now. By God I'll drag you back home again if I have to!" "Calm down Kurt." Her mother soothed. "Now honey, we both want you to come home. We'll work this out, all three of us. But you have to come home." "I—" a sob caught in her throat. "I can't." "Lindsey, Lindsey sweetheart. Come home baby. I miss you, I miss both you and my little boy." Kurt begged; he was near to tears himself. "God Lindsey, you know I'm sorry. You know how much I love you two. I'd never hurt you on purpose. I'll get help, I swear I will. Please come home baby." And then he did cry, loud racking sobs that tore at Lindsey's heart. "Honey," her mother said with a sigh. "Please come home. Let's work this out. Can't you see what this is doing to Kurt? To your family?" "Lindsey, Lindsey please!" Kurt sobbed. "I'm going crazy without you two. I was so worried. I want you both back home, back safe with me." Lindsey shook inside and out as tears slid down her cheeks and fell soundlessly to the tile of the kitchen floor. "Lindsey?" She spun at Marcus's voice and her eyes went wide with guilt. She'd left him once, and now she would do it again. His hand came up and wiped a tear from her cheek. "Lindsey, what's wrong?" "You filthy whore! Is that who I think it is?" Kurt's angry scream made her wince and she jerked her ear away from the phone. His voice was loud enough for Marcus to catch the stream of obscenities that followed. He took the phone from her hand and pressed it to his ear.
"If you ever lay a fucking finger on her again I'll rip you open and leave you to rot, do you understand me?" Marcus's voice was cold and angry as he spoke the words. "Don't you fucking touch my wife you lousy son of a bitch! She's coming back to me and I'll do whatever the hell I want to with my property!" "Over my dead body." Marcus clicked off the phone with a press of a button. His eyes met Lindsey's and he understood what he saw there. "You're not going back to him." "Marcus, I…" she couldn't find the right words. "He's my husband." It was all she could come up with. The phone rang in his hand, and Lindsey reached to take it from him. He jerked it away from her and then threw it hard across the room. It shattered as it hit the wall in the living room and fell silent. The dent it left in the wall was emphasized in the fading daylight. "You came to me for help. I intend to see that you get it." He held out his hand. "Give me your car keys." "Marcus, this is stupid. You know I have to go back, or he'll come for me. He knows where I am now. I have to go back or else—" "You're not going anywhere." "Marcus—" "Give me your fucking car keys Lindsey!" "No." Marcus crossed the few steps to her and shoved his hand down her pocket. She smacked at him with one hand, but he caught it and jerked it down. Her other hand closed around his fingers groping in her pocket and tried to pull them away. He jerked away from her when her foot came down hard atop one of his boots and then his groin. The minute he released her she scrambled away from him, and for the back door. He caught the door and pushed it shut as she tried to jerk it open. With one arm he caught her around the waist and lifted her off her feet. He carried her kicking and screaming back into the living room where he deposited her on the couch and used his body to pin her down. Her screams grew louder and more frustrated as Marcus put his hand back into her pocket and withdrew the keys with a satisfied gleam to his eyes.
"Marcuse Michael Whitman you give those back right this instance!" She screamed in fury as she continued to struggle under where he had her pinned. His knee was pressed almost too comfortably between her legs and she could feel the rapid beating of her own pulse where his chest grazed hers. "No." He put her keys in his pocket and looked down at her with his dark eyes. "You're not going back to that bastard. Not if I can stop you." Lindsey screamed and placed both hands on his chest and