Page 30 of Affliction
I take a step forward and wrap my arms around his middle “Don’t worry Uncle Nick, I’ll be home on time.” He hugs me tighter to his chest and kisses the top of my head. When I pull back his eyes are on Preston, then he shifts his gaze down to me and smiles.
“Okay. You two be safe. Love you kiddo.”
“I love you too.” I smile and turn to walk with Preston out to the car waiting for us in the driveway.
We’re on our way to Preston’s house, which is about fifteen minutes away, and he has been silent since we left my house. He’s been staring out the window with his jaw clenched and resting in his fist. I shift in my seat to get closer to him and place my hand on his shoulder. His head turns slowly to look over at me.
“Is something wrong? You’re being so quiet.” I ask sheepishly. I replay the events of the last half an hour to try to pinpoint where his mood shifted, but I’m coming up short.
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know Lizzy. You’re not that stupid.” He snaps and my stomach drops. Instinctively my hand drops from his shoulder and I scoot away from him a little bit, putting some space between us.
“I really don’t know what happened, Preston. Why are you so angry?”
What did I do?
He reaches over, snatches my hand closest to him and begins to squeeze my wrist.
“Preston let go. You’re hurting me.” I whimper as his grip tightens. I try to pull my arm away and that only makes him angrier.
“You disgust me, you know that? Telling another man you love him. And right in front of me?” He shouts as he gets nose to nose with me.
“He’s…my uncle, Preston, you know that. Ow, please let me go. You're really hurting me!” I beg and tears begin to well in my eyes.
He shoves my arm out of his grip, the force is so hard that it sends me falling across the back seat and I hit my head on the window behind me.
The tears begin to fall as I sit up straight and scoot as far away from Preston as the small space allows me to. Reaching my hand up to the back of my head, I can feel a bump already forming where it hit the window. I look over at him through watery eyes as he loosens his tie and undoes the top three buttons of his shirt.
“And the way he calls you Princess. It’s disgusting, Lizzy.” He says calmly.
“He’s called me that since I was a baby.” I sob.
In a flash Preston comes over the seat and grabs my chin with his right hand roughly. It hurts more than when he grabbed my wrist. His long fingers squeeze my cheeks until my jaw falls open.
“I don’t give a fuck.” He says calmly and tilts his head to the side. “No man shouldevercall you any name like that. No one but me. Do you understand, Butterfly?” His voice lowers to almost soothing as he asks the question.
My cheeks hurt so bad, I just want him to let me go. I’m going to have bruises on my face in the shape of his fingers. I’m so confused. He was in such a good mood when he came to pick me up. He was being sweet. I don’t know how I made him this angry. None of this makes sense. Shifting my eyes to the left, I see the partition is up and I feel my heart sink. I know that piece of glass makes it so the driver can’t see, or hear anything back here, and I quickly realize that no one will be able to help me.
“Okay. Preston, you're really hurting me.” I say as best as I can in this position. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“Oh, baby.” He coos. “I’m not upset. I just can’t stand the thought of you giving your love to anyone but me. No one, and I mean no one, loves you as much as me. You know that don’t you? I would never hurt you, Lizzy.”
“I know.” I respond timidly and sniff again trying to bat down the tears that are again threatening to spill. He slowly lets go of my face and sits back straight.
He reaches out and gently rubs my cheeks with his thumbs and lowers himself to meet my eyes.
“I am so sorry. Oh, Lizzy, I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He leans in and begins peppering light kisses all over my cheeks. He then gently lifts my arm and presses his lips to the wrist he grabbed earlier. He lowers my arm to his lap and begins to massage the area. He’s watching his fingers for aminute before he slowly lifts his eyes to mine. They’re filled with remorse and begin to glisten with unshed tears.
“I really didn’t mean to hurt you. Sometimes, I just get so angry and I lash out. I’ve never wanted to lash out at you. I hate that you just saw that side of me.” He whispers.
My heart begins to shatter and I reach out to place my free hand on top of his. He did hurt me, but he’s never hurt me before. I’ve never even seen him even raise his voice in the two years we’ve been together. No one is perfect. We all have our weak moments. Right? And he’s been feeling a lot of pressure lately. He’s in college now at Yale and is home just for a few days to celebrate his fathers success. His schedule is hectic and his parents expect him to maintain perfect grades in all of his classes. His father is really pushing him to become a district attorney. Maybe, he didn’t really mean it.
“It’s okay.” I whisper and he blows out a worried sigh. “I don’t think you meant to. Just, please don’t ever do that again. You really did hurt me.”
“I know. I know and I hate myself for it. I don’t expect you to forgive me.” He rushes out as the car pulls up into the circle drive in front of his parents home. “Can we go to this party and talk about this when I bring you home? I promise.”
I offer him a soft smile and a small nod. “Okay. Let’s go inside.”
For the duration of the party, Preston is sweet and attentive. He sticks to my side the whole time, his hand resting on the small of my back. He offers to get me drinks and he introduces me to all of his family and his father’s colleagues. We dance and we kiss, everything as it should be.
