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Nevvie flourished once free of her stepfather’s restrictive tethers. Even her teachers noted with confusion that while most children should be failing by that point, if anything, her already impressive grades improved. She graduated with honors and an academic scholarship to the University of South Florida. Her mother and Preacher Jim and two younger half-brothers moved to Utah or some godforsaken place when she was sixteen, and she hadn’t heard from them since.

She didn’t want to.

Everything was on track until late one August night, when Nevvie was eighteen and in her first semester at USF. The alternator on her beater Chevy died on the way home from her job at the Bowl-A-Rama on 56th Street. She made the mistake of trusting Steve Moses, a guy she knew from high school, to give her a ride home in his daddy’s brand new Jag.

She’d been a virgin. A piece of her died when he left her lying on the side of the road. She supposed she was lucky he didn’t kill her. She dropped out of college and wanted to put Tampa far behind her, especially after Steve Moses’ daddy bought him out of trouble and blamed her for the whole thing.

Now, back in Tampa, her luck had finally changed for the better.

She rolled over and feigned sleep when she heard Alex stumble in around two a.m. She was too excited to sleep.

Alex staggered into the bathroom then fell into bed smelling of beer and perfume. She’d never let him fuck her without a condom, thank God. She especially didn’t want him touching her now. It didn’t matter that Tyler and Thomas were gay, she was their girl.

It’s all she wanted to be.

* * *

The days crawled and Nevvie’s stomach twisted into knots. She resisted the urge to call Tyler and make sure the offer still stood, afraid Alex would catch her. She hid the necklace in her shoe when in the shower. Otherwise she always wore it, even in bed. There was no way in hell she would take it off.

Thursday morning. Emancipation. Freedom.

Alex didn’t get ready for work like he normally did on Thursdays. Nevvie fought the urge to pressure him out the door. That would set him off and he’d never leave.

She washed the dishes and tried to act normal. By seven, Alex had made no move to get ready. “Don’t you have to go to work today?”

“No. I’m going to drive you and take the car. I need it.”

No! She froze, trying to think.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing,” she lied. “They’re very private. They don’t want people knowing where they live. You screw this up, they’ll fire me.” Crap, even she didn’t believe that.

“Hell, you know where they live.”

“I clean their house. I’m supposed to know.”

He paused his video game and eyed her over the back of the couch. “You get ready. I’ll take you. If your little queer boy boss has a problem with that, have him talk to me.”

Nevvie was glad he couldn’t see her fists clench behind the counter. She fought the urge to sling every plate in the drainer at him.

Alex stared her down, daring her to defy him. She backed off and gathered what she’d need for her shower, taking it into the bathroom. She might never get undressed for her boys, but she damn sure wasn’t getting undressed for Alex. She decided on jeans instead of shorts. She wasn’t showing Alex any more of her body than she absolutely had to.

She tucked the necklace into the toe of her sneaker and started the shower, finishing as quickly as possible. The latch on the door was iffy at best and a strong tug would open it. She didn’t want Alex walking in while she was naked.

Nevvie dressed and had put the necklace on when she heard the knob pop. Alex appeared in the doorway.

“What the hell you doing in here with the door locked?” He saw the necklace. “What the fuck is that?”

She protectively covered it. “A present.”

His eyes narrowed and he advanced. “From who? Those fag boys? Who the fuck gives their maid a necklace? How fucking long you had it?”

She tucked it under her shirt and shoved past him. “They gave it to me for my birthday, asshole. Which by the way was a week ago, and you didn’t even say anything.”

He grabbed her arm and spun her around, slamming her painfully into the wall. “What the fuck did you call me?”

She yanked her arm free, trying to catch her breath. If she had to she’d walk and call Tyler to come get her. Her purse sat by the front door. Alex snooped through it anyway. At least there she could always grab it fast.

“I called you an asshole!” She tried to walk to the front door and he grabbed her by the hair. Her first instinct was to fight, but when he reached for her neckline she twisted and kicked and pulled away, trying to protect the necklace.

Her boys gave it to her. She damn sure wouldn’t let this shithead take it.

“You haven’t been treatin’ me real good lately, Nevaeh. You getting some from them fag boys?” He shoved her sprawling across the plastic crate doubling as an end table by the couch.

She turned and scrabbled backwards. Alex frequently yelled and shoved her, but never hit or came after her like this before. There was a dangerous gleam in his eye she didn’t like.

He advanced. She finally regained her footing, put the couch between them.

“You shut up about them. You don’t know anything about them. They’re my friends, and they treat me a hell of a lot better than you ever have!”

“We could pawn that goddamned thing, you selfish bitch.”

“Go pawn your fucking Xbox!” She looked at the counter where she always kept her cell phone—it wasn’t there. He must have taken it. The clock on the stove read seven-fifty. If she wasn’t there on time and the boys couldn’t get her on the phone would they come looking for her?

“Fuck, you gotta set of brass balls on you, bitch. I bust my ass and make us a new life here, and you go fucking a couple of gay guys for a necklace?”

“For your information I’m not fucking them, and you do shit around here. I’m the one who’s always worked my ass off. Well, fuck you, Alex. I’m leaving, and I’m not coming back.”

She bolted for the door. He hooked an arm around her waist, slamming her against the kitchen counter and knocking the wind out of her. “You’re not leaving until I say you are.”

He punched her and grabbed her by the hair again. “In fact, I’m going to teach you a lesson and take you to work so your little fag boys can see what it looks like when a real man fucks a woman.”

She fought like a wildcat, kicking and scratching, screaming for help. She landed a punch to his ear, loosening his hold. With a cry she launched herself at the front door, but he caught her foot and she kicked at him, unable gain purchase on the cheap linoleum floor.

She screamed, hoping one of the neighbors would, for once, call the police, but not holding out any hope. She fought Alex and held onto the bathroom door frame. Then he launched a kick at her ribs and she curled into a tight ball, trying to catch her breath and protect the necklace.

She’d die before she’d let him take that from her.

* * *

Thomas and Tyler were a bundle of nerves. They woke early, eagerly anticipating Nevvie’s arrival.

Tyler also had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach that worsened by the minute. Something was desperately wrong. Nevvie wouldn’t change her mind, he was certain. Had the caveman discovered the plan? Was she okay? He’d fought the urge to call her yesterday for fear of making Alex suspicious, unsure if he monitored her calls.

Eight o’clock came and went with no sign of Nevvie. Tyler paced in the kitchen while Thomas glowered at him from the counter.

“Are you sure we didn’t go too far? Maybe she changed her mind.”