Chapter Sixteen
Nick lay in bed, stroking Kerry's hair as she slept contentedly on his chest. To him it was the perfect way to wake up... his first thought realizing that she was there with him, touching him. In the month they'd been living together he'd become acutely aware of just how much he needed her and especially her affection. She was always touching him, kissing him and constantly telling him she loved him and he thrived on it. He went to bed every night not wanting the day to end, but already looking forward to the next- more time to spend with Kerry and Miah, more fun to be had. He'd almost surprised himself, how easily he'd slipped into the "parent" role without even really knowing he was doing it. One night when he'd tucked Miah in because Kerry had been on the phone with her mother, Miah had sleepily mumbled 'Nighty night daddy' instead of the usual 'Good night Nick' and had made him want to cry, he'd liked the sound of it so much.
Kerry stirred a little and sighed as she began to wake up. Her eyelashes fluttered lightly over Nick's bare chest as she blinked, causing him to giggle softly. She looked up at him, "I thought you weren't a morning person."
He kissed her forehead and replied, "I wasn't until I had so much to look forward to waking up to."
Kerry smiled and asked, "So how are we going to take advantage of our kid-free day?"
"Anyway you want, baby."
Kerry sucked lightly on his neck near his adam's apple and then said, "I say we spend the whole day in bed..." and continued to nip and lick across his collarbone and down his chest. Since their first night together, her opinion on sex had completely changed, and they'd had a hard time keep ther hands off each other. Nightly ritual had come to be, almost every night- tuck Miah in, run to their bedroom and fall into bed together immediately, each trying to consume the other like they hadn't been touched in years.
Nick moaned, "I love that idea..."
At Haley and Miah's request, and Kerry's agreement, every other weekend Miah would spend Friday night and all day Saturday with Haley. Nick and Kerry had taken her over to Kerry's parents last night and had all had dinner together. Kerry's mother had pulled her aside before she and Nick left, saying "He's a keeper. You hang on to him." Kerry had hugged her mom tightly and said, "Thank you. And I'm not planning on letting him go." She and Nick had spent most of the night cuddled up on the couch, watching any random thing that had come on television.
Kerry's tongue flicked in and out of Nick's belly button, making him growl softly. She'd quickly figured out the places to touch and kiss him to wind him up, and he loved it. His hands had just settled on her shoulders to rub them lightly when the phone rang.
"Dammit." Nick whined as he reached for the phone. "Hello?.... Hey Marie... yeah, she's right here." He handed Kerry the phone, mouthing "Be nice and be quick." to her.
"Mom, it's a little early don't you think?"
"Kerry Isabelle, it's 11 a.m. it's not early, you should be out of bed by now!" her mother scolded.
"Mooommmm" Kerry groaned, "Do not call me that!"
"And why not? It's your name isn't it?" her mom asked, sounding slightly hurt. She loved both Kerry and Haley's names and had hoped the girls would too.
"It makes me sound like a Cabbage Patch Kid!"
"You're impossible, Kerry."
"Thank you. Now why did you call?" Kerry wanted to get off the phone and get back to Nick.
"You certainly are snippy today. I was calling because this morning I was digging around in the attic and found your old dollhouse, and I thought you might want it for Miah, since she's got the room for it now."
"Oh, wow. I forgot we still had that thing. She'd love that. Yeah, I guess I'll come get it."
"Excellent. I have lunch with Barb and Linda at 11:30, but just come on in and get it. I love you, Kerry. I have to go get ready now. Goodbye dear."
"Bye mom, love you too." Kerry replied and hung up, shaking her head.
"Kerry Isabelle.." Nick teased, "I think I'll start calling you that since I know how much you love it."
"You start callin' me that, I'll start sleepin' in Miah's room." she said and stuck her tongue out at him.
"Okay okay, you win." he laughed, pulling her into a hug. "What did your mom want?"
"She found my dollhouse from when I was little, and thought I might want to get it so she could have it over here." Kerry replied, laying her head on Nick's stomach and grasping his hand.
"That's cool..." Nick started to volunteer to help her, but the phone rang again. "What is this?!?" He picked up the phone, "What??"
"Whoa, did I interrupt something, bro?" Brian drawled over the phone.
"Hey B, no.. I was just talking to Kerry..." Nick said sheepishly.
Kerry got up and got dressed as Nick talked to Brian, and then went to poke his tummy. "Nick.."
"Hang on a sec, man", Nick said into the phone, and covered it with his hand. "Yeah?"
"I'm gonna go get the dollhouse now... can I take the Durango? It won't fit in my car."
"Sure, keys on on the counter. You sure you can get it?"
"Yeah, it's just big, not heavy. I'll probably be back before you get off the phone. And then, we're not leaving this bed for the rest of the day." She kissed him and quickly slid her hand down to his cock to grasp it gently. "I love you." she said, grinning.
"Love you too, hurry back!" Nick squeaked, and took a deep breath before turning his attention back to Brian.
Kerry drove to her parents house, thoroughly enjoying the Durango. She'd only gotten to drive it a few times, probably because Nick knew he'd never get it back if she got it more often. She went into the backyard to see Cole before heading up to the dust of the attic.
Climbing up the retractable ladder into the attic made Kerry wonder how the hell she was going to get the dollhouse down. She found it quickly, her mom had it sitting in the center of the attic, on a crate, and had even cleaned it up a little. Kerry smiled, thinking of all the times she and Haley had played with it, and even more times they'd fought over who was going t get to play with it. And it was smaller than she remembered, 12 years changing her perception of the concept of 'huge'. She managed to get it down out of the attic and into the living room without much trouble. Getting it into the Durango proved a little more difficult, she had to fold the backseat down and rearrange all the stuff Nick kept in the back before finally getting it to fit.
Kerry went back into the house to get her purse and look at her room. All her furniture was still there, but everything that had made the room "hers" was gone- now occupying space in her and Nick's room or somewhere else in their house. Kerry giggled 'their house'. For at least a week after moving in she'd kept referring to it as his and Nick would always say, "You live here, too- it's OURS." and then kiss her. Thinking about him made her anxious to get home to him and she headed back downstairs.
She went into the kitchen to grab her purse off the table and heard a knock on the door. She figured it was most likely Gretchen, the girl that lived next door, who she'd seen outside while struggling to get the dollhouse in the Durango. She waked into the living room and flung the door open, and found herself looking at the exact last person she wanted to see. Kerry's heart began pounding as she stared at him, seeing the same green eyes she saw every day on Miah looking back at her. "What the FUCK do you want?"
Josh gave her an evil smile, "Nice to see you too, babe. I just thought it was time for a visit.. do a little catching up... looks like you've moved out."
"It's none of your business what I've done." Kerry said, trying her best to stay calm.
"You still have my baby... as long as you do, you will ALWAYS be my business." Josh snarled.
"Leave." Kerry said, moving to close the door.
Josh saw what she was doing and put his foot against the door, keeping it open. "C'mon Kerry, invite me in."
"Josh, leave. Now." Kerry could feel herself becoming shaky. She just wanted to get back to Nick, to feel his arms around her, him assure her everything was going to be okay, she was safe with him.
"Kerry, god, be a good hostess, invite me in." He said, the bottom of his hand crashing into base of Kerry's throat, knocking her onto the floor. He kicked the door closed and put his foot on her chest. "You should know, I always get my way."
Kerry lay on the floor, eyes closed trying to catch the breath that had just been knocked out of her and figure out how to get away from him.
"Bitch, look at me!" Josh yelled, bringing his hand down hard across her cheek.
She winced and opened her eyes, "What do you want?!?"
"You didn't really think I wasn't going to come back did you?" he asked. He grabbed the collar of her t-shirt and tore the fabric, ripping the shirt to shreads. "That's just it isn't it? You're stupid and you don't think!"
Kerry's mind was screaming at her to do something, but she was too terrified to think straight to figure anything out.
Josh glared down at her, "I hear you have a new man, how the fuck did you do that?? I pity the poor bastard that was dumb enough to get involved with you. But he'll see, just wait.. he'll figure out how worthless you really are." He laughed wickedly, while unzipping his jeans and pushing them down over his hips. "You miss this dontcha Kerry? You know no one will ever give it to you like I do.."
Kerry's eyes widened as she watched him, she knew she had to get away from him. She began frantically squirming underneath the pressure of his foot on her chest.
Josh shook his head as he lifted his foot from her, and kicked her repeatedly in the side. "You think you'd learn, Kerry!" He watched as her face contorted and she began to cry. His hands went to the track pants she was wearing, yanking them off her and then straddling her hips. "There you go, just cry, give up like you always do." He brutally thrust into her, laughing as she screamed in pain. "That's it whore, take it and love it." He grabbed her hands and held them above her head. He kept thrusting hard and fast, pounding into her, ignoring her cries just like he always had. "You're nothing, you know that don't you? You'll never mean anything to anyone." He stopped talking as his breathing became heavier from his rapidly approaching climax.
Kerry was numb, she felt the slaps and punches but was too far removed to really notice the pain. All she could hear, was his voice, those same words that had haunted her for so long, echoing in her head again, being said over and over.
Josh howled as he came, slamming into her once more before climbing off of her. He quickly dressed again and knelt beside her, happy to see the frightened empty look in her eyes. He grabbed her chin and got in her face, "Something's never change do they, Kerry?" He hissed, "You're still still just a worthless whore and a bad fuck at that!" His tongue snaked over her cheek and he whispered in her ear, a low evil growl, "Just think I was inside you again, I was the first, and I'll be the last, I promise you." He laughed as she whimpered. "You're pathetic, you know that? I'm going to let you live THIS time.. just so you can see how disgusting you really are.. but next time... if you haven't killed yourself already... I"ll just do the world and favor, and finish you off." His fist made contact with her face once more and his voice saying "bye babe" was the last thing Kerry heard before she blacked out.
*****
Nick got up after talking to Brian and got in the shower, thinking Kerry would surprise him by joining him any minute. When she still hadn't appeared after being gone for almost two hours he began to worry. Although he could also see her, cursing at the dollhouse because she was having trouble moving it, and was just too stubborn to call him and ask for help. He called her parents house and let it ring for a while, thinking if she was in the attic that she give her time to get to the phone. When he got no answer, he figured she must be on her way home, and thought maybe she stop at the grocery store and pick some things up for them to make a late lunch with. He'd never really enjoyed cooking, but doing it with her was always fun. She didn't pick up the cell phone either and he got concerned. He decided to go over to the house and make sure everything was fine.
He took the route he knew she would have driven over there. He got to the house and the Durango was still in the driveway, so she was still there. He went to the front door, and found it unlocked. "Kerry?" he called, peeking just his head in the door, not wanting to fling it open and startle her.
Kerry was just coming to and could vaguely hear someone calling her name. It didn't register, the pain searing through her body was all she could pay attention to. She moaned quietly as she tried to move.
Nick heard a soft sound, almost seemed pained and walked into the house. "Kerry?" he said again, and then glanced around the room. His stomach lurched when he saw her, curled up in a ball on the floor, clothes ripped off, blood dripping from her nose, mouth, a cut above her eye and from between her legs.
He sank to his knees on the floor beside her, trying to choke back a wail that was desparately wanting to escape. His heart was beating so fast out of terror, he didn't know what to do for her. "Kerry, baby, it's Nick, can you hear me?" he asked, voice wavering.
Kerry whimpered as she felt his hand brush across her cheek. She hurt, wanted him to make the pain stop, but couldn't get any words out.
'Oh god oh god, what do I do??' Nick's mind was moving faster than he could keep up with. "Baby, I'll be right back.. I'm gonna call an ambulance.. we have to get you to the hospital..." He ran into the kitchen, dialing 911 with a trembling hand. He gave the operator the basic information and tried his best not to break down crying as he told him she'd been attacked and probably raped and gave a description of what he could see of her.
The operator told Nick not to move her, but to stay with her until they arrived.
Nick hung up and dashed upstairs to Kerry's old room, grabbing a blanket off her bed and covered her with it. He sat beside her, shaking, and talking softly to her, trying to tell himself as much as her that he was there and everything was going to be fine. He grasped her hand, "Kerry, what happened?"
Kerry blinked, fighting to stay conscious, and whispered, barely audibly, "Josh."
Every muscle in Nick's body tensed up. Before he had time to react, the EMT's were coming through the door, and gathering Kerry off the floor and carefully laying her on a stretcher. Nick followed right behind them, squeezing into the back of the ambulance with them to hold her hand. He kept his eyes on her face, not able to watch what they were doing to her, as he heard words like "vaginal abrasions", "semen sample" being whispered back and forth between the two EMT's checking her out. He leaned over to kiss her cheek and felt her flinch as soon as his lips brushed against her. He bit his lip hard, trying not to cry, but it wasn't working. A few tears slipped from his eyes just before the ambulance came to a stop outside the ER.
She was taken inside and immediately whisked down a hall to a room to be looked at by a doctor. Nick tried to follow but was stopped by a security guard. "Sir, you have to stay out here."
"She needs me!" Nick said, his voice as shaky as he was.
"The doctors will keep you updated, sir, but you have to stay here." The guard said, putting his hand on Nick's shoulder.
Nick watched as she taken away from him. "KERRY! I LOVE YOU!" he yelled down the hallway, before leaning against the nearest wall and sliding to the floor, sobbing with his head in his hands.