried talking to my mother and she called my wife a bitch. My father... my father asked me if she was as good as she used to be."
My heart ached knowing he'd thrown my abuse in his face.
"What did you take that to mean?" Oscar asked clearly holding back tears.
"I took it to mean, 'was she as good in bed as she was when he raped her'."
I wanted to leave. I hated watching his pain, but he needed Cameron and I to be his strength like he was ours.
"The bite of the whip caught me off guard in my mother's hand as she beat me. During the time it took Alexia to get from Virginia to New York they took turns beating me until I passed out, then when I'd come to they'd start right up again."
"Nothing further, your honor." Tears streamed down Oscar's face when he turned back to us.
After a long pause I glanced up at Judge Johnson and found him also in tears. As I looked around the room the only dry eyes belonged to Sebastian. Even his public defender was crying.
"Cross examination, Counselor?"
"No questions, your honor."
"The witness is excused."
I watched Sebastian stare at his attorney. There was clearly something he wanted her to try and ask Jonathan.
Jonathan walked back to us and collapsed to his knees in front of Cameron. Cam looked at me and I urged him forward. I knelt down beside my husband and brother in law offering them my strength.
He needed Cameron. He'd be in my bed; in my arms later but right at that moment he needed his brother; his twin; his best friend.