Charlene's Soldier by Lisa Ladew

Author:Lisa Ladew [Ladew, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: Heat Publishing LLC
Published: 2015-04-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Charlene pulled into her driveway, her nerves on high alert. Wayne’s car was there but who knew what state he was in. Drunk? Sober? She hadn’t seen him sober in the evenings for several months now. As she walked inside she remembered when she had expressed fear about his drinking patterns and asked him to get help. It had been the first time that he had ever called her stupid. She gathered her courage and pushed in the front door.

The house was dark and for a moment she hoped that he had already gone to bed. A voice came from the living room. It was Wayne, and to Charlene, he sounded dangerous, like a snake stalking a mouse.

“Where were you?”

Something in his voice told her she better not lie this time.

“Out with Kerry.”

“Out with Kerry where?”

“At a class.”

“What kind of class?” Something in the lilt of his words let Charlene know he was toying with her. Somehow he knew exactly where she had been.

“A self-defense class for women,” she said. She fought the urge to keep talking and explain her every action. She hadn't been doing anything wrong. If she and Wayne were on better terms he would always know everywhere that she had been.

“I don’t want you to see Kerry anymore.”

Charlene took the words like a blow to the chest. “What? She’s my sister.”

“She dragged you to that class, didn’t she? She’s single. You’re married. You need to be more respectable than that.”

Charlene’s voice raised as desperation filled her. “You can't tell me not to see my sister!”

Charlene heard the springs on Wayne’s well-used chair sing as he stood up. In four large steps he had made it into the kitchen and caught her hand around the wrist. Her heart beat madly. He had never hit her, but had she always felt there’d been a threat of it? Maybe. Was it about to happen? Not if she could help it.

“Look at the trouble you get in with her. Climbing all over men.”

Charlene’s mouth dropped open but she wasn’t surprised. Not really.

“We were sparring!” She realized that wasn’t even the point. “Did you follow me?”

“I don’t need to follow you. I got you tracked, baby. Your sister is bad news and you ain’t going back to that gym either. You don’t need to be pressing your body up against guys you don’t know.”

“But …” Charlene couldn’t respond for a moment. Something inside her broke and spilled indignation across her soul. “How dare you …” she began and fought for breath. Her head fell like it was going to split open with emotions. She could barely breathe. “How dare you insinuate I’m doing anything wrong? You are actually cheating on me!” She shouted and ripped her hand from his, taking a step backwards.

She could sense his confusion in the darkened room. He thought she hadn’t known. He thought he really was hiding it that well. She opened her mouth and let him have it, not caring for the first time in her life what the neighbors could hear.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.