Any Other Name

Chapter 16

Eliza felt her face flush and couldn't help her eyes going off to look anywhere but Tesey's face. A stuttered, "What?" tumbled out of her mouth and she knew she had already told him what he wanted to know. God, Marshall would kill her.

Tesey's face only darkened, but he humored her and asked again. "Your fiance. Did he do this to you?"

"No, of course not. Why do you think that?"

He sighed and leaned back in the chair and ran a hand through his wet hair. "Please, Anna. We may not know each other very well but I'm not blind."

She tried to come up with where she went wrong. He seemed to recognize that and took pity on her struggle. "Intuition, a little. And Mrs. Kyle talked about it."

"Mrs. Kyle?"

"She says the walls are thin." His brows furrowed more and he looked away from her. "She hears it. You," he spat out.

Eliza had no idea what to say or how to react. She had no script to spout for being heard.

Tesey sat straight and put his hand on the edge of the bed—Eliza's had found their way to her stomach as she hugged herself. "Please," he pleaded. "I know I'm just a friend, but I do care about you. You can go to the police, you can tell the nurses here and they won't let him back in.

Eliza stared at him dumbfounded. "Why would I tell them?"

Tesey blinked at her. "Because he hurt you enough to put you here?"

She shook her head. "I deserved it."

"You what?"

"I deserved it." She had the feeling that she was digging herself a hole but she didn't know how else to make him understand. "I broke a rule—a lot of them. It's not his fault." She suddenly shot forward, stitches tugging at her skin. "You can't tell anyone." She stared into his bewildered face and grabbed his hand with her right hand. "You can't, Tesey. If Marshall finds out—"

"He'll what? Beat you?"

Eliza let go of his hand. He grabbed it right back. "Anne, I have to tell someone."

She could feel the tears welling in her eyes. "Please, don't."

"Why?"

"Because he's all I have!" The tears spilled over but she had no hand to wipe them away. "He's all I have, Tesey. He's the only one that'll have me."

Tesey shook his head and looked down at their hands. Bruises were low on her wrist, angled lines from where it was pinched between Marshall's clasped hands. Tesey's grip, already light, loosened more as he sighed. He shook his head some more and squeezed the bridge of his nose with his free hand. "Anne..."

"Tesey, please. It would hurt me more to be away from him."

"I can't believe that."

"You have to."

"He beats you, Anne! He is a risk to your life!"

"That doesn't matter!" She twisted some more and felt something in her side pop. In a lower voice, she said, "I can't take care of myself, I can't go back to my family. I have no one else besides him." She smiled. "I don't need anyone besides him."

Tesey pulled his hand away from hers and suddenly she felt cold, chilled to the bone as she watched some form of disgust pass through his face. Then his look turned sour and dark and he sneered, "He's going to kill you."

"He won't."

"He almost did."

"It was an accident."